Why Doesn't NPR Sound More Like the Rest of America?

NPR ^ | May 18, 2005 | Jeffrey A. Dvorkin

[baystaterebel]

Listeners say they can always tell when they are tuned to a public radio station. They say they can tell by the sound of the voices, the cadence of the delivery and the intonation of the reporters and announcers.

Many listeners who are non-English speaking immigrants to the United States say that NPR and public radio in general give them the best information and the clearest diction on American radio. Anyone who takes a taxi in Washington, D.C. can attest to NPR's popularity among immigrant cab drivers.

[Trimegistus]

I've noticed that all the men on NPR use the same voice. It's high-pitched, kind of dry in tone, with an odd mix of rushed words and mysterious pauses. No human males I know speak like that. It's as if they're all trying to sound like middle-aged women college professors.

[x]

When you say NPR the phrase "nasal drone" comes most readily to mind. One of the announcers -- I think it was Robert Siegel -- seemed always to be sneering or whimpering as he read the news. Listening to him was an unpleasant experience. He apparently didn't have a clue just how annoying he sounded over the radio.

But this is interesting:

Words That Should NOT Sound Alike:

Demur/Demure
Imminent/Eminent
Terrorist/Terrace
Err/Air
Oil/All, Awl
Pin/Pen
Stocking/Stalking
Auto/Otto
Mayor/Mare

I don't see my own personal favorite "ant/aunt," though.

Apparently some of the NPR hosts had to lose Southern or New York or "ethnic" accents. Some authenticity is lost in the process, but it's good to know that someone is looking out for the little differences in sound between one word and another.

It's not clear that NPR announcers are any better at speaking clearly than those who work at the other networks. It's just that rather than going for a neutral, all-American tone they adopt that languid, nasal monotone as a suffocating rule.

[wolficatZ]

Check out http://wwitv.com/portal.htm if you're on cable now.

[Katya]

NPR hosts and announcers speak with as little inflection and emotion as possible...I always figured it was their little way of "playing" detached and objective in reporting the story.

[lsilver5]

You are right! NPR sounds exactly like the BBC--double questios, cadance, intonaiton.

[lsilver5]

NPR has double questioning and occasional grammar errors. The train their people to have a certain cadance. I become particularly annoyed by their mising of "authentic sound," translation in a pseudo accent, and condescending attitude toward liberalism.

[lsilver5]

NPR has double questioning and occasional grammar errors. They train their people to have a certain cadance. I become particularly annoyed by their misuse "authentic sound," translation in a pseudo accent, and condescending attitude toward liberalism. The illusion of midwestern speech as Standard is, indeed, an illusion.