
‘NPR Voice’ Has Taken Over the Airwaves - danboarder
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/fashion/npr-voice-has-taken-over-the-airwaves.html
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mc32
I wish it would go away. When they interview they show emotion and drive
emotion as well as lead the speaker interviewee.

Please stop. I want to infer my own emotions, not yours NPR. I prefer even
speech, one which does not add judgement into the story.

Irksome is when they interview a pathetic subject and start with an apology.
Like I'm very sorry for the things I think are awful you're going through, but
let's have you explain the awful things in a sympathetic way.

Of course NPR isn't the only one. But they have mastered this technique.

~~~
flatline
There must be some acceptable middle ground. Have you ever listened to BBC
news radio? It's dry as chalk.

~~~
mikeash
The BBC news I listen to (the News Hour they play on my local NPR station
every morning) is much more emotional than NPR. This is especially true in the
interviews, where they hit hard and are not afraid to ask uncomfortable
questions, whereas NPR interviewers tend to be very accommodating and mostly
exist to set up the interviewee to say what they want to say.

~~~
nosuchthing
try BBC world service, it's dehydrated.

~~~
tsotha
I love the World Service. I just want to hear the news without gimmicks.

~~~
iheartmemcache
My #1 source. It's the antithesis of local news. Owen Bennett Jones is a
_legend_. He's Kronkite/Brokaw/Jennings all into one. My father is in his late
sixties and remembers listening to Jones with HIS father during the peak of
the cold war half way across the world. Lyse Doucet does some amazing
international on-the-ground coverage. I'll take dehydrated any day over
24-news-hour "let's spend 4 days over-analyzing the same 16 second
presidential campaign snafu 16 months away from the primaries" alternative.

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louisphilippe
_A result is the suggestion of spontaneous speech and unadulterated emotion.
The irony is that such presentations are highly rehearsed, with each caesura
calculated and every syllable stressed in advance._

This is actually a major problem with the entire TV and radio age. People who
seem awkward or fake in front of a camera are actually normal people. It is
simply not natural to talk directly to a camera lens as if it is a person, it
is not natural to speak in a folksy way to a generic audience that you cannot
see. People who seem natural in front of a camera, are actually slick, well-
practiced professionals. Thus in the modern era, all politicians and most
public figures end up being essentially actors.

~~~
drdeadringer
It occurs to me that a decent segment of the public figure that politicians
and public figures have acting skills.

Can you expand on why acting authentic, and the authentic seeming the
opposite, in front of the camera is "a major problem with the entire TV and
radio age"?

~~~
jobu
The problem is not that the genuinely authentic seems unauthentic, it's often
just boring and/or clumsy. I've heard some actual impromptu audio from radio
hosts and at times they come off as nervous, bumbling idiots (i.e. normal
people).

To me, the NPR voice is more like the way I sound in my head, before I open my
mouth and begin babbling incoherently.

~~~
drdeadringer
I have found this to be true for myself as well -- NPR Voice in my head,
babbling idiot in front of the camera. I should try to improve that.

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danboarder
I actually like the more casual, conversational storytelling that NPR is known
for. I find the NPR style of delivery to be innovative and calling this "NPR
Voice" might just be a negative dig from media traditionalists.

Ira Glass is one of the most recognizable NPR reporters and explains it like
this, from the linked article:

“Back when we were kids, authority came from enunciation, precision,” Mr.
Glass said. “But a whole generation of people feel like that character is
obviously a phony — like the newscaster on ‘The Simpsons’ — with a deep voice
and gravitas.”

For his more intimate storytelling, Mr. Glass “went in the other direction,”
he said. “Any story hits you harder if the person delivering it doesn’t sound
like a news robot but, in fact, sounds like a real person having the reactions
a real person would.”

~~~
mc32
I prefer the NHK style of presentation. Just plain matter of factly. "These
are the things that happened today." not the "These are the things that
happened today and they are terrible, if you are any kind of responsible human
being you will feel empathetic and take action"

I mean, it's as if every human story on NPR has an implicit call to action. I
don't want your propaganda (nor Fox's or MSNBC's etc.) I just want you to
present news and I can maker up my mind if it's terrible good, indifferent or
somewhere in between.

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keane
The suggestion of "spontaneous speech" comes from not only a "highly
rehearsed" intonation but is perhaps primarily the result of extreme editing,
as discussed in this revealing audio post looking at the practice by On the
Media:

[http://lk.tumblr.com/post/5435349794/public-radio-
production](http://lk.tumblr.com/post/5435349794/public-radio-production)

Really eye-opening to learn that the NPR anchors, reporters, and guest
interview subjects are not nearly as quick-thinking and well-spoken as they
are made to sound in the final product.

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fluxon
Amateurish and ersatz "thoughtful thinking aloud" is just the latest reason I
can't stand listening to radio, and now prefer podcasts. Pause and ponder all
you want, Abumrad, Krulwich, Koenig et. al. I have set my player (Podcast
Addict, among others) to skip silence and play at 1.2-2.0x speed, so that
gormless pauses and ponderous exposition are now scarcely noticeable.

~~~
mdaniel
In this similar vein, I had a religious experience when I realized YouTube had
a 2x button. I'm now livid beyond belief that I can't do it on mobile.

Although I will rarely listen to more emotionally charged content (TAL,
Radiolab, etc) on the multiplier, since I don't listen to those shows for
their facts or to learn something.

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hugh4
Not entirely taken over, only on the left-wing stations. Right wing stations
have an entirely different vocal style, and you can tell within seconds what
sort of station you've just tuned into.

~~~
intopieces
This is what my mother calls "insufferable, incredulous shouting." She's not
left-wing by any stretch of the imagination, but she listens to NPR because
she'd "rather get information from people who aren't so angry all the time."

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analog31
While we're on the subject, stop pronouncing "billion" with a pause and
explosive B, like you have to take a deep breath before saying it:

"_____bbbbbBillion"

It's not a big number any more. ;-)

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gdubs
I have referred to NPR, for some time now, as the Bureau of Silly Voices (in
homage to Monty Python's Bureau of Silly Walks).

~~~
mjklin
Not to mention Silly Names. Looking at you, Sunari Glinton, Neda Ulaby, and
Olfebia Quist-Arcton.

Speaking of names, why do the anchors pronounce the Egypt-based
correspondent's name "Layla Fadel" while she pronounces her own name "Layla
Faldin"? This irritates me no end!

~~~
intopieces
>Speaking of names, why do the anchors pronounce the Egypt-based
correspondent's name "Layla Fadel" while she pronounces her own name "Layla
Faldin"? This irritates me no end!

It's a product of accent. Her last name is فضل‎ . The anchors are producing
the Arabic letter ض as [d], whereas Leila herself is pronouncing it as the
Lebanese do: [dˤ]. The pharyngealization of the voiced alveolar stop has an
effect on the next letter, pulling it from the alveolar lateral approximant
[l] to something closer to to the retroflex lateral approximant, [ɭ]. Because
we don't have [ɭ] in English (or whatever language/s you speak), you hear
what's closest to that, the alveolar nasal [n]. The same goes for the phantom
[l] you hear before the d: pharyngealization changes your perception of those
sounds.

~~~
jerednel
So is it essentially like when an American pronounces the name, Pedro, with a
rhotic R and without the alveolar trill?

~~~
intopieces
You have the concept right. However, in Spanish the 'r' in "Pedro" is not a
trill but a tap. In Spanish, the trill only comes after /n/, /l/, or /s/ or at
the beginning of a word.

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fiatmoney
Is that the same one that ridiculously overpronounces any vaguely foreign-
sounding person or place name?

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chris_wot
The only thing worse than NPR voice is Shakespearre voice.

~~~
mc32
Vocal fry and upspeak are pretty hard to listen to once they get in your
ear.... Lists to BBC presenters...

~~~
cbd1984
Interesting you mentioned two vocal practices associated with young women.

~~~
mc32
Men do it too, Lots of presenters. Even some of the ones on NPR. One of them
sounds like he has dry spit (phlegm) in his throat. The speaker of the house
was wont to do it on occasion too, so does Obama. May be known as "croak" in
some circles.

~~~
cafard
Upspeak used (say 35 or 40 years ago) to be a reliable marker for a western
Pennsylvania upbringing. How it escaped to the larger population I don't
remember.

