# What's up with the announcers' voices on NPR? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379 "2007-10-03T14:19:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/41 "2007-10-06T17:28:11Z")
[QUOTE=Fetchund] The only one I can not stand is [Daniel Shorr](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12178336) I still remember the shock I got the first time I hit the NPR button on my car radio and got treated to Car Talk - a shock, but a pleasant one! Strong accents for public radio! [/QUOTE] This is Daniel Shorr! As soon as his voice comes on, I switch the channel. Usually I’m in agreement with whatever he has to say, but still. What kind of moneybags accent is that? He makes Thurston Howell sound like a hick. The most robotically soothing voice belongs to Michele Norris. Ira Glass doesn’t have a stereotypical NPR voice, but I find it boring (and a little whiney) compared to the voices of the “everyday” people featured in his stories. Dianne Rheams voice doesn’t bother me, probably because my juvenile sense of humor compells me to mimick her opening: “This is the Diannnnne Rheeeams Shoooow”. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/42 "2007-10-06T17:46:42Z")
[QUOTE=Fetchund] I still remember the shock I got the first time I hit the NPR button on my car radio and got treated to Car Talk - a shock, but a pleasant one! Strong accents for public radio! [/QUOTE] The first time I heard _Car Talk_, I thought they were drunk! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/43 "2007-10-06T19:13:10Z")
There are two I don’t love – Michelle Norris and Lynn Rosetto Casper (or however it’s spelled – reading this thread I’m going “So that’s how you spell that name!”) Michelle because of the **MEE** chelle and also for the reason noted by **susan\_foster** , that increasing deepness at the end of her sentences, and Lynn because I’ve never liked people with “smiles” in their voices, and because she gets all smarmy. I wish NPR didn’t have to interrupt their guests for all those station ID’s. But it’s funny when they have someone on who doesn’t seem to understand why they have to stop talking for a few seconds. I could listen to Nina Totenburg all day. The Science Friday guy (Ira Flato?) has a more standard radio voice. I like that he gets louder when he’s excited about something. We have an excellent interviewer on the local affiliate – Kathryn Perkins – she could give Terri Gross a run for her money. She asks great questions and she lets her guests talk. We also have an awesome weather expert – Elwyn Taylor – who uses the standard NPR voice when he does little essays about growing up in Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/44 "2007-10-06T20:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I only wish I could still hear him. I love Wait Wait, but I hate that now none of the 3 public radio stations in the Charlotte market carry _Whad’ya Know?_ any more. [/QUOTE] Can you get from online? Try [npr.org](http://npr.org) and see. Great show–the best on NPR, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/45 "2007-10-08T16:41:45Z")
Whadya Know has a free podcast on Itunes. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/46 "2007-10-08T16:53:21Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] Sylvia Poggioli [/QUOTE] I like all the folks on NPR, but I especially like to hear Sylvia say her name at the end of a piece. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/47 "2007-10-08T17:07:25Z")
I went to high school with [Gwen Thompkins](http://216.35.221.77/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7282613). She was a senior when I was a freshman, and I was star-struck by her even then, the big overachiever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/48 "2007-10-08T17:13:13Z")
Jean Cochran is an old family friend (she lives across the street from my sister). I’m biased, but I think she has a great voice! The general tone the OP describes is kind of a plus, in my book. I feel like they’re just telling me the news, not trying to sell an agenda. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/49 "2007-10-08T17:40:35Z")
Terri Groos has uncontrolled upseak. Her inflection at the end of simple declarative sentences goes up like she’s asking a question. Ira Glass has a frequent contributor who does the exact same thing. I was walking down the street? And my dog had to go to the bathroom? So he went over to the fire hydrant and cocked his leg? ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/50 "2007-10-08T17:50:19Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Michelle because of the **MEE** chelle [/QUOTE] Yeah, me too! Then I always feel kind of petty, for being annoyed at the way someone else pronounces their own name. But there it is. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miscue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@Miscue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miscue)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/51 "2007-10-08T17:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=rpinrd] I’m going to take some heat for this, but the one NPR voice I can not listen to is Diane Rehm. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but have you seen her picture? One hot old broad! I’ll never forget how shocked I was when I first went on the website and saw how terrible-looking were the faces all those voices belonged to, with Diane’s being the only attractive one. Anyway, yes, there is an NPR ‘voice’ and I actually love it because it’s the exact opposite of what I saw on the morning TV news recently, where during the periodic traffic report an injury with fatality was described with the aid of a cutesy little animated graphic of two toy cars repeatedly slamming into one another, replete with red exclamation points and sad faces. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/52 "2007-10-08T19:38:31Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] Yeah, me too! Then I always feel kind of petty, for being annoyed at the way someone else pronounces their own name. But there it is. 😛 [/QUOTE] That makes 3 of us, then. I can’t stand it either. “How pretentious of her,” I always think. And how petty of me. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/53 "2007-10-08T22:13:30Z")
I like Diane Rehm’s voice. She sounds a little bit like my grandmother. I can’t stand Terri Gross, though. I don’t know if that’s because of her voice or because I hate 90% of _Fresh Air_ (or, as I like to call it, The Pretentious People Hour). Carl Kassel has his good days and his bad days. I like him best on _Wait, Wait_ because the day they tape those tend to fall on his good days. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/54 "2007-10-08T22:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] Terri Groos has uncontrolled upseak. Her inflection at the end of simple declarative sentences goes up like she’s asking a question. Ira Glass has a frequent contributor who does the exact same thing. I was walking down the street? And my dog had to go to the bathroom? So he went over to the fire hydrant and cocked his leg? [/QUOTE] I think you’re talking about Sarah Vowell, and I think she’s a fantastic storyteller. In either case, I think their tones are usually appropriate to what they are saying. First of all, I think you are probably overestimating how much upspeak Terry Gross is doing. Second, she’s often asking a question, or at least speaking in the context of a question, so upspeaking is not necessarily inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/55 "2007-10-08T23:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=ascenray] I think you’re talking about Sarah Vowell, and I think she’s a fantastic storyteller. In either case, I think their tones are usually appropriate to what they are saying. First of all, I think you are probably overestimating how much upspeak Terry Gross is doing. Second, she’s often asking a question, or at least speaking in the context of a question, so upspeaking is not necessarily inappropriate. [/QUOTE] Fer cryin’ out loud, give **plnnr** enough credit to know who he’s criticizing! Since **plnnr** isn’t on the boards right now, I’m going to presume an answer partly on his behalf, and partly on mine. Terry Gross does indeed have a, I would say, moderate problem with that insecure-sounding line delivery known variously as “upspeak” and “intonational rise”. Sure, she asks a lot of questions, but she has a habit of prefacing the actual question with a lot of prefacatory comments leading up to it. Often, as she is still winding up to her final point, her interview subject will launch into his or her response, and Terry Gross usually continues to talk through her point, and over what her guest is saying. For someone who never outgrew the mannerisms of a teenage Valley Girl, she can be surprisingly determined and even boorish. It’s very annoying when that happens. ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/56 "2007-10-09T02:29:42Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > Fer cryin’ out loud, give plnnr enough credit to know who he’s criticizing! I’m pretty sure he did, he was responding to this part… > [@plnnr](#): > > Ira Glass has a frequent contributor who does the exact same thing. _That_ would be Sarah Vowell (who I agree with **ascenray** about). I am with the people here who like the general “NPR Voice”, it’s actually pleasant to listen to. I totally have a crush on Ira Glass’ voice, and I will put my vote in with the people who like Diane Rhem’s as well. She seems very grandmotherly, which I find soothing. ---
**Author:** ![gsanaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8baadc/32.png) [@gsanaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gsanaba)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/57 "2007-10-09T02:57:41Z")
Here’s an interesting segment on how that soothing sound is achieved. [http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/05/25/06](http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2007/05/25/06) > [@](#): > > JOHN SOLOMON: Before I started working at On the Media, I was an avid NPR news listener. To me, like many devotees, an important aspect of the network’s appeal is how smooth, well-crafted and polished it sounds. > > Everyone seems so eloquent, interviewers ready with a clearly posed on-point question, interviewees offering an articulate answer, rarely an “uh,” “um” or “you know” uttered. Correspondents in the field, even when reporting from the middle of the rain forest, are equally cogent and coherent, and hosts move naturally, effortlessly and spontaneously between stories. > > That soothing and reliable sound has made the NPR product distinctive from other radio and news media. > JOHN SOLOMON: Now that I am on the other side of the speaker, it has been fascinating to discover the importance of behind-the-scenes technical packaging in bringing about that effect. > > Of course, I want to make it clear that I have found the NPR News on-air staff, present company excluded, is indeed smooth and eloquent, and normally ask the right question. But they, and now me, aren’t as perfect as it once seemed. New York Times media reporter, David Carr. ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/58 "2007-10-10T01:31:50Z")
I love Terri Gross’s laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/59 "2007-10-10T05:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] There are two I don’t love – Michelle Norris and Lynn Rosetto Casper (or however it’s spelled – reading this thread I’m going “So that’s how you spell that name!”) [/quote] IIRC, it’s Lynne Rossetto Kasper. To me she doesn’t sound smarmy, but sensualist - ie: someone with a high capacity for enjoyment. YMMV of course. > [@](#): > > The Science Friday guy (Ira Flato?) has a more standard radio voice. Standard NPR male voice anyway: Northeastern, reedy and slightly adenoidal. > [@](#): > > We have an excellent interviewer on the local affiliate – Kathryn Perkins – she could give Terri Gross a run for her money. She asks great questions and she lets her guests talk. We also have an awesome weather expert – Elwyn Taylor – who uses the standard NPR voice when he does little essays about growing up in Iowa. I get the feeling it’s Katherine - she seems to say it as three distinct syllables: Kath-er-ine. You’re right, she really holds up her end of a program. Elwyn is scintillating, but comes off more as a folksy storyteller than a standard public radio speaker to my ear. That slow lilt he has is very distinctive - it almost suggests a Welsh heritage (and his name is quite Welsh as well). But what is it about WOI that makes every program sound like it’s coming from a tiled restroom? When they switch over to Iowa City you hear a much deader, crisper room tone. (BTW, my dad was a student dj/announcer at WOI in the late 50s, back when the studios were in Snedeker Hall, and many years later worked in Instructional Technology in the Comm Bldg.) ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379/60 "2007-10-10T06:03:38Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] Dianne Rheams voice doesn’t bother me, probably because my juvenile sense of humor compells me to mimick her opening: “This is the Diannnnne Rheeeams Shoooow”. [/QUOTE] “Thaats just wunnnn derrr fulll.” NPR can make even the most interesting story become eventually boring by dragging out the subject in excrutiating detail with that soothing non-threatening NPR voice. Sometimes while driving, I will find myself interested in a topic, will drift off to thinking about something else for 20 mintues, then snap back and realize that they are still talking about the same topic in the same mellow voice-zzzzz. I still listen to it though- ya never know what insight you might gain if you stick with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-announcers-voices-on-npr/421379.md?page=4)