Most annoying NPR voice.

I''m going to go with Mike from You Bet Your Garden. I detect Philly, but more than that he seems to speak forced perky. \ \ Other than that, he really seems to know his stuff and I like him but something about his voice grates on me big time.\ \ And I''m from Philly (suburbs), but I don''t sound like that.

• They''re all annoying, how can we pick just one?

• Hey OP, I agree. I am also from the suburbs of Philly, and I know that he is based in this area. He gives wonderful advice, but I don''t care for his voice either.

• That old guy who slurs his words and sounds like he has marbles in his mouth.

• Dr. Zorba Paster - a huge purse falls out with every word interspersed with squeals of delight.

• Am I terrible person if I say Dianne Rheim?

  The Voice of the Night

• Ira Glass. Dweeb with gayvoice rising.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zB57DBqNh0

• I love it when Dianne Rheim says, "You can also send me a tweet." It just seems so funny to hear it in that voice.

• Jonathan Schwartz, HANDS DOWN!

• You''re not alone, VOTN. I can''t stand listening to Diane Rehm. I don''t care how good an interviewer she is.

• Peter overmayer. Horrible speech impediments .

• I used to thing that, too. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and started paying attention to the great interviews. I got over the voice and don''t notice it anymore.

• The bitch who hosts THIS SPLENDID TABLE owns this thread. \ \ I also hate Robert Siegel, especially how he always pronounces his name "SEE-gul" with over-emphasis.

• The whiny one. Oh wait...

  All of NPR

• Is it mean to say Daniel Schorr? After all, the guy is 93 and still working.

• Daniel Schorr''s dentures moving around in his mouth are really disturbing to listen to. Old fogie should just go to a beach house and sit there for the rest of his days.

• Which guys speaks at 78 rpm while listeners have 45 hearing?

• MEchelle norris puts me to sleep.

• Ditto Dr. Zorba. Like nails on a chalkboard to me.

• Terry Gross''s voice is really aging. It''s embarrassing when they play clips of her from a decade ago, so dewy, so fresh. And now all haggy and stuttery (that''s WHEN she actually works, which is less and less).

• \ Daniel Schorr, for being annoying.\ \ Diane Rehm....who spoke somewhere about suffering from some awful illness that caused her to lose her voice, or damaged her vocal chords. Sorry for that, but that doesn''t make it any easier to listen to her.

• "decade ago, so dewy, so fresh"\ \ \ Terry Gross hasn''t been "dewy and fresh" for MANY decades.

• that old fuck that does that lake wobegone show. they did a movie with meryl streep and lily tomlin on his ''show''\ \ and the old fucker is married to young(ish) thing and has two young kids. christ, he''s older than dirt and looks like it.

  for some reason he grates on me

• I think Diane Rehm had some kind of throat cancer, which makes me feel even more horrible, but she sounds like she gargles broken glass in the morning.\ \ Michelle Norris is probably the worst offender, but a lot of the female hosts have a habit being really precious about over-enunciation.\ \ My boyfriend maintains the CarTalk guys pwn everyone else.

  The Voice of the Night

• I applaud Diane Rehm for continuing to host her show despite the illness that affects her voice. And she handles her guests very well\ \ Ira Glass has a sexy gayvoice (and I wish I never saw a picture of him--talk about destroying the dream).\ \ Ira Flato (sp?) on Talk of the Nation ''Science Friday''--now there is an annoying high-pitched dweed voice, right there.

• Diane Rehm suffers from spasmodic dysphoria, a neurological disorder.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasmodic_dysphonia

  Carl Kassel

• sorry it''s Peter Overby.\ \ He just sopunds so awful, I have to turn the dial.\ \ Who in hell told him he should go into radio - Barbara Walters?

• peter overby link

  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126840652

• Now here''s an image I''m not sure I needed:\ \ [quote]On August 20, 2009, Rehm caught her heel in the hem of her slacks while dashing across the street and cracked her pelvis when she fell. Recuperation took several weeks.\ \ One of the Something Awful trolls did a Photoshop of an album called "Diane Rehm Sings Christmas Favorites." Which I can''t help finding hysterical, and ashamed.\ \ Yeah, I''m going to hell.

  The Voice of the Night

• On WNYC New York''s NPR, Lorraine Maddox reads the list of underwriters. The most monotonous voice who says penis when describing someone who plays a piano.

• Diane Rehm asks some really tough questions. She also gets information on things that other reporters skip over and don''t pass on. She has wonderful guests and I always learn from the questions she asks. I''ve gotten to the point where I''m so used to that voice that I barely notice because I''m so intent on the information that comes from her show.

• Schott Schimon is pretty irritating, trying to avoid those sibilants.\ \ Steve Kerwood, who''s PRI actually, but he used to host Living on Earth, and he had this faux-musical cadence that never varied from sentence to sentence. Vomit inducing.\ \ Ira Flatow is fucking annoying R24.\ \ I cut Diane Rheem a little slack since I found out about her condition. She''s consistently good.\ \ I hate the way Nora Raum says "Dow Jones", with a little dip in her voice.\ \ Tavis Smiley always sounds like he''s yelling. (PRI again.)\ \ Best voices: Rene Montagne and Ofeibia Quist-Arcton, Dakar!

  Anonymous

• "I''m Bob Oakes and this is the news." \ God, that accent is horrid! And unfortunately, I agree about Diane Rehm. Listening to her makes me want to clear my throat constantly..

• [quote]Michelle Norris is probably the worst offender...\ \ It''s pronounced MEE SHELL NORris.

  Michele Norris

• White House reporter, Scott Horsley owns this thread.

  Mr. Obama

• Doo whalli si kow kow!!!

• I hate how Rex Paul pronounces his name as Kojo Nnamdi.

• I HATE BOB OAKES!!!! HATE HIM!!! Thank God I don''t live in Boston anymore.

• I love Terry Gross'' voice, and I think it still sounds quite youthful.

• No love for NPR Asian Reporter Doualy Xaykaothao?

  The Voice of the Night

• Diane Rehm''s voice reminds me of my mom''s, whose vocal cords have been affected by MS, so I don''t think much about how she sounds. I do notice, however, how she is oblivious to discomfort when a guest attempts to evade or talk around the point of her questions and she drills them until they answer. Diane is awesome.

• Oh, R39, no love whatsoever. Every time I hear Doualy pronounce her first name ("doo-wa-ha-lee") it drives me up the fucking wall. Perfectly good days have been ruined just by hearing her annoying voice on the radio. She OWNS this thread.

• R41 Don''t you talk shit about Doualy Xaykaothao! That bitch will fuck you up big time if she finds out!

• Hate Doowalli. She needs to get a real name, then we''ll talk.

• Ofeibia Quist-Arcton, Dakar! Seriously, I have no idea what this woman looks like, but she should be the next Catwoman. LOVE her. \ \ How can you hate Daniel Schore? When he leaves or dies, I''ll be distraught. I''ve listened to him for so long, and relied on his views---It would be like a death in the family.He''s so...reasonable. I rewatched "The Net" with Sandra Bullock recently. He was there as a reporter. One of the more trusted news faces/voices of a generation.\ \ Scott Simon is another, don''t get me started. Legend. The geekiness that is Ira Glass endears me. I was shocked to find out he was straight.\ \ Click and Clack, wow. VOTN, your bf/husband is so on the mark, they own this thread. I love a good Boston/NY outer borough accent. Possibly a small fetish. While I like them, those voices are seriously untenable.

• Your wish is our command, R44.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/fespaco/images/ofeibea.jpg

• Unfortunately, she''s not exactly Catwoman material.

  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318

  The Voice of the Night

• Excepting Diane Rehm''s, I find most of the voices on NPR pleasant and soothing. Is it a requirement of the network that on-air talent speak in an unemphatic, dulcet near-montone? Serious question.

• I do take a perverse delight in listening to Eleanor Beardsley, who sounds not unlike a Xanaxed Nancy Grace, having to delicately pronounce European names.

  The Voice of the Night

• No they''re not. I like Terry Gross'' voice.

• I CANNOT listen to Dianne Rheim.

• They should hire this guy:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAD4kPGxNFI&feature=related

• Linda Holmes. The only thing worse than her voice is her moronic material.

• [quote]Michelle Norris is probably the worst offender, but a lot of the female hosts have a habit being really precious about over-enunciation.\ \ So many sound like they came from SNL''s Delicious Dish. A lot of times, the people they interview start to ape their slightly haughty and reverential tones.\ \ Good times.

• That stupid bitch who sounds like she''s about to burst out laughing all the time: Neda Ulaby

• It''s a tie: David Welna, Tamara Keith and Adam Goldberg.

• Another vote for queeny squealer Dr Zorba Paster--AND that lunkhead who is his co host!\ \ The "Splendid Table" dame is Lynne Rosetto Casper. Her voice is irritating, but her cooking suggestions are gag inducing.

• I''m surprised there aren''t more votes for Michele Norris and her, for lack of a better term, bedroom voice. Blecch.

• Sandra Tsing-Loh! My neighbor calls her Sanderson Low. Absolutely worst voice in radio. I have to change the station any time she comes on. I''ve actually written to them complaining about her horrible voice.

• OMG I love Lynne Rosetto Casper''s voice! I really find it so charming and soothing and lilting. I imagine her with big dimples, perfect teeth and a beautiful smile.%0D\ %0D\ It''s Lakshmi Singh and her lockjaw accent who I can''t bear.

• Neta Ulabi.\ \ I want to like her, i really do. Her pieces are good but her voice is just too affected.

• [quote]OMG I love Lynne Rosetto Casper's voice! I really find it so charming and soothing and lilting. I imagine her with big dimples, perfect teeth and a beautiful smile.%0D %0D Can't stand that woman, always cackling and braying like a drunk-ass donkey at her own jokes and, in every other sentence, a whispered, as if naughty, reference to having "a nice glass of wine...ha HA HA... HA HA HA...HA!" [and then a low, wheezy sigh.]%0D %0D Is it Peter Overby or another reporter who sounds like David Sedaris? Actually, I'm not bothered by his or really any NPR voices, though I do, now and again, want to throw something at Diane Rheem when she does her super-saccharin voice reserved for some female literary giant like Kate Lehrer. %0D %0D Nina Totenberg is my absolute favorite, with her black-coffee-&-a-cigarette voice and those long, compound-complex sentences, nougat rich in detail, sending out their tendrils, peppered with excerpts of conversation, each longer than the longest paragraphs of the mere mortals who share her airspace. She's wonderful, and I look forward to the Supreme Court sessions for the pleasure of hearing her.%0D %0D %0D %0D %0D %0D

• Singh it, Lakshmi!

• I dare anyone to say a word against Leonard Lopate!

• "I''m CLOW-djyoh San-CHESSS."

• Who''s the lispy health/medical reporter? Oh, yeah, Joann Silburner(sp?). I hate her Thindy Brady sibilance.

• Louisa Lim the Asian Beijing based correspondent who can''t pronounce her "R"''s. She''s a Baba Wawa Elmer Fudd mashup.

• [quote]Diane Rehm suffers from spasmodic dysphoria, a neurological disorder.\ \ I admire Diane''s style and journalistic chops, but I have to admit that the tremor in her voice really bothers me. \ \ I''m sort of a geeky audio guy, and hereby suggest that NPR consider running her through Autotune, which could probably smooth out that rapid variance in pitch.

• Lakshmi Singh''s family are from Trinidad, but she pronounces "Pakistan" as if she were in a Mumbai call center. \ \ The worst -- *worst!**-- NPR newsreader is Shay Stevens. They put her on the overnight shifts, probably because she''s so awful.

• Ari Shapiro\ \ Renee Montagne\ \ Diane Rehm\ \ The stupid bitch who hosts the cooking show

• Terry Gross'' awful habit of inserting a giggle when she thinks it may be a tough question. I just want to slap her.%0D\ %0D\ Dr. Zorba has got to be the gayest sounding guy on all radio. He makes Richard Simmons sound butch.%0D\ %0D\ Lynne Rosetto Casper sounds as if she''s talking down to everyone. It''s like you''re the hired help for the party but she''ll pass on a few of her cooking hints.%0D\ %0D\ Ira Glass - flat, monotone, BORING! And how do they manage to find so many guests who sound even more boring than Ira?%0D\ %0D\ Diane Rehm asks the questions I''d ask and she drills them until they reply. Once you get accustomed to her voice, she''s amazing. %0D\ %0D\ My favorites are Neal Conan (Talk of the Nation) and Ira Flatow (Science Friday). %0D\ %0D\ Michele Martin (Tell Me More), once demonstrated her everyday speech patterns and vocabulary compared to her radio voice. That was fascinating. It was like Whoopi Goldberg turning into Jane Seymour.

• \ Robert SEEgull (to paraphrase an old post, he always sounds like he is so tired of being mistaken for other men named Robert that he is indignent. It''s like, "NO I am Robert SEEgull,how many times must I tell you?")\ \ Ira Glass is ok. But he has a speech impediment too. He pronounces "love" as "wuv". Listen for yourselves.\ \ Tavis Smiley tries to sound too street. And by street I mean ghetto and by ghetto I mean black.

• Ya can''t beat those two Cah Tawk brothas.

• I can''t think of the name but the guy that hosts the Market Place show just sounds sexy and fun.%0D\ %0D\ And sorry, I love Lynne Rosetto Casper, she just sounds like she''s enjoying everything so much. She makes me happy.

• Oh God it''s not even close. Those Bos-tards on Car Talk. I''d rather listen to Diane Rhiem sing Wagner''s entire Ring Cycle than endure 30 seconds of their hideous accents.

• I''m sure they were all valedictorians of their class and eveything, but the sound of their voice should be taken into account in the final decision to hire them. There are some people on our local news who have voices that could drill a hole in concrete. Their fathers must be corporate bigwigs or something for them to have been hired.

• Ari Shapiro, of course. His voice just screams "I''m better than you."

• Tavis''s mama fluncked spelled. She named him him Travis.

• Lorraine Mattox, who does the Underwriters announcements on New York''s WNYC has problem with t''s in final syllables. Emphasizes the last syllable in man-ha-TIN and concerto as con-chair-TOE. She''s also the voice on Toll Free Information 800-555-1212

• Radio actually makes Ari''s voice more tolerable. I recently had the misfortune of hearing him speak in person.

• The weekend announcer at WMFE in Orlando - gayvoice like you can''t begin to imagine!

• Kai Ryssdal

• Meeeeechille Norris; I mean, come on, who in the hell pronounces Michelle that way (except the Beatles). God, she is incredibly annoying and faux compassionate and caring. I want to gag everytime she "sincerely" thanks one of her guests.%0D\ %0D\ Jeff Brady with his nerdy/little boy voice is also someone who makes me want to turn the sound off.

• I have always hated Scott Simon and his fake laugh.

• Brian Lehrer on WNYC-hate his voice and who the fuck cares about Jersey schools? Give it up, already.

• Ira Glass. He is a quintessential example of one of those Upper West Side nebbishes who will mow you over to get a table at Sarabeth''s Kitchen.

• R77 flunked something too, unless he was being satirical...\ \ R65, agreed, Joanne Silburner owns this thread. I don''t even think she has a mouth, she just has a giant nose.

• Lynn Rosetto was in the Paramus, New Jersey high school class of a teacher-friend.

• I love the beautfully rich sounding voice of Clayelle Dalferes on WQXR in New York. Every word is pronounced correctly, including names of foreign composers.

• Edward Goldman for Art Talk

  cannot stand to listen to him

• Spasmodic Dysphoria itself sounds like the name of an exotic yet dulcet-toned NPR host.

  "Spasmodic Dysphoria, Ulaan Bataar"

• Do they refuse to hire a George, Jim, Fred, Mary, or Carol? It seems you need an exotic name to get on NPR.

• I love MPR threads here.%0D\ %0D\ I''m surprised to see all the Lynne Rosetto Casper hate. I enjoy her immensely.%0D\ %0D

• [quote]I''m surprised to see all the Lynne Rosetto Casper hate. %0D\ %0D\ I loathe the hate trolls who turn a mere dislike into "hate."

• Hands down: Sylvia Poggioli. Toots, we all know that you''re really a Yank, as does everyone in Italy. So cut it out with the over-Italianization when you say your last name.\ \ Runner up: just about any european radio correspondent reporting for NPR. They all have the *exact* same cadence. Duh duh .. duh duh .. .. duh duh .. duh duh .. .. duh duh .. duh duh .. duh duuuuuuuuuuuh. Every sentence ends the saaaaaaame. In every stoooooooory. When listening to their reports (or tuning into BBC World Service, for example), I actually find myself rocking to the cadence at some point. Don''t get me wrong: I love BBC television news, but listening to BBC radio news is quite tedious, IMHO.\ \ Sylvia tries to do it -- almost sounds like she goes out of her way to -- and it drives me up the fucking wall.

• Has no one mentioned those Wait, Wait, Don''t Tell Me guys yet? What''re their names? And where does that show come from? It always sounds like they''re in a huge stadium with thousands and thousands of people.%0D\ %0D\ I do love Paula Poundstone, however.

• " Ofeibia Quist-Arcton, Dakar!"\ \ Thanks to DL, I LOL every time I hear that.

• Lynne Rosseto Casper always sounds like she''s on the verge of drooling.\ \ Sandra Tsing-Lo - oh my god, how is this intensely unclever woman allowed on air.

• Cindy Rodriguez just because she insists on pronouncing her last name like she''s just got off the plane from San Juan.

• Linda Hunt who announces for Commonwealth Club lectures out of SF. Such fake plummy tones! She makes Kathleen Turner and Sally Kellerman sound unaffected.

• R93, what the fuck is wrong with you?%0D\ %0D

  R92

• Dr. Zorba.\ \ Click and Clack.

• One of the prizes on "Wait, Wait" is for Carl Cassel (sp?)to put his voice on your answering machine. Thanks, but no thanks.

• I hope Sandra Tsing-Loh is affected by the polar shift and falls dead in a field.

• "From NPR Newwwwws in Washington, I''m Corey FlinTofffffff"

• Lise Doucet OWNS this thread.

• For a network with supposedly well-eduated and well-spoken talent you can count the number of newscasters who know that news should be pronounced nyooz.

• Is there a reason Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep don''t feel compelled to pronounce names correctly? They''re always butchering names.

• Speaking of butchering names, Dolores Handy in Boston stumbles over at least every third word she speaks. Drives me crazy!!

• Oooh Oooh, my favorite pet peeve. Most Annoying? ALL OF THEM! \ \ I don''t know how they manage to find so many people with tics, speech impediments, raspy vocal chords, pinched nasal passages, and just plain monotones, but they do. It''s amazing.

• The funny thing is, they refuse to hire black men--who usually have great radio voices.

• Shut up, Ted Williams/R110. Go back to your pipe.

• Garrison Keillor has a denture-whistle that can shatter wineglasses. There isn''t a high-frequencey filter made that can cope with it. Sometimes I have to turn the dial, it''s so ear-splitting and distracting.

• [quote]One of the prizes on "Wait, Wait" is for Carl Cassel (sp?)to put his voice on your answering machine. %0D\ %0D\ Why would anyone want that for a prize? If I phoned someone and heard his voice, I wouldn''t even recognize the voice. Further, I wouldn''t sit there and think "Wow! Brian must have won ''Wait, Wait.''"

• Terry Gross'' voice isn''t bad, but the inane giggles and inappropriately placed laughing make her one of the worst interviewers on radio.%0D\ %0D\ Today, after listening to a somewhat somber audio clip from a film, she came on with "That''s very touching. Ha-ha-ha-ha!" WTF?%0D\ %0D\ As always, she tosses in laughs and giggles that make no sense and totally detract from her interviews.

• Kai Ryssdal is on American Public Media. I love his voice-he sounds so sexy I think.

• Obviously you are all deaf or don''t have Car Talk because the most annoying voices are Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers. No other names should be listed or mentioned while these two still have larynges.

  the cheekster

• [quote]Lise Doucet OWNS this thread.%0D\ %0D\ Bite. Your. Tongue! Lyse Doucet of the BBC World Service is a peerless journalist and, yes, has the most kick-ass New Brunswick accent.

• Cheekster has a point...I can''t believe I didn''t even think of them.

• I hate steve inskeep - he hardly hides his disdain for Obama and treats neocon guests with kid gloves. And his voice sucks.

• Guys, I mentioned the Car Talk boys many posts ago.

  r whatever

• [quote]Kai Ryssdal\ \ Yeah, somewhat fuckable. See link.

  http://freakonomicsradio.com/marketplace-loves-freakonomics.html

• My favorite voice is Mark Garber..or he just on the local NPR station in NYC?

  hud

• Corey has the best voice around. The one that is the most annoying is the guy that comes on and says...%0D\ %0D\ brought to you by blabla...DOT COMMM. and adittional funding by bla...DOT COMMMMMMM.%0D\ %0D\ Ugh!

• r122, Mark Garber is only on WNYC. On sister station WQXR, I change the dial when Annie Bergen is on. Can''t stand her hissing s''s.

• [quote]The one that is the most annoying is the guy that comes on and says... brought to you by blabla...DOT COMMM. and adittional funding by bla...DOT COMMMMMMM.\ \ That''s Frank Tavares, Funding Credits Announcer.

  http://www.npr.org/people/2101277/frank-tavares

• The woman with the British accent who does the credits on "On The Media" sounds like she''s straining at stool. The hosts are American, why do they need a Brit for the last 30 seconds?

• The Brit is one of the producers, R126. I forgot her name. Saves them having to hire on-air talent.%0D\ %0D\ hud, I love Mark Garber''s voice, too. It''s quintessential NY but not annoying. it''s soothing.%0D\ %0D\ I had a nightmare last night with a voice-over by Ophebia Quist-Arckten.

• I can barely listen to Robert SEAgull''s snide-sounding voice. I usually turn down the volume so I can''t hear him.\ \ MEE-shell Norris asks the most inane questions but her voice isn''t all that bad.\ \ I agree about Terri Gross and that silly giggle of hers. She''s much too old for that.\ \ The guys on Car Talk set out to be mechanics, not radio announcers. I can cut them some slack.\ \ Tavis Smiley''s odd accent bothered me until I got used to it watching him on PBS. I love the way he laughs, throwing his entire body into it, and I can forgive him nearly anything because of it.

• [quote]I hope Sandra Tsing-Loh is affected by the polar shift and falls dead in a field.\ \ I haven''t heard her on NPR, but she is one funny writer. I loved [italic]Depth Takes a Holiday[/italic].

• Right you are, 94, Sylvia Poggoli''s hometown in Worcester, Massachusetts.

• I heard Mark Garber yesterday afternoon doing the news. Must be a fill-in, not on the WNYC site as a staffer.

• [quote]I agree about Terri Gross and that silly giggle of hers.%0D\ %0D\ It''s not just the giggle that''s annoying, it''s the fact that she giggles when there''s nothing funny. It''s a nervous habit that she needs to work on. It really detracts from her interviews. %0D\ %0D\ If she''s not sure how a guest will react to her question, she tosses in a few giggles. %0D\ %0D\ "Were you upset (giggle) when you found your son had murdered (giggle) his cousin over a (giggle) ice cream cone?"

• The way Terry burrowed her way up Jon Stewart''s ass when he was on her show was revolting.

• I agree, R132. My mother and her cronies all resort to coyness in order to come across as deferential. I suppose it must be a sort of social adaptation on the part of older women.\ \ I don''t expect that behavior from a woman with the ambition and drive to achieve Gross'' status. It can''t possibly take the sting out of a hard question, but she must think it somehow protects her from her interviewee''s wrath.\ \ I wish I could reach into the radio and slap her silly every time she giggles.

• Hey, I started this thread, years ago, it seems.

• And the voices continue to annoy.\ \ Even as NPR goes more right wing to curry federal funds.

• There is not a single Conservative or right-wing host. NPR as the radio voice the Democratic party is wearing thin.

• Yeah, R137. Unlike Fox and all three of my local network affiliates, all of whom are owned by right-wingers.

• Terry Gross is Queen of "Uptalk."

  Ari Shapiro''s Gayvoice

• R136 meet R137.

• Hehehe r139

• grating is robert shiegel''s "shtiriesh and newsh"...sheesh%0D\ %0D\ but torture is neda ulaby''s every-growing affectation%0D\ %0D\ not to mention alix spiegel''s creaky voice...bleh%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ %0D\ %0D\ %0D

  anonymous

• There are a couple of young women reporters with major creaky voices....incredibly annoying, how did they get jobs in radio? Nothing against having young women report, just use ones that sound like women, not baby girls

  seymour

• It''s impossible for Renee Montagne to ask a question without whining. Impossible.

  Pete

• bump because of the current NPR scandale.

• Ira Glass and the affected, faux gayvoice.

• Completely concur, R146. I throw things at the radio when I hear Ira Glass.

• Diane Ream

• I fucking love Ira Glass! Everytime he says pwedge dwive, I cum.

• There''s no way in hell I could''ve missed this thread so I probably already responded. However, just in case:\ \ Lynne Rosetto Kasper\ \ Ari Shapiro\ \ Renee Montagne\ \ I temporarily switch to C-SPAN radio or the classical music station whenever any of them are talking for extended periods of time. One would think that a radio network would go out of their way to hire people with decent voices. Kasper, Shapiro, and Montagne sound like nails on a chalkboard.

• all the more reason to defund NPR. Imagine a RADIO station that hires people who can''t speak and then teaches them to speak in the NPR voice just to make them more annoying, so that people change the station. What a waste of money.

  defund it now

• r143, it''s not how you sound or what you know, it''s who you blow at NPR.

• NPR wants us to think they''re are so concerned with diversty names must be pronounced in their original language, but only when the language is Spanish.

• LMAO @R153!\ \ Have any other NPR listeners noticed that every now and then, the hosts of either "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" will slip up and call Lourdes Garcia-Navarro "Lulu?" \ \ The nickname is pure trash, yet everyone turns into Penelope Cruz when introducing a story by LGN.

• [quote]Ira Glass and the affected, faux gayvoice.\ \ This American Life isn''t NPR, it''s PRI. \ \ There''s also APM, which produces Marketplace and A Prairie Home Companion. Also not NPR.

  Yes, this argument again.

• Would you shut the fuck up, R155? Marketplace, A Prairie Home Companion, This American Life...they all air on what network? Who gives a shit that they''re produced by Public Radio International or American Public Media. What word do they both have in common with NPR?

• [quote]Would you shut the fuck up, [R155]? Marketplace, A Prairie Home Companion, This American Life...they all air on what network?\ \ NPR isn''t a network. It''s a producer and syndicator of programming, as are PRI and APM. Public radio stations aren''t affiliates of some network called "NPR".

  Now I''ll shut the fuck up.

• [quote]NPR isn''t a network. It''s a producer and syndicator of programming, as are PRI and APM. Public radio stations aren''t affiliates of some network called "NPR".%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ And Scott facial tissues aren''t Kleenex but the immediate world still calls them kleenex.

• R157, I feel your pain. \ \ I work at a station where most of our listeners just think we''re NPR, despite carrying PRI, BBC, CBC, and APM programs AND 30 YEARS of saying our call letters every top of the hour, and @:19, :29, :39, and :49.

• I''d hate to be Zorba Paster''s wife: having to listen to that voice, share dresses, etc. ;>)\ \ But the worst, in my book, is Dianne Rehm. She needs to retire. Her voice is so tedious and sounds so pedantic. I know she has had a medical problem, but when you can''t do your job, you need to do something else (produce, teach, etc).

  Matthew Brenneman

• Why is that every time someone posts an NPR thread some person replies with the fact that "he/she is on PRI or APM" -- it''s all NPR to me cuz where I live they carry content from all three providers on the same station.

• I love Marco Werman''s voice. The one I can''t stand is Joanne Silburner...GRATES!!!

• [quote]Ya can''t beat those two Cah Tawk brothas%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ %0D\ R72 isn''t quite sure if the Car Talk guys are from Boston or New York.%0D\ %0D\ Dude, they are from Boston and it''s "CAH TOCK" (not tawk---that''s NY)

• Zorba Paster has the gayest voice in radio. And then he tosses in all kinds of squeals and screeches.

• R154, yes, I believe I heard Robert Siegel call Lourdes Garcia-Navarro "Lulu" when she was reporting from Egypt last month. Cracked me up.

• Terri Gross and her constant inappropriate laugh.

• [quote]Why is that every time someone posts an NPR thread some person replies with the fact that "he/she is on PRI or APM"\ \ Because every time someone posts an NPR thread, people reply with names of on-air talent who aren''t on NPR.\ \ For one thing, it''s important to emphasize the distinction for fundraising purposes. Thinking of all public radio as "NPR" does not benefit PRI.

  PRI fan and contributor

• APM, APR, NPR, and PRI are Program Syndicators.%0D\ When you make a donation it''s to a local station.%0D\ Your station buys programming from the above-mentioned, who do not own any stations.

• The answer is still Sandra Tsung-Loh.

• Since I''m unemployed and don''t have $18 to cough up on anything that isn''t beer or reefer, posting this here.\ \ None of these, not even Joanne Silburner, is as bad as Tamron Hall pronouncing Ts as Ds!!! Makes me want to go on a dang killing spree.

  retardet

• Yet during the pledge drive they refer to themselves as an "NPR station" even though they may carry programing from other organizations.\ \ I know that if my local station (WLRN) stopped referring to themselves as an NPR station I would too. \ \ But R157 seems much more concerned about making this distinction than the stations are.

• Jonathan Schwartz hands down. The pauses, the ethnic air, god I hate that voice

• Jonathan is on WNYC New York playing Adult Standards. He''s the son of songwriter Arthur Schwartz and married to Zohra Lampert.

• "Car Talk" came on while I was busy on a project so I didn''t turn it off right away. Some woman called in about having to get brake jobs twice a year on her cars. This is her history with seven different cars. Unreal!

• Garrison Keiller and it''s not even close. He''s sometimes tolerable on Prairie Home Companion, but every time I hear to his non-Prairie Home Companion show I almost puke. Something about his voice makes my skin feel like it''s going to jump off my body and into a vat of acid.

• Garrison Keiller switches his voice around. When he wants to put something across as intimate, he goes into a gasping affectation like Capt. Merril Stubing. It''s really annoying. He often does it when reading poetry.

• SYL-vya poh-CZHO-li. Excellent reportage, but it annoys me that she has a normal American accent until she gives her byline, and then it''s this thick Mamma-mia-pizza-pie-fake ass sounding Italian accent. \ \ SNL did a parody of this phenomenon years back with Jimmy Smits. It doesn''t happen as much on TV news anymore, but it''s still rampant on radio.

  http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90enews.phtml

  Han-toe-nee-o Man-dos-ah, from Sohn Dee-a-go

• Keillor sounds like he just finished running a 10K while pulling an iron lung behind him. His breathlessness is distressing to listen to.

• Don''t know if anyone heard Ann Taylor reading the news the other morning. The topic was celebrities who had made insensitive remarks about Japan.\ \ She actually said, "Fiddy Cent." You go, Ann.

• Terri Gross doesn''t have an annoying speaking voice but her interviewing technique can be awful. Some days it''s okay but today I had to grab the remote. She kept doing the hesitation-stutter bit on questions where she didn''t know how the guest would react. (In a radio or TV interview, never ask a question if you don''t already know the answer.)

• I can''t believe there are 300+ posts here and no one has mentioned Eleanor Beardsley and her awful French accent. She''ll read her whole story in English, of course, but when she gets to a French word, she''ll pronounce it in her terrible third-grade "French accent." Not only is it idiotic and exceedingly grating, but it can''t possibly be consistent. Does she call Moscow "Moskva"? Will she call Prague "Praga"? Spare us your pretention and your awful accent. It''s not cute. Speak English.

• The weekend announcer on WESH radio has gay voice for days and that''s just the beginning. He needs a speech coach.

• Neda Ulaby''s cadence grinds on my ears.

• Having gay voice is one thing, but Ari Shapiro sounds like a gayer version of Chris Colfer (if CC had just got done inhaling helium while doing an impression of Minnie Mouse)

• Agreed, R181. Eleanor Beardsley is tres annoying. I think her southern accent annoys me more than the French, though.\ \ And she worked for Strom Thurmond!!

  http://www.npr.org/people/17796129/eleanor-beardsley

• Leonard Lopate, hands down. He can''t pronounce names (e.g., Susan Sarandon as Susan Sar-un-don and not Sar-Ann-don and my personal favorite, Elvis Cost-ello) and, when a guest gently corrects him, persists. \ \ Diane Rehm is a close second although now I feel miserable for feeling that way in the face of her disease.

  Evan

• Always wanted to be a host on public radio but don%E2%80%99t have a name with the international punch of Doualy Xaykaothao, an Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, or even a Daniel Zwerdling? Not to Worry!

  http://www.publicradionamegenerator.com/

  Mwana Watanabe-Inskeep

• Week after week, the voices on "This American Life" are horrendous.

• Earlier, there was a guy on "This American Life" who had a voice that brought tons of life and color to everything he said. It was the best thing they''ve had in years. %0D\ %0D\ Now, at this very minute, the total opposite. Some boring, monotone female. She''s so awful that you can''t pay attention long enough to even know what her topic is.

• Michele Norris (oh so sorry, she pronounces her name Meeeeeeee-shell as her father called her) and her uppity, black woman, pretentious voice is unbelievable annoying. She doesn''t speak into the microphone so much as the microphone is actually in her mouth where you have to hear her every preplanned, tonal nuance and inflection... And the pauses... oh Jeez, the pauses she does when announcing the program: "this........................ is NPR". She is trying so hard to sound unique that it sounds so fake. She so desparately wants to have a Paul Harvey like catch phrase associated with her. Its not even her real voice - I heard her reporting out on the street and her voice was completely different than what it sounds like in the studio. Her studio voice is deep and richer but out on the street she sounded so nasaly. I''ve heard some radio people use equipment to modify their voice (make it deeper more robust sounding) and that must be what she is doing.

  NPR listener rolling eyes and shaking head on regular basis

• Maureen Corrigan who does book reviews for NPR''s "Fresh Air" is awful to listen to. Reading her reviews in the Washington Post, it''s clear that she does a good job --- but the way she OVER-enunciates on "Fresh Air" can drive you UP . A . WALL!!!!

• If I hear Robert Seigel says "Flah-rida" one more time, I''ll scream

  Flow, Robert, not Flah

• Hadn''t noticed this thread in the year it has been running.%0D\ %0D\ By pure coincidence it turned up just after cursing Maureen Corrigan and her insipid, school-marmy delivery of the book review segment on FRESH AIR.%0D\ %0D\ The show is less interesting when TGross is not reporting. Corrigan is the weakest of the franchises on this show.%0D\ %0D\ I stopped listening to Zorba Pastor years ago. The combination of his weird voice and his dumber-than-Ed-McMahon sidekick are too much to bear.%0D

• Zorba Pastor''s shreiks and giggles sound like a drag queen convention. The other day, I did a Google image search to see if he looks as gay as he sounds. I just wasn''t prepared for those photos. The Jerry Colonna mustache is unreal.

• Michele Norris...from reply 190... "you have to hear her every preplanned, tonal nuance and inflection.." Spot on! Glad I''m not the only one annoyed by this. It''s fine to have/use a pleasant voice for radio interviews but the obvious narcissistic love she has for her own is nauseating. Makes Terri Gross seem downright humble.\ \ Neda Ulaby? Indescribable...what early robot voices might sound like before they really work out the kinks.\ \ Many many more but I still love NPR & will one day contribute my fair share.

  Anonymous

• Mary Louise Kelly is currently annoying me. She reminds me of Kermit the Frog.

• Lenny Lopate on WNYC is an pompous ass who thinks he''s erudite. I love it when he comments to a guest about something in their life and the guest says Lenny''s got the facts wrong. %0D\ %0D

• I love Terry Gross. I think she''s one of the best interviewers on radio today. She can make even the most boring person interesting, and she has a way of bringing out a new side of celebrities.%0D\ %0D

  does that make me the Terry Gross Troll?

• I have never liked NPR period. The whole channel is fucking boring as hell. Don''t know why people like it.

• Fascinating, how we listeners each inject personalities and intentions into the disembodied radio voices. Amazing that no one has mentioned Sarah Vowell . . . just as I was writing that, Bethany McLean came on Marketplace with a little op ed. She''s a brilliant researcher and reporter, so why does she think a grown woman sounds good talking in the voice of an 8-year-old girl?

  Cabiria

• I can''t believe you people. HANDS DOWN - Kai Ryssdal who does "Marketplace." He sounds like a total freakin'' DOUCHE. I have to really grit my teeth just to get through that segment.

  Anonymous

• Kai Ryssdal somehow manages to have big dick VOICE, but I get what you''re saying, R201. \ \ I can''t stand Ari Shapiro''s voice. He sounds like Fran Fine...which is somewhat ironic (a Jewish queen who sounds like a Jewish Queens native).

• Holy shit, R201, I really like Kai Ryssdal, too. Seriously, I try to figure out reasons to be in the car so I can hear Marketplace.%0D\ %0D\ He does have a total douche vibe to his voice, but it''s not obnoxious douche. I don''t know, it''s just that when I listen to Marketplace, I feel like I''m learning something and actually being entertained at the same time.%0D\ %0D\ I mean, really, when that happens, it''s NPR at its best, right?

  the Kai Ryssdal/Terry Gross Troll

• Anyone else notice Dianne Rehm''s voice has improved significantly in the last four or five months? Perhaps whatever condition she has is abating on its own, or she''s getting better treatment for it.\ \ That said, I have always enjoyed her show. She books interesting guests and asks them intelligent and incisive questions.

• Diane Rehm is using a new technique that involves muscle and breathing exercizes. She has a special coach who works with her via Skype.

• Tough Diane Rehm is amazing. When she is being "nice" it is so cloying and annoying.

• Any time I have guests in town and NPR happens to be on in the car they think Larry Mantle is a woman.

• Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University wants to start a new radio network in the style of BBC, NPR, and PBS.

• Eleanor Beardsley, who reports from France on NPR, sounds like Lily Tomlin''s Edith Ann.

• Peter overby needs to take out his retainer before he speaks. I can''t stand listening to him. I picture Peter Billingsly when I hear him talk. %0D\ Also, Robert Siegel. Shounds like he''sh shuffered a shtroke.

  Gary

• Sylvia PO-Jo-Li. She can''t wait to show you how well she can speak Italian. We know.. we know..

  Gary

• What''s become of Lynne Casper-Rosetto? I listened for her show last Sunday night but it never came on?

• I first thought Garrison was Thurston Howell the worst. I can almost see him breathing down his nose at the non-listening minions. The sound of his nose hair rustling as he gasps and blusters... eww...%0D\ Lourdes N-G... We know you''re latina, babe. Oops, that''s ''la-Deeee-na'' Light on the ''t'' We know.

  Gary

• Toss Up%0D\ %0D\ Robert Siegel - very pursed lips - loves saying "butter" and "twitter"%0D\ %0D\ Peter Overby - profound SCHPEECH impediment%0D\ %0D\ Diane Rhems (sp) - Sounds like a 90 year old smoker on her deathbed%0D\ %0D\ Sylvia Pujoli - Over enunciates - sounds like she''s got a mouthful of drool - and is a real Catholic hater

  Nichelle Norris

• Sylvia P a Catholic hater? Document this please. \ \ Or is it because she reports on what the men in dresses do behind closed doors and you don''t think people should know about it?

• Has anyone mentioned Sarah Vowell (sp?) ?

• r212, a friend was Lynn''s English teacher at a high school in New Jersey. Said she was bright and always smiling.

• \ Is Seeelvia Poh-Joe-lee really a Catholic hater?\ \ What other stories are there in Italy, besides Mafia busts, Catholic scandals and the trial of American college students?\ \ Seelvia Pojoli must hate traipsing all over the Vatican, trying to get a comment on the latest Vatican or Pope edict.

• [quote]I really like Kai Ryssdal, too. Seriously, I try to figure out reasons to be in the car so I can hear Marketplace.\ \ It''s available as a podcast, and thank goodness. It''s the best show on US public radio.

• \ I would pay for an app that instantly transformed every annoying NPR announcer''s voice into Kai Ryssdal''s voice.\ \ Introduce it at pledge time, they''d be rich, rich, rich.

• If Eleanor Beardsley married Peter Overby their demon seed would have the most annoying voice in the history of humankind. Overby sounds like he just swallowed a whole lemon coated in alum. Beardsley is simply freakin'' nerve wracking.

  DM

• melissa block I can't listen any more

  montyson

• Terry Gross' voice is okay but it's her awful speech patterns and technique. When she's about to ask a difficult question she follows a set pattern: 1. Explain, speaking very fast, the reason for asking the question. 2. Long pause. 3. "Uuuum!" 4. Long pause. 5. Ask the question.

• NPR touts its "driveway moments," but it also has I want to irrationally-punch-my-radio-until-my-fist-is-bloody moments. Especially when I hear Jackie Lyden's sing-song delivery. For god's sake woman, some serious shit's going down in the world and you make it sound like a Broadway show tune. Runner-up is Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace, so arrogantly flip about everything.

  Anonymous

• Hands down, no question, the hideous robotic woman who does the underwriting announcements for WNYC. Makes me want to throw my radio against the wall. Runners up: Netta Ulaby---very bad. Jackie Lyden--fake, fake, fake. Brooke Gladstone--also fake. I feel better now.

  Anonymous

• I am so distracted by Dianne Rheim's horrible gravely voice and way too many unnecessary pauses between words, that I can condentrate on whatever it is she is talking about. It is so annoying that I have to change radio stations. Does she do this as a free service? That's the only reason I can think of for having her on radio. To the person that wondered if they would be considered bad if they suggested Dianne Rheim as having an annoying voice, I say, ONLY IF YOU ARE LYING.

  Donna Sophia

• Are they all Jews on NPR???? I really can't stand that jew woman author (most Jews have REALLY annoying voices and inflections) who reads her own crappy writing and goes down in pitch at the end of every damn sentence!!

• Eleanor Beardsley sounds just like Holly Hunter to me.

• I have a feeling Euphebia Quist-Arckton isn't Jewish.

• R229, have you ever seen a photo of her? Nothing like what I''d expected.

  http%3A//www.npr.org/people/4513318/ofeibea-quist-arcton

• Silvia Poggioli reports on Greece as well. She is doing a great job reporting on the debt crisis.

• TWIRPY CHIRPY GAL THAT SUBS SOMETIMES ON SUNDAY MORNING SHOW - TOOOOOOOOOO ANNOYING!

• Ari Shapiro sounds like a fratboy comedian's portrayal of a gay man. His mannerisms are so over-the-top flamboyant that it's hard to take him seriously as the White House correspondent. He should be covering fashion week or reviewing Scissor Sister albums.

• That political junky guy needs to clear his throat! I can't even listen to him talk.

• Whenever I hear it on NPR (and I look forward to it I must admit), I picture Cruella De Vil saying, "...Ofeibea Quist Arcton, Dakarrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

• r225, WNYC's robotic voice belongs to Lorraine Mattox whose primary job is responding to enquiries at Listener Services.

• WEBMASTER! Please remove R227. The line MUST be drawn somewhere. Thank you.

  Cackle Cackle

• Eleanor Beardsley's Edith Ann voice when she's reading her news from France is totally different from when she's being interviewed live. Edith Ann arises when Beardsley is reading from a script. Maureen Corrigan's book reviews sound like she's reading to a group of second grade students. It would be interesting to learn if, like Beardsley, she sounds somewhat normal in a live interview or if she always sounds as if she's reading to children.

• You'd never know the robotic voice at WNYC belongs to a black woman.

• What's with all the strange names of NPR people? Would they even hire a Mary Smith or Fred Jones? Last night there was a report from Afghanistan by a guy who goes by Quil Lawrence. His real name is David Lawrence. Would "David" not pass their muster?

• What happened? Someone posted about "Scott Horsely" and their comment was removed. I vote for the following: 1. Lynne Rosetto Casper of "The Splending Table" - not just her voice, but the intonations and her straining attempts to sound conversational by prefacing every sentence with "Well" are horribly grating. 2. White House Correspondent Scott Horsley - I don't know where to begin. His delivery is like someone reading you a very boring newspaper article, and his references to "Mr. Obama" are ingratiating and affected. 3. Renee Montagne - not really a bad reporter, but her voice sounds like one of those introverted but self-importantly intellectual grad school types you might find in a Women's Studies department at some elite college in Western Massachusetts.

  JT

• Lynne Rosetto Casper sounds like a schoolmarm.

• LMAO!! I Googled "Eleanor Beardsley, annoying voice" after hearing her segment today and found this site! Most of these observations are SO right on the mark!! Too funny! I'd have to go with Eleanor Beardsley, though... what a bizarre voice for a professional reporter. Terry Gross is THE most annoying though, with her biased attacks on anything conservative and her canned, soft-pitches to liberals that they can smack out of the Park-- especially movie stars. It was embarrassing to hear her crawl up Jon Stewart's ass like that a few months back. And I'm from Philly. WHYY is SO biased in its programming choices that most consider it the liberal radio station in Philly. They DO have maybe THE hottest voice in NPR though-- Jennifer Lyn. Best of all-- she has the looks to match! I was stunned when I met her and didn't know who she was. Very hot!

  Bakakaba

• I suspect you're in for a rough ride around here, Bakakaba.

• I have no idea why, but Lakshmi Singh makes me want to slit my wrists. The tone of her voice is so "Wait until you hear how bad things are out there". She can be reading the most neutral info and it comes across in such a somber/morose way to me. It makes me want to cash out my 401K and have a last weekend in Vegas before the world goes straight to hell. I always thought it was just me, but someone else mentioned once that there's something depressingly dramatic about her delivery. I turn NPR off when she comes on. Can't stand it. (I know, Mary!

• In the category of NON-annoying NPR voices, I really miss Liane Hansen, who hosted Weekend Edition Sunday for as long as I've been a listener, until retiring last year. After some summer fill-ins, I was just getting used to Audie Cornish as the new anchor, and now she's gone (to All Things Considered, filling in for the rest of the year because of Michele Norris's conflict with campaign coverage). Still a great show, but it suffers without a familiar voice on Sunday mornings. In the annoying category, I agree completely about Maureen Corrigan's book reviews sounding like she's addressing little children. Isn't she a professor somewhere? If she speaks that way in class, I can't imagine being her student and staying beyond the drop/add period.

• Eleanor Beardsley is pretty bad, but Hannah Jaffe Walt is truly the worst!!

  SHP

• NEDA ULABY and her smirky stuffed nose voice. I want to punch her. GARRISON KEILLOR is also unbearable. Everything about him - his affected, fake old-timey ways. He sounds like he's got a bunch of cotton shoved down his throat and he always insists on singing and it's terrible. His persona + voice = TOTALLY ANNOYING I also actually hate Marketplace Money's TESS VIGELUND. Why is she always laughing like everything is so hilarious? She does it during every show for the entire show. Kind of feel bad for him but PETER OVERBY sounds like he's got a bunch of marbles in his mouth. ELEANOR BEARDSLEY in "paaaaris." Wow, so totally irritating. But I think GARRISON KEILLOR and NEDA ULABY are the WORST.

  Anonymous

• Have to say Chris Arnold. For some reason his voice makes me cringe.

• Ira Glass. His voice reeks of UWS pretension.

• Is that what it is, r250? Whatever causes it, his voice makes it impossible for me to listen to This American Life. Too bad for me, because the ideas for the programs sound interesting, but I can NOT listen to Ira Glass without wanting to punch the next male wearing glasses that I see. Yes, I vote for Ira Glass as the most annoying NPR voice.

• I always thought Paula Pusi's voice was a refreshing change from the usual reporter style. Unfortunately they rarely feature her.

• I'd rather shoot myself in the head than ever have to listen to Kai Ryssdal speak again.

• Kai Ryssdal has the very definition of rich frat boy voice.

• Lourdes Garcia-Navarro needs some real lessons on controlling the diaphram when speaking. This woman audibly gulps air in with each breath and it actually whistles. It got to the point where I would just turn the volume down when she came on. How can a major news organization hire people with no apparent control of their breathing. Lulu is lackluster.

  Breathe from the diaphram

• Maria Hinojosa is the MOST annoying voice/accent/speaker on NPR. The most annoying is when she mixes Spanish (which she pronounces with the Spanish accent) and English....

• I agree, R256. Same goes for Cindy Rodriguez. She's American so when she signs off on a report she should pronounce her last name with an American accent, not Spanish one.

• Marc Garber is a terrible voice on WNYW. You can't tell by listening if it's a man or a woman.

• [quote]Lourdes Garcia-Navarro needs some real lessons on controlling the diaphram when speaking. This woman audibly gulps air in with each breath Doesn't bother me when considering where she goes to get her news stories. Between Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and Richard Engel, I'm in awe of their ventures into dangerous territory to get the news for us. She gulps air and he's short; doesn't matter. They are amazing journalists.

• Diane Rehm owns this thread.

  so%20what%20if%20she%27s%20a%20disabled

• It's so easy to overlook Diane Rehm's voice problem because she can nail a Pubbie to the wall better than any other interviewer. If a Pubbie dances around a question, she'll follow up with, "But you still haven't answered my question," and then she'll ask it again as they sit there squirming under her onslaught. You would have to be really dense if you can't get beyond her voice to hear the information she demands from Rethuglicunts.

• Who the fuck listens to that boring ass shit NPR? They're ALL fucking annoying and monotone and have no personality. Only hipsters listen to that shit.

• I want to bang the hell out of Sotrios Johnson. Voice like smoked honey.

• I came here via search for " Maria Hinojosa annoying". I absolutely cannot stand her ridiculous Spanish pronunciation . Pick an accent and stick with it !! Stop mixing your American accent with over pronounced Spanish words and names!! Omg it drives me insane . She was talking about Judge Sonia sotamayor the other day and went off pronouncing it all stupid fast and Spanish full douche and I thought she just switched to Spanish entirely during that sentence. Argh stop doing that!!!!! And meeee shell Norris by name alone us super douche

• The name Tess reminds me of broads in '40s movies with a cigarette hanging out of their mouths.

• Soterios Johnson is on New York's WNYC, not NPR network shows.

  http://www.wnyc.org/people/soterios-johnson/

• Tracy Ullman does a character who makes fun of Hispanic broadcasters that affect an exaggerated Spanish accent whenever they pronounce their names or other Spanish words.

  her%20name%20is%20leenda%20al-l-lvar-r-r-ez

• I lost any affection and respect I had for Diane Rehm when her biases affected her interviews. Her support of that nutcase and liar Elizabeth Morgan who falsely accused her ex-husband (and eventually both his parents) of child abuse when she couldn't completely take over their daughter's upbringing turned me off to her completely. Rehm was despicable toward the husband in an interview and was stupid enough to buy Morgan's story. Makes me wonder if Halle is using Morgan as her example in her campaign against Gabriel Aubrey. I await new accusations against him suggesting sexual abuse. In any event, Rehm always had an annoying affect to her voice - her disorder just made her unbearable. I personally like Silvia Poggioli's accent and voice. I don't find hints of an Italian accent unusual in someone who was raised by Italian immigrant parents who fled the fascists in the 1930s and who has lived in Italy most of her life since college. Pronouncing her name properly in Italian makes sense to me. Poggiolo is an incredible reporter. If she seems anti-Catholic it is most likely because she has a front row seat to the reality of the Vatican and isn't afraid to call it like it is. In the early 1980s when I was in Rome working with the UN I was a bit taken aback by how very secular the priests and other religious working at the Vatican were. I doubt she'd get much done as a journalist in Rome if she were really anti-Catholic.

• Terri Gross recently interviewed Meryl Streep re: "The Iron Lady". At one point in the interview she asked Meryl to describe how she felt taking care of John Cazale - her first lover - when he was dying. She giggled and phrased the question very oddly. I thought Meryl was going to say "Are you fucking insane?"

• Wasn't Meryl having an affair while she was taking care of John? Not that I don't admire her for being there for him.

• This thread is da bomb.

• [quote]She giggled and phrased the question very oddly. As soon as you hear that stupid giggle, it's clear she's about to ask a bizarro question of a guest - something they may not want to answer.

• Best looking Antiques Roadshow expert.

• [quote]Soterios Johnson is on New York's WNYC, not NPR network shows. Oh honey, don't ever try to explain that around here.

  One%20of%20the%20people%20upthread%20from%20last%20year%20who%20tried%20that

• The most iritating voice over artist is john hurt. He pops up every where on tv. How come nobody mentioned him. Yes he has a great voice but it has an evil edge to it!! His voice is over the top middle class and menacing.

  michael%20murray

• Uhhh, Michael Murray, John Hurt isn't on NPR, is he?

• Teri Gross gets my vote for the month. She seems to have recently developed another annoying habit where she over-enunciates her 't's -- especially in the word 'wanted'. And Teri, if you are following these posts, the word 'water' is not pronounced 'warter'!

  VirgilWard

• When Lenny Lopate on WNYC promos Michelle Martin, he says mar-TIN. She says MART'in.

• R269, I thought that exact same thing when I heard the interview. Who's the reporter that was the basis for Ana Gasteyer's Cinder Calhoun on SNL?

• The most annoying NPR voice of all time has got to be MEEschel Norris. I can usually suffer through many other annoying voices on NPR, but I WILL turn to a different station whenever MEEschel drops here voice way down low and trys to get all intimate and sappy with that wet, sultry, emotively-overdone thing she does. Imagine my joy the day she announced that she was stepping down from cohost of All Things Considered because of a potential conflict of interest involving her husband and the Obama campaign!

  VirgilWard

• If Lorraine Mattox is the one with the tons of spit in her mouth and her bizarre pronunciation of the letter W (duh-BUL-you) then she is the worst announcer currently employed. Like most people at NPR/WNYC -- she's probably a patronage hire.

• KEN RUDIN, CLEAR YOUR FUCKING THROAT. Jesus FUCKING Christ!!!

• Terry Gross is off this week so it's good to hear Dave Davies doing the Fresh Air interviews. No silly giggles; just hard-hitting questions.

• I posted over at year ago at R68: to me it's still Shay Stevens, the newsreader on duty when I get up at 4am Central. Just awful.

• Nora Raum and her wheezy asthmatic breathing. Please give her a desk job.

• Can't stand every hour when T. Gross announces every affiliate station from philly to Jersey. drives me crazy. rush to shut it up.

• Sadly, for me, it's a woman who does a very good job: Brooke Gladstone. Gawd! That doughy, squeaky voice! Dreadful! Close runner-up: The Splendid Table lady. Her voice has a breathy fatness that unnerves me.

  a%20in%20nyc

• Ari Shapiro sounds like the gay male version of Fran Drescher. Like nails on a chalkboard...

• Terry Dense Dummy Gross

• The most annoying NPR voice/personality is the Albany broadcaster Alan Chartock he's like nails on a chalkboard

• #287, A in NYC: Brilliant word choice to describe the unctuous, self-congratulatory pronouncements of Lynn Rosetto Casper (Splendid Table Lady)-- "breathy fatness." EXACTLY. Usually I have to change the station. One of the most annoying voices I have ever heard. I LOVE this thread. (BTW, this is my first ever post on DL. I just had to salute you for your genius.)

• There are no words to describe how much I loathe the voice of Zoe Chace, who is the newish reporter on the Planet Money podcast. FLAAAT Midwestern A (like Bob Woodward only cranked up), raspy, overly emphatic, and just so proud of how whipsmart she thinks she is, and she talks TOO LOUD. I actually just sent an email to the broadcast's inbox. I listened to this show for good info since the economic meltdown in '08, but she has ruined it for me.

• NEDA ULABY!!!! Her voice is SO AFFECTED that it nearly causes me to drive off the road. I cannot do impressions and I can do her perfectly. "Neda Ullaby" (downnote) She is AWFUL. Next worst offenders: Peter Overby (PLEASE TAKE THE COTTON OUT OF YOUR MOUTH AFTER THE DENTIST) and Ira Glass (PLEASE LEARN TO PRONOUNCE YOUR L's). Why does NPR make it a point to hire people with serious speech impediments? I'm all for people being gainfully employed, but really, do these people need to be on the radio??

  just saying

• Gotta be Limbaugh hands down.

  Zav

• Why is it that NPR's announcer and so many male guests sound as if they're real gay?

• Thatiriuth Johnthon.

• Whereas Silvia Poggioli has a wonderfully confusing vocal range and timbre.

• Silvia Poggioli sounds like she has been smoking 3 packs a day for the last 50 years!

  The%20mailman%27s%20Dog

• Thanks to you all for echoing so many of my sentiments about our purported radio "stars." The following folks are NOT NPR, but I can't start a thread and must vent somewhere. They are ALL on NY Public Radio (WNYC/WQXR): Nimet Habachy = pretentious faux European voice that once in a while slips so you can hear how she really sounds. Frequently mispronounces composer and composition names, and digs her hole deeper as she pretentiously tries to cover her tracks. Naomi Lewin = plays the kazoo through her nose and then adds molasses. Charles Isherwood (morning cohost and NYT theater critic) = intense gayvoice like the cheshire cat who swallowed the canary. Bill McGlaughlin = claims his accent is Philadelphian and Scottish, but is something else altogether and awfully dreadful. Oh and then there's DN!'s Amy Goodman with her creaky voice. Is that a lesbian accent or just what Noam Chomsky fans do to pledge their allegiance? He's the high priest of creaky.

  Anonymous

• What about Kai Fucking Risdahl...can anyone else in the universe capture smugness like this guys voice does. It's like a cross between Keith Olberman's douchey self righteousness and Alex Trebek's aloof mockery of mere mortals (I'm sorry plebe the language we were looking for is, "what is Gujerati") with just a hint of California surfer dude thrown in to disguise how long this guy practiced this obviously effected voice. Jesus, this guy could make Ghandi want to take a swipe at him. If I could I'd reach through the radio and choke the ...I'm so cool, look at me tone, right out of his voice.

  STFU%20Kai

• "Oh and then there's DN!'s Amy Goodman with her creaky voice. Is that a lesbian accent or just what Noam Chomsky fans do to pledge their allegiance? He's the high priest of creaky." lol!

• Ira Glass has the most boring voice on the radio. Worse, all his guests sound boring. They could be talking about things that are fun, interesting, exciting, but they just drone on and on and on. You get the impression that Ira phones them at 3 a.m. and wakes them from a sound sleep so they don't have the energy to get enthused about their topic.

• Oh my, there are so many. I wrote down the number of how many hosts either had speech impediments or horrible stammering problems. I stopped counting at 10. Of all the hosts, believe it or not, Diane Rehm, although obvious that she has a speech issue, is the best host and the only one I can listen to without throwing my headphones off. She asks specific questions, she lets her guests talk without constantly rudely interrupting them (Tom Ashbrook), She doesn't have seizures of stammering "Ummm, ahh, this, this this this, um, um... (Neal Conan) and is prepared and doesn't ask stupid questions (again, Neal Conan, Ira Flato). Peter Overby sounds like a cartoon character on South Park. He is simply awful and should be writing only.

  buffalobirdie

• "Echoes" with John Diliberto -- Could there be a duller host? His taste in the sounds he plays is awful, too. I agree with R303 about Diane Rehm. She really does her homework before she interviews anyone. And when a guest starts giving double-talk, she'll tell them, "You didn't answer my question," and then she'll put the question to them again.

• Oh yeah - and Zowie Chase! Where the heck is she from because I absolutely HATE her accent. She sounds like a 15 year old Emo Oregon granola head.

  Buffalobirdie

• Right on, R299, about Naomi Lewin. I am an ex-WQXR listener because of that kazoo.

  enough is enough

• Neal Conan sounds so fucking condescending. I want to smash his face in with a shovel.

• I noticed during Meryl's interview that Terri projects a lot. I don't recall the question but it started with "I assume you . . ." and Meryl responded like, uh, no.

• I think Kai sounds good; intelligent and pleasant. Totally agree on Neda Ulaby and Ira Glass though. The Ira Glass affectations have become kind of standards for public radio wannabees; I keep hearing more of those singsongy tonal changes mixed in with speeding up certain cadences. I think maybe someone told him his sound was too flat but now he overcompensates.

• 1. That lisping announcer who comes on no less than 4 times per hour with "Support for Enn Pee Arrrrrr comes frommmmm..." and then "daht-caahhhm" this and "daht-caahhhm" that... Ouch!! 2. David Dye and his "coming up on the World Cah-Fah" - I remember this pretentious doof when he did commercial radio in Philly during the 70's - He's only gotten worse.

• Steve Inskeep bursting out with that fake Krusty-the-Clown belly-laugh at anything his interviewee says that's supposed to be even remotely humorous (or not). Wanna smack'im.

• [quote]Nora Raum and her wheezy asthmatic breathing. Please give her a desk job. Nora Raum is a lawyer in the D.C. area and does the NPR news summaries as a part-time fun gig. No joke.

• Peter Overby sounds like he has food in his mouth, or dentures. Jonathan Schwartz is the most maddening voice/personality on radio (he smacks his chops all the time, loves the sound of his apparently 'smoky 'voice, which is just affected, and he can't stop reminding us he played baseball, and therefore he's not gay even though he plays music that appeals to gays). Finally, Kai Risdall needs a director—I read a review of him once that referred to him as a charming nerd. He's just annoying and unfunny and, what makes it often unbearable, thinks he's clever. Can't they train these people? Please note: Diane Reihm (sp) gets a pass; she had an illness that made her voice that way. Google her to see how beautiful she actually is. Shocking. Oh, and also, I love that Terri Gross stutters and trips over vowels (vowels!). She's such a flawless interviewer that she, too, gets a pass. Okay, enough of all this, time to get my culture.

  Charles%20in%20NYC

• A week or so ago Terry Gross interviewed a director of a Spanish language film. One of the lead characters is named Estrella. She pronounced it Es-srteLL-a instead of Es-STRAY-a. The director corrected her. She's an idiot.

• WQXR's Nimet Habachy, born in Egypt 70 years ago, is a professional foreigner. Purposefully won't let go of the British accent.

• Sorry, didn't make clear in my previous attempt to post that I was talking about the sponsorship announcer on WNYC. I don't THINK I'm imagining that she's been replaced.

  anonymous

• People like R302 and R314 don't get it.

• It is I, R316, again. Apparently my first post never made it to the posting stage. Oops. My comment was that the WNYC sponsorship announcer so almost-universally reviled seems to have been replaced recently by a woman who can pronounce the word 'diverse' correctly. Among other things. I don't THINK I'm imagining it.

• People like R117 are unable to contribute anything on the topic so they post nonsense just to bump the thread. They need to stick a pin in Ira Glass to wake him up.

• Oops! That should have been R317, not 117.

• Carl dry-mouth Cassell

• Eleanor Beardsley. Is she getting worse, or is it just me? I mute the volume whenever she comes on. Her voice grates like an annoying schoolyard know-it-all. Why can't they just speak normally? Someone should do a remix on NPR's unnecessary vocal affectations.

  anonymous

• r316, Lorraine Mattox is the voice at WNYC who says DI-verse and PEE-uh-nist. Her real job is working in Listener Services. Also glad to her a new voice. The announcements would have more impact if they rotated a male and female voice for the each underwriter's name.

• Eleanor Beardsley and Zoe Chace, hands down. "Eleanor Beardsley in Paaaaris." Agree with previous poster, so annoying. So nasal. And WTF is up with Zoe Chace? She sounds like a super aggro Rashida Jones, or like some agressive punk kid getting in people's faces. She drives me absolutely nuts.

• Oh God, I hated Carl Cassell. You could just tell he was a pompous ass.

• Along with DI-verse, Lorraine Mattow says puh-JAM-uh in the PajamaGram acknowledgement.

• This is like asking which is the most annoying mosquito in a swamp. They're all extraordinarily smug and condescending. If I had to pick one it would have to be the guy with the juvenile sounding voice who does (did?) that "This American Life" show. He just seemed to evoke this sense that he thought he was 'cute' or something. I'd like to pour maple syrup on his head.

• That's Ira Glass, R327. Awful delivery.

• Ofiebia Quist-Arkton .......... ..... DAKAR!!!

• Ira Flatow is one of those liberal Jews who lives for Global Warming.

• Whew. I'm not the only one annoyed by Ari Shapiro. He needs to drop that bitchy queen act if he wants to be considered a serious journalist. He's like the gay BFF in some angsty Lena Dunham style dramedy.

• Ryan Warner is a reporter in Denver. He's so fucking smarmy, kind of like a Neal Conan wannabe.

• This thread is utterly hilarious. And to think it sprung from my Most Annoying Names on NPR thread.

• How come these radio personalities don't work on their voices? There's so much that they could do to improve their voice. They wouldn't even necessarily have to see a voice coach.

• The Orlando, FL NPR station features a guy with a gay whine. Dub-ul-YEW WEM ef EEEeeeee! He really needs a vocal coach.

• Maureen Corrigan doing book reviews on Terry Gross' show. She sounds like a kindergarten teacher attempting to drum information into 5-year-old children.

• Umm...hello?? Lak. Shmee. Sing.

• Best radio voice by far on Public Radio - Matt Elmore (5-2 PCT)on KQED-FM. You almost feel like you are sitting on the front porch having a cold one with him... and I am from NYC!

  Andrew

• One more thing I just noticed about Ryan Goddamn Warner. He projects all over the place. I just endured an interview where nearly every statement he made was prefaced with "I imagine" or "I would think" or something equally as self involved.

  R332

• And who the FUCK is the BBC anchor? Every time he finishes a sentence he inhales through his nose while he opens his mouth at the same time. So fucking supercilious.

• Nothing like wanting to throw my radio across the room when I hear Renee Montagne's voice. Surprised she wasn't mentioned more often, but maybe it's me.... Now that Davide Greene has joined the a.m. team, that gives her less air time. Praises be! She greets guests with a confrontational aggressive "Hello!!!" and sometimes remembers to thank them after she's heard enough. No closure on her interviews. Steve Inskeep's laugh is genuine to me and I like his half of the hour humorous additions to the odd story that airs then, and both he and David Green are so much more soothing to wake up to than the shrill Renee. Enough said. OK one more person - I forge into dangerous waters when I mention Saint Liane, who drove me crazy during the puzzle by her "Oh!" hint to the poor player that she knew the answer and the poor struggling soul was all the more pressured. And often she would just jump in and answer. Another cause for throwing the radio. Basta! (Sylvia would be proud)

  Chatty%20Critical%20Cathy

• I like Kai Ryssdal's voice on APM's Marketplace. He sounds so confident and totally on top of everything. Keeps everything moving with no dull spots.

• This is a tough one. Neda Ulaby: pretentious, self-important, can't pronounce the words "the" or "a" like normal people do. When she reviewed "Precious" I thought "The perfect assignment"! Terri Gross: What's up with the "great interviewer" stuff? Inarticulate, weird giggles when addressing an uncomfortable topic, can't utter a sentence without like, using "like" or "just like" like in nearly like every sentence. Pointless "If you're just joining us" instead of a simple "This is Fresh Air. My guest is...". Glad she quit the "I want to thank you a lot for speaking with us" blather. How 'bout a simple "thank you"? Ira Glass: I'd like to listen to the show, but can't tolerate his insecure, mildly [childish epithet posted by a bigoted tool], full-of-junk-words (i.e. "just", "sorta", "I mean", "kinda", "um" delivery. Guy Racz: King of junk/teen speak: "Um"..."sorta"..."kinda"..."just"..."I mean"..."really" this and "really" that. Constantly begins sentences with "Now" or a loud "UM". Ends sentences with "um" or "uh", then starts the next with "I mean". Don't ANY of these people listen to themselves with a critical ear? Doesn't anyone review their work with them with the goal of seeing improvement?

  anonymous

• R343, maybe their idiosyncracies are ignored by the top brass at NPR because at least they're distinctive voices and there's no question about who you're listening to.

• Diane Rheim is my hero. She has an illness that makes her voice that way and yet she soldiers on w the best interviews on the airwaves. Terri Gross is also untouchable; I don't care if she stutters (in a manner I've never heard before). Jonathan Schwartz is a blowhard who loves the sound of his own voice and smacks his chops into the microphone. Loathe him. If his father hadn't been a great composer and he hadn't met all those famous performers he'd be pushing a broom across the stage of the Greenspace. Peter Overby. Gross. The woman who announces the lists of underwriters. Unbearable, that fake treacle in her voice. Irony? I turn the radio down or off for 2 minutes whenever her voice comes on, so I actually miss the names of the underwriters. Oops, WNYC, sorta shooting yourself in the foot there, don'tcha think? Whoever said Car Talk Guys-really?? Love them. Sooooo smart. Radio Lab-ANNOYING. Who okay'd this format? You can just see Robert C and Jad A rubbing each other's backs over how terribly clever they sound. And they sound ridiculous. Great content, goofy, off-putting format. Prairie Home Companion? Torture. Steve Inskeep's laugh? I throw up in my mouth when I hear it. Love Mark Garber. Love Michele Norris. Though I can see how her 'sweet' voice can annoy. Love Sarah Fishko. All this said, it is my favorite station ever and I ever turn it off.

  JJ

• No matter how annoying they are, they're all better than that BBC radio guy who comes on late at night on weekends. His name sounds like something that appeared in the bottom of a bowl of alphabet soup. His voice sounds like he's attempting to talk five octaves below his real voice. Combined with his African accent and a lisp, it's unreal.

• Dotun Adebayo is the BBC's awful weekend presenter.

• Adebayo is featured on the spin-off thread to this one, Most annoying voices on BBC Radio. Sorry, I'm in the middle of blowing Kai Rysdall now so can't post a link.

• The CAR TALK guys are retiring in September, thank God.

• The car talk show will just go into perpetual reruns.

• Please God Garrison Keillor retires soon.

• R350, NPR's not allowed to do perpetual reruns. They always have to air new material, hence the guest hosts.

• [quote]NPR's not allowed to do perpetual reruns. They always have to air new material The story in the paper said it will be "best of" Car Talk - IOW reruns.

• R352 - see link. It will be perpetual reruns. They do a good deal of reruns now.

  http%3A//www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20813168/nprs-car-talk-duo-calling-it-quits

• Zoe Chase. The worst!!!! Drives me nuts. How in the hell did she get on the radio.

  ZCTW

• Terry Gross interviewed Joan Rivers yesterday. Asked about Joan's joo-LUH-ree.

• Ira Glass is moving to Chelsea.

  http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/06/12/ira_glass_buys_1265m_1br_at_chelseas_carriage_house.php

• [quote]Someone should do a remix on NPR's unnecessary vocal affectations. Start with Eleanor Beardsley and Maureen Corrigan, add in Terry Gross' giggles, followed by Carl Cassell. Why would anyone want Carl Cassell on their voicemail? What kind of prize is that?

• I love this thread so much. Whenever Daniel Zwerdling comes on, I reach for the anti- depressants.

• Thank you, R311. I always feel a little embarrassed for some reason when Steve Inskeep does that over-the-top fake belly laugh. I've always felt that there's something artificial about his style of interviewing. He just always seems to take things to a very over-the-top level that reminds me of some mediocre actor in local community theater. The grave, somber tones or the riotous laughter just feel a little much.

• Terry Gross can't pronounce her "S" shound correctly. She getsh all mishy-mouthed and feignsh that "esh". I have to, sadly, turn her off. Shame thing for Robert Sheigel.

• John Diliberto bills himself at a music journalist. As the host of Echoes, he's the dullest, most boring deejay on radio.

• I hate all the reedy voiced you female reporters. Why do they all sound hung over?

• R332/339 in Denver. It is hard to listen to Ryan Warner, who is just so angst-ridden about every goddamn thing. But Zachary Barr must be the biggest queen in the universe.

• Most of the females on NPR are HORRIBLE!! I am of the mindset radio voices should be un-colon spastic.

  npr

• I thought Dr. Zorba a woman for the longest time... anyone else?

• Dr Z

• Diane Rehm's problem is medical. Not her fault. She keeps it in check with Botox treatments every few months, but even that doesn't help as much as she would like. I *adore* Terri Gross's voice. As far as Dr. Paster, he sounds gay as heck, but he isn't. Poor guy. I have no Idea why Michelle Norris calls herself "Mee-chelle," nor why Melissa Block calls herself Melissa "Blahhhk."

• it's crazy. I thought for the longest time that I was the only one who finds the affectations NPR voices annoying.

  crushsatan

• [quote]I have no Idea why Michelle Norris calls herself "Mee-chelle," Because it's Michèle, as in French.

• In an underwriting announcement for a play, Lorraine Mattox on WNYC says Sigornyuh Weaver.

• Neil Nunez of the BBC without a doubt.

• I'm pretty sure that Peter Overby was the kid that voiced Linus on Charlie Brown back in the 60's.

  VirgilWard

• Krista Tippett's voice is okay, but she can't stop making noises when a guest is speaking - Ummmmm, hmmmmm, uhhhhhhhh, Oooooooooooo, Nnnnn, um, ... Somebody needs to slap her.

• Sandra Tsing-Loh is still and forever will be the winner of this contest. Someone should steal her vocal cords.

• Bump I love this thread.

• Lourdes Garcia Navarro (who suddenly develops the accent of a Chihuahuan peasant girl whenever she says her name) Peter Overby (who always seems like he's on the verge of saying, "Sufferin' succotash!") Sylvia Pioggoli (I picture her watching The Bold and the Beautiful in a size 22 Versace track suit while phoning in a report written by an assistant) Ari Shapiro (NPR's token gay would have to be vapid and flaming. He sounds like a homophobic comedian's over-the-top characterization of a gay man)

• It's always nice when Susan Stamberg fills in for someone with an annoying voice. She has a great voice and a sparkling personality.

• Peter Overby sounds like the girl who turned in Dawn Davenport for eating a meatball sandwich in class and passing notes.

• IRA GLASS- I cannot listen to "This American Life" because I find his tone and cadence so annoying! I also really dislike this guy who contributes to the Marketplace Morning reports, he sounds like he has marbles in his mouth and it drives me crazy!

  Danielle%20S

• Read the whole thread, fantastic! Got here googling "peter oveby gay". I love steve inskeep's laugh but don't buy the surname? Love signoff, "DAKAA", PAAAARIS. How did deep south end up in Paris? Traveling grit and fat-back sales? The sound of Overby manipulating his disgusting little tounge around all those wet anal beads just gives me a huge stiffen.

  Over%20overby

• [quote]Lourdes Garcia Navarro (who suddenly develops the accent of a Chihuahuan peasant girl whenever she says her name) I like her. She always seems to be right on top of the story when being interviewed from Washington. She never hesitates with a "That's a good question." She's always prepared with a reply and jumps right in with presenting the facts. Ira Glass - the epitome of dull. He has the ability to turn an enthusiastic guest into a dull, boring person. The same person, on another show can be fascinating.

• I googled Terry Gross annoying and found this treasure! I have read every single post, and I feel such deep cathartic relief, it's as though I just got sucked off by the woman I once imagined T. Gross to look like (until I found a pic of her). To think there are thousands of you out there who feel the same as I do - that our tax dollars are wasted by funding the aural bad acid trip that is NPR. I'm a liberal, and I now understand the conservative term "liberal elites" - it's the sound of NPR! Schott Schimon, Robert Scheegal (who seems to have his face pulled back at the ears), Linnda Wuuuhtheimuh (why has she not been mentioned!), Ann Taylor, . . I mean, just imagine a round table conversation with these nosebleeds!! Who the fuck talks like that!!?? Why do all public radio announcers all over the country talk to us like we are deaf schoolchildren? Bless all of you who have contributed to this delightful lambasting of pomposity!!

• elenore bearsley - obviously southern and whiney. Her voice makes me turn off my radio.

• Zoooooey Cheeeees - EN PEE ARRR Noose. She's the absolute worst. Eleanor Beardsley. Is she trying to sound bored? Steve Inskeep. The way his voice GOES. UP. in the MIDDLE. OF. A. SENTENCE. and slows down. Ira Glass. Get that fixed, man! You're on the radio for Pete's sake! David Greene, what are you so happy about all the time? Not really a problem I guess. Chris Arnold never sounds like he's sure of what he's telling me. British reporters whose voices get louder at the end of a SENTEEEEENCE!

• [quote]David Greene, what are you so happy about all the time? Not really a problem I guess. I adore David Greene. He's upbeat, seems to enjoy his job, always is sure of his facts, and knows how to present them. You feel you can rely on his word the way our parents and grandparents relied on Walter Cronkite.

• Neda Ulaby's cadence is grating, esp the way she ends nearly every sentence. When she speaks naturally -- ie not reporting -- it's better. {Neda -- have you thought about a voice coach?}

• How about Mike Peska?

• Regardless of the show's content, the worst voice on NPR has to be Diane Rehm's. Radio voices are supposed to have a certain timber and interest. The only time I consistently turn off my NPR station during the day is when The Diane Rehm Show is broadcast. Conversely, anyone lucky enough to be able to hear Washington, DC's NPR affiliate, WAMU, can hear the best voice on the air -- Kojo Nnamdi. Now that's a voice you want to listen to.

  anonymous

• To all you critics: My it's so easy to slam someone, but let's hear you do a better job, or could you suggest someone better? Larry the Cable Guy? S'pose that'd be worth a listen...

  Fly-over%20state%20bred

• NPR,APM,Et al, despite all are financed by CPB , and in turn federally subsidized , are patently Judeocentric. The journalism, such as it is, consists primarily in Jewish interviewers like Terry Gross and Robert Siegle. Most of the show hosts, and Jewish guests and Jewish subjects i.e. Israel, Jewish artists and writers etc. We citizens of the US are,statistically speaking, Caucasian protestant Christians. I assert that CPB and its affiliates behave as if they are " The Jewish network" and that the majority of the citizenry don't count. Even the titles of shows reflect this; " Wait,wait" (Hosted by Robert Sagal) e.g., is taken from a cry in the Three Stooges comedy, (Old Yiddish theater). Give us a break and ease up on PBS Jewish obsession, Puhleeze!

  Ken%20Morse

• Anyone who thinks that Zoe Chace (I think shes great)has the most annoying voice on NPR has not listened to Daine Rehm.

• Diane Rehm has a good excuse for the sound of her voice. It changes for awhile following treatments for the condition. Most important is the fact that she asks the questions we would ask and she doesn't let the guests beat around the bush. She'll come right out and say, "You didn't answer my question," and then she'll repeat the question. She's one of the toughest interviewers in the business.

• Honey Boo Boo Chile will be sitting in for Terry Gross this week. I can not wait.

• Eleanor Beardsley, Hannah Jaffe Walt, Zoe Chace....horrible, annoying, grating voices. How did they get on the radio?

  mahler9

• r391, public radio knows where their bread is buttered. Based on last names Jewish listeners are a high percentage of donors.

• NEAL CONAN. OH. MY. GOD. He, he, he, cccccan't sp-sp-sp-it out the ef-ef-ef-efin' w-wo-words!!!! Have fun one day and count the number of "ah" "ah" "ahs" and Ums he injects in EVERY SENTENCE, Even normal, simple ones. And his interview questions just suck. Unbelievable this guy has his own show.

  buffalobirdie

• Zoe Chace. Hands down! It's a shame she took to economics. She would have been a great sportscaster.

• Kai Ryssdal's slow/fast cadence bugs me, and his words are even more annoying: pompous verbosity with a layer of fake familiarity. "So glad that you could join us on this Tuesday ... Coming up, we'll take a look at the question, what's one plus uno ... when we do the numbers"... Sorry, Mr. Ryssdal, we're not pals. You are the announcer and I'm a listener. Neda Ulaby for her vocal fry and excessive intonation. She sounds like she has a shit-eating grin, nonstop. Our NPR station replaced Tom Ashbrook with Diane Rehm, recently. They displaced a sonorous voice with a painful one, but the topics covered are just as interesting, and Diane is probably the tougher interviewer. My favorite NPR voice was Noah Adams: the perfect balance of excellent diction, pleasant intonation, and well-timed pauses.

  Paul%20H

• You are such kids. Criticizing people's voices as if people had a choice of voice when they were born. All the voices are great, I love them all.

• Eleanor Beardsley usually sounds like she's totally bored. You get the impression that she was forced to record her report and would rather be elsewhere.

• Zoe Chace is awful. There's not an "R" in any woRRRRRRd that she doesn't slam, bRRRRRRRoaden, and emphasize.

• I can’t believe more people haven’t said Zoe Chase! I mean based purely on her voice, she sounds like she should be handing out Jaaahnsonville Braaaaaht samples at a Midwestern grocery store. Could you imagine her trying to say something sexy?? *shutter*

• Melissa Bloch drives me crazy. She sounds like she's so in love with her voice when in fact she's got this grating effect in her throat. And the way she ends her sentences just before a clip with a long "ssssss" sound. Zoe Chace sounds equally pretentious. She just sounds so pompous as if she's saying, "Listen to my overly affected voice and you can't help but like me." Ira Glass--unbelievable. His voice had this over-the-top sardonic quality to it when he first started and for some reason people didn't complain enough... and he's still doing the same shtick.

• Diane Reihms is the WORST VOICE EVER. Thread closed.

  anon

• Zoe Chase was all over NPR news reporting the NYC storm stories. She's awful. I like to hear Ofeibea Quist-Arcton covering news from Africa. She has a wonderful voice and is based in West Africa where I worked for awhile.

• I wonder what O Q-A sounds like when she's having sex.

• So many, many annoying voices on NPR that I am rarely able to endure an entire program. My top three: Neal Conan, Guy Raz, Melissa Block. All pretentious, preening jackasses.

• Zoe Chace, beyond awfulness with her creaky voice. Neal Conan sounds like the ultimate nerd, very annoying, constantly saying 'ah' between almost every word. "This is Neal ah Conan ah and ah..." Melissa Block with her fake 'fun' voice...you're really going to get a kick out her next story (yeah right) Eleanor Beardsley has one of the most grating and horrendous voices I have ever heard on or off the radio. Also, she's lucky enough to live in Paris and have a nice job, but she sounds so blasé about it. Ira Glass--don't get me started! Did you ever notice how he always says "Ac'one" instead of "Act one"?

• Love this thread! I'm amazed Peter Overby doesn't top everyone's list, though. His voice is quite literally repulsive...does anyone actually listen to his stories? I have to change the station the very instant be comes on. That burbling, gurgling mess actually turns my stomach...I'm talking genuine nausea. And I'm an NPR fan who donates every year!

• I found Datalounge on Google about 6 months ago via this thread because of my hatred for Zoe Chace's voice and personality. What about all of us who detest her send an email to Planet Money/NPR asking them to consider firing her? I no longer listen to the show because of her. She apparently doesn't even come from the place where people have accents like hers (would have guessed Wisconsin). Apparently this is an affectation she puts on to mask her tri-state roots! Let's get her canned folks. (Don't like Peter Overbite/clicking dentures either but don't hear him as much).

• Kai Ryssdall! Come on people. He was a late arrival in the thread, but is the worst offender. Sound of the voice is fine, as some point out, but he's such an unbearably flip, smug jackass that it ruins what is otherwise a good show. He embodies most of what is wrong with public radio. Even worse than traditional NPR offenders like (take your pick of all those over enunciating Yankees with perfect Spanish accents on names). So glib, desperately trying for a hip, ironic voice. 'hey Dubner!' you know I'm right.

  Anonymous%20

• R412, I agree. He sounds like the kind of person who would make your skin crawl as soon as you were introduced at a party and would spend the rest of the night trying to ignore and avoid.

• Another vote for Eleanor Beardsley. Absolutely awful voice.

• R400 Most actors and broadcasters study voice to make their voices more resonant and speech to make their diction more clear. You are born with a specific set of pipes....but you can do a bit with them.

• I feel too bad for Diane Rehm to mention her. If anyone listens to PRI's The World, I hate it when Lisa Mullins is the host.

• R416, speaking of The World, Lisa Mullins is the putative permanent host of that show, but she makes only rare appearances. It's usually the substitute host Marco Werman (who's so hot in person I'll forgive his annoying voice). I wonder why she's out so often.

• Has anyone mentioned any local NPR voices? I nominate Ellen Rocco from NCPR as the worst evah.

  http%3A//www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/20545/20120925/readers-writers-mary-karr-lit

• Lisa Mullins has breast cancer and is frequently out for treatment.

• Well, I hate Lisa's voice, but wish her well with treatment.

• I hate Lisa Mullins' voice too and can't figure out why. (But I'm sorry she's ill.)

• Linda Werthheimer-- so dry and cold and irritating!When she was sitting in for Rachel Martin, I was in misery!

• Eleanor Beardsley hands down. Every time I hear her my skin crawls. Her voice is so nasal and whiny, I'm embarrassed to hear her pronounce all those French words.

• Soterios Johnson has a voice liked smoked honey. LOVE hearing hm in themorning while I'm getting ready to go work and HANDS DOWN one of the best names..........EVAH!

• Does Ari Shapiro have ovaries and a vagina? Sounds like it.

• Neta Ulaby and Guy Roz.

  SophieBlue

• I can't believe I haven't seen Sandra Tsing Loh after searching two pages of this list. Not only the most annoying NPR voice (which is really saying something), but one of the most annoying voices/people of all time!

  salttram

• I'm starting to get really tired of Yuki Noguchi's voice too. She seems to be everywhere, reporting on everything

• Eleanor Beardsley is so comically bad and weird that I don't mind her after all these years (and when she does live English reports, she sounds like a completely different, and normal, human). God knows what her delayed, recorded French is like. (Shudder) But Scott Simon, who has a rich and warm and kind voice, so perfectly controlled, completely creeps me out with his interviewing techniques and mannerisms, and makes me think of a deeply caring uncle pedophile. Zoe Chace - snot-nosed and horrible, and Neta Ulaby always has that coy little delicious smile on every syllable, it's grotesque. And Kai Ryssdall, who's voice is fine, come across as a total self-satisfied douche. It's hard to separate the voice from the person.

• Kai Ryssdahl sounds exactly like a frat boy I got good and drunk so I could seduce him. The night before his wedding.

• Zoe Chace: someone please give her a desk job (and a muzzle) Scott Simon's mannerisms ARE annoying...the 'kindly caring' voice....ick... Eleanor Beardsley: she lives in freakin' Paris, and sounds like a bored, self-satisfied hick! Give somebody else a chance at her job (like me!)

• I found this site by Googling; 'Anyone else think Diane Rheam's voice is too damaged for radio?' I've listened to her for 20+ yrs & as others have commented, I'm sympathetic to her condiction & think she's a great interviewer, but Christ on the Cross, let go Diane!!! Her voice does occassionally sound 'ok' immediately after being off for the air to get voice therapy ~ but on the reverse, the weeks just before those times are unbearable!!!! While it's not related to 'voice so much' my biggest pet peeve is 'effected' speech!! Like the statement constantly posed in the form of a question !!{Yuck} Also this tendency to intentionally insert a form of stuttering (?), NPR is lousy with these people but Terry Gross is the WORST at this. She has improved a bit & I often wonder if someone told her, "Look ah, Terry we're getting a lot of complaints from listeners that you're making their fucking ears bleed with this stummbling over your words shit you've been doing. Can you ah, tone it down a little, at least until the end of the pledge drive?" I also can't stand when she says, "In the few seconds we have left................" Then prattles on (with stummbles) taking up the time she just cautioned the guest about. Something I've also noticed lately (within the last year & not just on NPR); people starting every answer with 'So'. Ex:"Question: "When did you graduate from college?" Answer:"So I graduated in 2010 & began...." Ahhhh this kind of pretentiousness drive me up a wall. Soooo effected & really contrite!!! Thanks for letting me vent - I'm glad I'm not the ONLY one who is irritated by this stuff.

  Megsaz

• [quote]Scott Simon's mannerisms ARE annoying...the 'kindly caring' voice....ick... His Twitter feed is nauseating as well, all folksy observations about his children. Doesn't help to hear that voice in everything he posts.

• When the Dr. Zorba character started talking about its "wife", I thought it was an out&proud lesbian. When I listened further and realized this was a man putting on a feminine voice, it is an aggravation. A program called "This American Life" has a host that sounds like a bad Nate Berkus impersonation. And there are just so many on NPR who speak with the same sort of phoney effect. High pitched, nasal, over-enunciated words with accents on syllables that are usually not accented. It seems to me that someone who has a normal voice on ABC like Cokie Roberts will have this phoney voice when she is on NPR. She is from New Orleans, the daughter of Hale and Lindy Boggs, so why is she talking like that on the radio?

• BTW, I like Dianne Rheam, (or however her name is spelled). The condition which damaged her voice was not of her choice. She has gotten medical treatment where she does sound better now. I never liked Rachel Ray, but her voice is sounding a little better now also. I haven't heard Robert Kennedy, Jr. lately, but I hope they have been able to help him also.

• Even Rita Cosby appears to have healed her voice somewhat. During her MSNBC days a few years ago, she was unbearable to listen to.

• R436, they have made some medical advancement in the treatment of voices, and I have a neighbor who was treated and sounds almost normal again now, as well as the radio and TV people mentioned.

• Terry Um, Um, you know Um Gross. Um Um.

• Zoe Chace reporting from Newtown! Help!!

  HatetheChaceVoice

• Julie Rose for me is the worst npr voice. she has that sore throat cheerleader teenage clueless voice. I know npr has to hire young reporters, but can't they learn how to speak without sounding like they need to be home sucking on cough drops?

  zana

• r440: I learned on Datalounge that this kind of vocal mannerism is called "vocal fry." Horribly annoying, I agree.

• Yes, vocal fry, aka 'creaky voice'. I totally agree they should have competent young female reporters, but not if they talk this way.

  ouchmyears%21

• Is vocal fry what Zoe Chace does with her strange voice? She's awful.

• Chace virtually defines 'vocal fry'

• r439, Bruce Jenner is from Newtown. High school stadium named for him. His sister attended Sandy Hook Elementary.

• I hate how Melissa Block gives pronounces her last name. The last time I checked, 'Block' was not multisyllabic.

• LOL I know what you mean R446, she drags out "Block" for a few too many microseconds.

• And how about Hanna Jaffe-Walt! OMFG that grating, creaky, vocal-fried voice!!! Ice skates on the blackboard!!

  ouch.me.ears

• Best is Shay Stevens at night. Soothing, clear, doesn't distract from the news. Most annoying: Carrie Miller (except to her--she'd rather listen to herself than the person she's interviewing).

  Aeolus

• Neda Ulaby - Wow, there are a lot of annoying voices on NPR (Noah Adams biggest among them - but thankfully he has slowly gone away), but lately I have to change the station when Neda Ulaby reports. I understand there may be some ethnicity-induced affect going on here, but she seems to be trying so hard to sound important and interesting that it comes off as smarmy, self-important and pretentious. No offense Ms. Ulaby, but I have to wonder if NPR regularly reviews their reporters on the all important aspect of how their employees sound on the radio and what their tone projects. Because if they did, I don't see how they wouldn't yank her from their stable and re-make her vocal delivery. Great reporting can quickly turn to terrible radio with a voice like hers.

  M. I.

• I thought Noah Adams had a very soothing voice--the opposite of Zoe Chace, the most offensive voice in all radio.

• word, R451! :)

• So, so many! No one has mentioned Alison Aubrey. Croaky, vocal fry - unbearable! Can't listen to Luisa Lim or Jackie Lyden. I understand speech impediments, but get a job other than radio!!!! Joanne Sylberner and Patricia Namen - both SO nasally!!! Impossible to listen to!

  Anonymous

• r453, what station are these people on? Don't sound familiar as NPR Network names.

• Dear. God. The most abrasive and ANNOYING NPR voice is without a doubt Zoe Chases's. Is it a Minnesota or N. Dakota accent? I can't stand it when she says, "really, really..." when describing something. Dear God, make it stop.

  S. McFadyen

• Ooops. I'm sorry, I meant to type "Zoe Chase's." I was trying to type while squeezing my head and ears at the thought of Zoe ... talking.

  S. McFadyen

• I have to say that I've enjoyed this thread immensely--lol! I've read most of the comments here and agreed with most all the while laughing my head off! Im not sure just when it was that I decided I could take it no more (Zoe Chase)--probably driving to work one morning--but after much grimacing and a few "dear gods!" I decided if her voice affected me this much, surely there are others out there who must feel the same way. I vowed to look it up online--to find others who, like me, felt assaulted by Ms. Chase's jarring and scratchy man voice.

  J. McFadyen

• Zoe Chase doesn't just have the worst voice on NPR, she has the worst voice of any newscaster on radio.

• Hey you guys, like, y'know get my name right, ok? It's Chace with a 'c'. I'm, like, soooo thrilled to here on Data Lounge!

  Z.%20Chace

• She's on the Verizon am radio commercial now post sandy annoying voice close mic talker pronounces "o" like a black or asian with big clicking lips, like the word "skoo" can't quite say school

  http%3A//www.jojo.com/ho.html

  jim

• Duly noted. Zoe Chace. Thank you for clarifying it for us.

• Zoe reads the copy in a monotone appropiate for a funeral home spot.

• r462 here. I was referring to the Verizon campaign.

• All of the above except Diane Rehm and plus Jackie Lyden.

• Jackie Lyden always sounds like she wants people to think she went to Miss Porter's. Actually, she is a graduate of Valparaiso University in Southeastern Indiana. She did go to their Cambridge Abroad program though, and she just doesn't want you to forget that. Maybe that's called an aspirational accent?

• I was in "Eleanor Beardsley Hell" this morning. Her story was interesting, but that godawful voice always kills it for me. If they had followed here with Zoe Chace it would have been all over for me

  hating%20the%20chacevoice

• Eleanor Beardsley sounds like she really doesn't want to be doing the story, thinks it's boring, and is only doing it because it was assigned and she wants to get paid. She never seems to go beyond the basic story and never asks probing questions. On the other side of the coin, there's Sylvia Poggioli and David Green - always seem interested in the topic and the person they're interviewing. Always have plenty of questions to get the full story on what they're covering. Their interest in the subject draws your interest into their report.

• I'll echo R467 on the dedicated and diligent Sylvia Poggioli (who also has a fantastic radio voice). Another person who has unalloyed and I'd say infectious enthusiasm for his beat is Guy Raz (despite his uber-nerd voice), who just left his gig at weekend All Things Considered (and will be missed, one of the most liberal voices there, I'd say).

• Hands down, Zoe Chace! It's a cross between vocal fry and uptalk. For me, like nails on a chalkboard. Get the girl some elocution lessons!!!

  Anna%20Nymity

• I can't stand the guy who does most of the station breaks: "This program is brought to you by the John D. And Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world." Horrible, nasal voice.

• to the host of "Latino USA ". Who pronounces her last name EEE nuh OH Suh. Relax the accent before you chip a tooth!

• where the hell is zoe chace from?? I have a deep dark fear she is from Chicago (as am I). It mortifies me to think we sound like that. I only found this thread b/c I googled her name with "accent" to face my fears... But no luck. The internet would not divulge.