Abstract: Presented is a telephone calling party announcement system which stores telephone numbers and associated voice messages provided by a user. When an incoming telephone call occurs, and a telephone number of a calling party matches a stored telephone number, an associated stored voice message is played back. Calling party information is provided by Caller ID information transmitted between a first and a second ring signal. If a stored telephone number matches the telephone number portion of the Caller ID information, a stored voice message associated with the telephone number is played back between (or in place of) subsequent ring signals. The stored voice message is typically the name of the calling party, and in this case the name of the calling party is announced between ring signals. A first embodiment includes a voice message unit which receives, stores, and plays back voice messages provided by the user.