'Watch the tram car please': Woman behind iconic voice suing for compensation

WILDWOOD, New Jersey (WPVI) -- If you've been on the Wildwood boardwalk, there's a good chance you've heard the voice of Floss Stingel saying, "Watch the tram car please."

Stingel says she made the recording in 1971.

She says she's never been paid for the use of her voice for more than 50 years.

"A man I was dating at the time worked for Ramagosa, who owned the tram cars. And I just spoke into a recorder and it's been used ever since," said Stingel during a news conference on the boardwalk Tuesday morning.

Now she's suing the city and several other entities she says have benefited from the use of her verbal instructions to boardwalk pedestrians, which the suit says plays 6,000 times a day in the summer.

"She has not been paid a single penny for this. All she's received are free tram car tickets, which she usually gives away," said Stingel's attorney, Emeka Igwe.

Other defendants include the Wildwood Boardwalk Special Improvement District, which purchased the tram car system in 2004. The Wildwood Historical Society, Morey's Piers and St. George's Stores are also named.

The stores sell tram merch, including plush tram cars that speak when you squeeze them.

"It was only last year they started selling the plush toys that have my voice, and they're making money on the toys," said Stingel.

Another hiccup, according to attorneys, is that the recording was made before the Copyright Act of 1972.

"In 2010 she tried to do a copyright but because the recording was made before 1972, the copyright was denied for that purpose," said Igwe.

Folks we spoke with on the boardwalk hope this can be settled while keeping the voice on the boards.

"Because everyone appreciates her and loves it, nobody wants it to change," said Jean Shannon of Havertown, Pa.

The defendants have 30 days to respond to the suit.

The city of Wildwood had no comment Tuesday, according to a spokesperson.

Other entities named in the suit either didn't respond Tuesday or hadn't yet received the lawsuit and didn't want to comment.