A bad joke on my part, I guess, or one poorly worded.
Their humor has great appeal to me, and their segments on This American Life are high points for me.
The only NPR announcer who grates on me is Steve Inskeep. Because every other sentence he speaks must end with a pause and dramatic … inflection. “For the story now, we go to Sioux City…Iowa”. Steve, I beg you to stop. NPR is the only thing on in the morning that doesn’t make me dumber for listening to it. Please knock it off with the … drama.
Interesting how one person’s trash is another one’s treasure, huh?
Oh, and Garrison Keillor…I can’t believe no one’s brought him up. I…I…just cannot succinctly describe how much I hate hearing his voice, and his show…I hate that worse than his voice. If I won a bajillion dollars in the lottery, I would gladly pay him several million dollars to get off the air. What’s even more galling is that he seems to do his show in front of large, delighted audiences. That really brings out the Ricin-maker in me.
In support of the first sentence of your post, A Prairie Home Companion in general, and “Guy Noir, Private Eye” in particular. Keillor rocks.
Diane Rehm has spasmodic dysphonia which is why her voice is so unpleasant. She was a broadcaster before it got so bad, I believe. I don’t particularly care for her either.
I’m glad Catherine Lanfer is gone from Minnesota public radio. I hated her so much. During pledge drives she always said “Get off your keister and get on the horn.” My irrational irritation was forever piqued.
OK. But why must almost everyone on his show talk like him??? Do they even know they’re doing it?
Why? How? I’m curious.
Admittedly, I listen to Weekend Edition a lot less than I used to. During the early 1990s it was creative; now Saturdays and Sundays are both a little formulaic.
Do you like Liane’s interaction with the puzzlemaster? Do you admire “Lighter Liane” or has Substantive Liane made appearances during the weekend that have missed my attention? I know this sounds snarky, but I wouldn’t mind reading a full throated defense of Weekend Edition Sunday. (I’ll be offline for a while though, so I’ll have I probably won’t be able to reply.)
Incidentally, everyone, this page currently shows up in the fourth entry if you google “Jackie Lyden” with adult filtering turned off at least.
I always criticized the habit NPR announcers had in the 1980s and early 1990s of overpronouncing Spanish words and place names. In recent years, there’s one guest commentator who speaks in a thick Don Juan “intellectual Mexican poet” kind of accent, where every word is muy importante. Can’t think of the name, though. Drives me nuts, like he’s trying to seduce female listeners rather than comment on whatever.
I wondered the same thing—even some Iraqi guy they interviewed for a show a few months ago had the same effeminate, Glassine cadence to his voice.
I don’t know whether it’s subconscious mimicry (or whatever the actual term is), coincidence, or a deliberate/accidental tendency of the show’s producers to seek out Glassy-sounding interview subjects, but it adds to an unfortunate impression of the show, which the Onion parodiedfar better than I could explain.
I don’t think anyone else sounds like Ira Glass. I suspect there’s some sort of association bias or expectation bias going on.
As I recall, Weekend Edition (Sunday at least) was created by Susan Stamberg and intended to be the radio equivalent of a Sunday newspaper. So, a little news, a little business, some arts, a little op-ed, and a puzzle. (No funnies, so perhaps it was modeled after the New York Times.) It has indeed become somewhat formulaic, probably trying to walk the line between keeping fresh and keeping paying listeners who like things the way they are.
I consider Liane Hansen (and to a lesser extent Scott Simon*) to be “news lite”. They are the radio equivalent of anchors; their role is to bring in the experts and analysts, and to be able to carry on an intelligent and intelligible about the issues of the day.
*Anyone remember Scott Simon’s embarassing turn as a TV news commentator before returning to Weekend Edition Saturday?
I can hear that voice in my head, but I can’t remember who it is.
Several years ago there was a NPR commentator who lived in a houseboat in San Diego or something. His commentaries were hilarious and delivered with a thick Scottish accent. Does anyone remember his name? John MacDonald or something like that?
Rejection bias, perhaps?
To be clear, I’ve never heard any of their guests utter the words “I’m Ira Glass” (my personal yardstick for confirming the speaker’s identity) but a large number of them seem to effect a similar way of speaking, which is typically effete (if not stereotypically “gay”-sounding) and has a cadence I lack the vocabulary to adequately describe. But I know it when I hear it.
In my non-expert but carefully considered opinion, it’s sort of nasal and slightly lispy, without much variance in pitch or with variance in weird places. Ira also swallows his "L"s. And yes, it seems like most people on the show share similar vocal stylings.
This thread is sponsored by the NEEKC Foundation at A E C F dot O R G, and underwritten with a grant from the Robert Woodjohnson Foundation. This is NPR. National. Public. Radio.
Amen. I keep thinking, “Why does your health reporter suffer from adenoids?”
Also, someone should tell Robert Siegel it’s, “NPR News,” not, “NPR Neush.”
Several years ago there was an on-the-hour news reader who would say
“This is N P R … News.”
I don’t know why she paused before “news.” It sounded like she had to turn the page every time before she knew what came next.
Yes. They copy his vocal mannerisms and tonality. I’ve noticed it myself. There’s someone who subs for him, that has the same cadence, phrasing etc. Drives me nuts.
I call it metrosexual in my head. I like it, but I don’t want Ira clones.
It was Andrea Seabrook, whom Jackie Lyden apparently replace, who really bugged me. She was sooo amateur.
I think Scott Simon is a buffoon. I can’t stand when he does weird voices during certain segments in a feeble attempt to be humorous.
Steve Inskeep is my favorite. And he’s the reason I started listening to the show in the morning. I could NOT stand mmmbob mmmedwards. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGH. That guy was AWFUL.
Anyone else find the overenunciations of Lakshmi Singh annoying? If we’re just throwing out names here… she kinda cracks me up. I picture an Indian version of Asian Reporter Tricia Takinawa from Family Guy whenever I hear her.