Best Names in Public Radio

Cafe Society
21

WBAI in New York (Pacifica Network) has almost too many awesome names to choose from, but here are some favorites (all hosts):

Tiokasin Ghosthorse
Esther Armah
Lister Hewan-Lowe
Imhotep Gary Byrd
Elvira Liceaga (sometimes calls herself Elvis)
Ife Dancy
Aura Bogado

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My favorite names -

Audie Cornish

And one of our local WNYC guys, Soterios Johnson.

23

“Lakshmi” is the Hindu goddess of prosperity and good luck, I believe.

One of my faves is a former NPR reporter, now with CNN: Maria Hinejosa.

24

SHIRLEY JIHAD! Her name is SHIRLEY JIHAD. She should be doing anti-american propaganda broadcast out of Iran trying to dishearten our troops “Bart Simpson is making love to your wife.”

Sherry Glaser…her name is literally two letter changes from being a porn star name.

25

Our local San Antonio NPR station’s token fun name is Deirdre Saravia, spoken in a lovely Irish brogue.

26

That’s the beauty of it - so many possibilities.

I was personally thinking it was Marco Orman until I looked it up today, but so many permutations would fit:

Mark O’Worman
Marko Wurman
Marco Orman
Mark O. Ehrman
etc.

Ooh, I’ll see your Deirdre Saravia and raise you a Fiona Ritchie. There is nothing on Earth more Gaelic than her introducing herself as the host of the Thistle and Shamrock!

Most of our local people sound so whitebread: Dick Gordon, Keith Weston, David Brower, Catherine Brand, Eric Hodge, and so on.

My favorite locals to hear on the air are Patty Painter-Wakefield and **Leoneda Inge **(pronounced “Inj”).

27

Iowa Public Radio has nothing but folks with ordinary names. Sarah McCammon, Barney Sherman, Ben Kiefer, Rob Dillard, Rick Fredericksen. About as interesting as it gets is a gal named Charity Nebbe (say Nebby).

28

Until I looked it up, I was fairly sure his name was “Satyrios.” Which would have been even cooler.

29

Ira Glass of This American Life. My rave fave.

30

Soterios Johnson just sounds so cool. It sounds way better than it looks.

I wondered for years how to spell it until I finally looked it up. I was imagining something more like “Citterius.”

31

Funny, if you read Dierdre’s profile page linked above, her break into local NPR radio was when there was a problem airing Fiona Ritchie’s show and they needed a sub. :smiley:

Somehow Saravia gets rendered into about eight syllables. It’s really quite something…

32

I’ll never get over losing Snigdha Prakash, which I always heard as Snit Kaprikash, which looks like something horrible, but sounded lovely.

33

It’s actually “Jahad.” But yeah, it sounds like “jihad” when she says it, and I was disappointed when I found out. :slight_smile:

34

Don Gonyea (“Gon-yay”)

Run the names together and it sounds almost like a challenge in a foreign language:

“Dongunyay!” (En garde!)

Nightclub singer: “And now, the dulcet tones of… Doooon Gonyayyyyyyy, ladies and gentlemen.”

One name matinee idol to make the ladies swoon: (high pitched voice) “Ooooooh, Dungunyay!”

And ending to something: “And that’s it: It’s Done Gone. Yay!!!”

A command in Japanese: “Dungunyay!” (Guy rams ceremonial sword into his belly and commits dungunye)

Quasi

35

No love for Jian Ghomeshi?!?!

Locally, (Chicago / WBEZ) we have Mary DeBaggis (as in ‘I’m gonna shoot da coppers right in da Badges’).
Local film critic Milos Stehlik sounds better than it reads. The s’s are sh’s.
Jim DeRogatis is fun to say. That link has the oddest gif for the Oct31 blog entry.

36

What, no love for Click & Clack, the Tappitt Brothers, aka Tom and Ray Magliozzi? :slight_smile:

37

While we’re on the subject, does anyone else think Zoe Chase has the sexiest voice on radio?

38

Jad Abumrad of Radiolab.

I have that problem with Steve Inskeep.

39

I happen to be a long time colleague of Windsor’s.

Firstly, she is NOT in her early 30’s (hopefully she won’t kill me if she reads this post) she is 38ish and has been in public radios in various positions including Weekend Edition host/ reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia and News Director/ Morning Anchor at WRTI for 16 years.

For the past ten years – she was an adjunct professor at Temple University.
Last time I spoke with her she was gearing up for a new teaching position at American University in D.C.

My point – she’s NOT a blond “hottie” from the most “unbalanced” cable news channel out there – but a gal that has put her LIFE on the line covering conflicts overseas – the Kenyan war in 2007-08, El Salvador, Beirut, Dubai …etc..

Hopefully my point has been made clear.

And, honestly, she’s only been at NPR for under a year and people like YOU are already making premature conclusions about this woman.

Shame on you.

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