Heh, it was Bailey White, a retired teacher essayist who told down home stories about her native southern Georgia. I don’t think she was purposely using vocal fry.
(E.C., Bailey Quarters was a character played by Jan Smithers on WKRP in Cincinnati. She was the Maryann to Loni Anderson’s Ginger.
After 35 years of mornings with Carl Kassel, I’m just glad when NPR people don’t have their dentures clacking around their mouths.
Right, it was Bailey White, not Bailey Quarters, who was much easier on the eyes but lacked that voice that sounded like several miles of gravel road bleaching in the south Georgia sun. And it was definitely not vocal fry, as ALL the words were raspy. But it DID have vocal fry beat twelve ways from Sunday.