Why I can’t listen to NPR / WNYC anymore

What IS behind the NPR/Fry-Upspeak epidemic?

I’ve noticed the “so” thing too. I even do it. It’s pervasive and everywhere. It’s annoying as fuck

I don't think "So..." is new. Didn't people always say that, at least in NY and NJ?

Why do black people constantly say 'you know what I mean?'

English is a language that evolves, there are no rools udderwize u'd be sayen Ka-nyf

I stopped listening to WNYC once it became a feminist circle jerk.

R3 Maybe in casual conversation, but these are professional speakers on the radio, or professors, etc. NO EXCUSE.

So, I mean,.....

I have noticed the lack of "an" most often on the Food Network.

"So what I've made for you today is a egg omelette with a anchovy butter and a apple compote."

Same, OP. I don’t notice improper articles, but everything else is spot on.

Aside from the “so...”, their guests like to add “...okay?” At the end of a statement. You don’t need my fucking approval or agreement. It makes the speaker sound like a spineless sycophant. Not persuasive.

My biggest peeve is that 90% of their content is SJW. Their three main topics are:

1. Race 2. Immigration 3. Trans

Which are fine things to examine and discuss, but it’s all they EVER talk about. For a brief time, at the apex of #metoo, they did cover that angle.

R7, lol yes

R8, yes, Immigration seems to be the primary topic. And another verbal tic is saying, “right?” at the end of a sentence. Again, these aren’t teenagers, they are professional speakers!

Those Radio Lab Guys, Chad and the other guy, have the most annoying format. Part of a sentence is one of them speaking and the rest, a recorded quote.

It all seems so dumbed down.

How does DL feel about losing Jonathan Schwartz? His smugness irked me.

R5, I don’t notice it being especially “feminist”, but it’s like Tumblr Audio now. Definitely a circle jerk.

Yesterday there was a severely aggrieved black feminist who had a beef against some white feminist. She had such a massive chip on her shoulder there was no pacifying her. The whole show (or what I could tolerate listening to) was a back and forth of passive-aggressive emails being read aloud and picked apart point by point by these women.

It was like an “INTELLECTUAL” version of The Real housewives. Catty bickering, with the host egging them on.

R9/OP, I don’t miss Schwartz’s name-dropping, but I do miss the music and his encyclopedic knowledge.

The RadioLab format IS annoying. I do enjoy some of their topics, but they have that cadence of public radio folk. The SNL skits by Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer were so funny for that reason.

I feel bad because I swear I am a liberal Democrat on most every issue, but I wind up feeling like a right-wing grump when I listen to that station. Like I’m being pushed to the right because they’re so far left sometimes.

There’s only one correct way to feel about their issues, and you’re a Nazi if you don’t align.

[quote]There’s only one correct way to feel about their issues, and you’re a Nazi if you don’t align.

Sounds like a lot of DLers.

R3 - as an NJ resident, I've been hearing it only for about the past 5 years or so - around the same time I began hearing it on TV (such as in interviews).

Whenever I brought it up to other people that the word doesn't make sense in that context, they'd say they didn't know what I was talking about.

I'm glad people are noticing it now and making fun of its use, but get used to it because it's apparently not going away any time soon.

North Jersey, R13?

I've never been bothered by "So..."

Vocal fry & upspeak sent me packing years ago.

So this thread is like the shopping pet peeve thread, right?

I only began to notice the "SO" business a couple of years ago. It's now pervasive especially on CBC Radio where it seems that everyone interviewed will begin his or her response: " so ...."

I find it odd that even interviewees whose first language isn't English will do the same thing.

It's spread to podcasts, too. I hate it when I hear about a podcast that sounds interesting, but when I try to listen to it the host has that awful Ira Glass/Serial, etc. voice. The faux-casualness, the dramatic pauses, the virtue signaling* jammed in everywhere.

Vomit.

* And yes, I know "virtue signaling" is a favorite term of right-wingers, of which I am not one, but god damn it, it really hits the nail on the head. It's political humble-bragging. "Oh, look at me being so aware of my privilege. Aren't I wonderful? Aren't I woke?"

Again, vomit.

One time, I was listening to some interview and the host said something like, "John Smith works for XYZ Corporation and he's here to talk about [some topic]. Welcome, John."

John Smith: "So . . ."

I hate when Brian Lehrer starts his program with “IT’S....the Brian Lehrer Show.” “It’s” shouldn’t be the word which is stressed, you dumbass.

Same thing in Boston including inappropriate over-use of 'so', upspeaking (most offenders are female but, increasingly, this is also being used by younger males), and a general increase in pathological self importance. Rachel Martin and the sleazy careerist and stealth Republican David Green are the worst offenders.

What bothers me most about WNYC is that Laura Walker, the do-nothing creep who runs the station, makes more than $750,000 a year, which means that when you donate to the station, they have to get past almost a million dollars before they even start making up for just her salary alone.

R21 is correct; Rachel Martin and David Greene are absolutely unlistenable as hosts. They also seem like they're unlikable people too.... NPR should do better for the sake of its donors.

I had taken a long (multiyear) break from NPR. Last month, I decided to give it another try. I reloaded the iPhone app and downloaded "Morning Edition." I was unable to make it through one broadcast...for all the reasons you all have mentioned above.

Can’t speak for WNYC but NPR in general does this thing were in order to represent both sides, they have someone from a right wing think tank to represent the right.

So it ends up bein a professional propagandist vs. someone normal. It’s uneven to say the least. And you’re never going to get anything candid from a think tank.

We already know the right wing propaganda touch points. It’s not nessesary.

2 Dope Queens is good...

Are they still using the phrase "sea change"? Do they still play the same old cassette recording of foreign crowd noise for every story? NPR is twee, smug, cloying, and self-satisfied-yet-apologetic.

Though progressive, PBS hasn't adopted this tone. Enough people must love the NPR "sound" that they have distilled it and applied it to nearly every show.

NPR in general is a fantastic station with great reporting so let’s not forget that. Without it, the only thing on the radio would be rush and co.

I've noticed the "so" tic among people who straddle Gen-X and Millenials. I think the idea is that the "so" represents that your are "explaining why your answer is true as much as answering it. It's like a verbal version of Vox.

I'm annoyed by those that inject "look" and "right?" , i.e. "Look, we have Trump, right? And he's a dolt." Chris Hayes does this on MSNBC all the time, but you hear it on NPR discussions as well.

I hate how in Mass. the NPR stations are buying and taking down independent stations that used to play interesting music. The UMass-Dartmouth station was sold to RI Public Radio (NPR) and the WMVY on Martha's Vineyard was sold to WBUR (NPR). Add to that Brown selling their station to a religious broadcaster and you have much less variety on the radio.

So...maybe you hate "so..." so much because you listen to so much radio. I never listen to the radio, and I neither notice "so..." nor am I bothered by it. So...stop listening to the radio, already.

Oddie Cornish is a really stupid name.

SJW Millennials ruined NPR for me.

Yeah because Clear Channel top 40 and AM talk radio is so much better.

Find some podcasts.

So is "Ira Flatow" - somehow I always seem to be in the car when "Science Friday" comes on.

[quote] Why do black people constantly say 'you know what I mean?'

No they don't. "You know what I'm sayin'?" is more likely to be heard.

It's "nome sayin'"

R22 - Laura Walker is the President and CEO of New York Public Radio of which WNYC is one part.

NPR is not a radio station. It produces and distributes content .

Science Friday hosted by Ira Flatow is produced and distributed by Public Radio International. I suspect people who are bored by Science Friday are use to having all science distilled down to one five minute segment.

R31 - do you know why the stations were sold? Cutbacks in federal and state funding have made it difficult for many independent stations to keep broadcasting.

The taxpayers should not fund any broadcast outlet.

I only read conservative Catholic magazines now!

Careful, R42. Young people today aren't as enamored of liberal urban propaganda artists as your generation was. The rent is too damned high to trust the tribe of landlords.

The incorrect article I hear most often on NPR is "an historic". This nails on chalkboard phrasing is so ungrammatical and bizarre sounding to me that I actually emailed my local NPR station to ask why they have it in their style guide. They responded to tell me they don't have any particular standard regarding its usage. So I guess all of their on air talent just spontaneously happen to speak like affected retards when talking about historic events.

[quote]So...maybe you hate "so..." so much because you listen to so much radio. I never listen to the radio, and I neither notice "so..." nor am I bothered by it. So...stop listening to the radio, already.

R32 - Only your first [italic]so[/italic] is an example of what we're talking about. Your other [italic]sos[/itaic] are used properly.

I can't speak for the other posters here, but as I mentioned in R13, I began hearing the word used the way we're discussing by both regular people in everyday conversation and on TV.

In other words, it's [bold]everywhere[/bold], not only the radio (which BTW I don't listen to).

Yes, it is all up-speak jargon, dumbed down and pushing regressive ideologies. The CBC is even worse, but I do not listen to either anymore.

They have invaded the NY Times and New Yorker and ruined them, too.

It all mostly still sounds like this to me, but I do notice more millennial-speak (up-talk, fry, and "so..."). I never noticed the "a experiment" - that is jarring.

R40: Wrong. We need more tax funding for an actual national public broadcaster such as the CBC in Canada or ABC in Australia. Commercial media will always be sub-par.

R25 is correct, and it proves that R34 is full of shit.

R21/R23: Greene and Martin aren't the problem to me, it's Steve Inskeep who is so boring and monotone and totally right-wing biased.

R24: I went away shortly after the disaster of 2016 as they were just treating the orange afterbirth as just another President. I returned about 3 weeks ago. I noticed that I don't have to wasted time listening to All Things Considered as half the stories they do were on Morning Edition already. Yesterday, though, they had a right-wing think tank guy on talking about how the orange afterbirth should speak to Mexican-Americans on Cinco de Mayo, and that he is essentially a good man and it was just mind boggling! Anyone with eyes, ears and intellectual honesty knows this is not true. I turned it off, so I made it 3 weeks. I don't know if I'll return on Monday or not...

NPR personnel need to take elocution lessons from the BBC.

R41 = Robert SEAgull, retired and bored.

I do admire how Jack Speer says “This is Jack Speer” in the exact same way every single time. And I still don’t know if that bitch is Nor Wah, Nora Rah or Nora Rahm.

Good point, R47 (R23 here). Inskeep is also insufferably in love with his onerous delivery and odious bias. He's from Indiana and probably adores Mike Pence.

Morning Edition weekday all around needs to be improved. Weekend Edition is more listenable.

I quite like David Greene.

R52 = David Greene, trolling.

👋

I'm with R52. I love David Greene. Not a huge fan of Steve Inskeep, but I'm not anti-Steve. I'm skeptical that either of them is a Republican.

Rachel Martin used to live in my condo building, she is a sweetheart and really pretty.

I still listen to NPR. The changes in speech and the content of the stories reflect the nation, which has been changing socially and demographically to a point that we now hear from different voices than we have in the past. And voices continue to sound different. I still shudder at the uptick, but language changes, and some of us are old enough to see and feel that change.

I do agree with the point that there is a serious left-wing bias, even though they do usually make an effort to include an opposing voice when reporting a news story.

I don’t know of a better source of news on the radio, but I have rationed my intake of it. The ubiquitous flow of news seems damaging to the well-being of the mind.

Yes, r44. Hence no ellipses after the "so"s not under consideration.

Is Sylvia Poggoli still around?

The sjw losers have destroyed wnyc. The new midday show is horrible. The squishy liberal orthodoxy will kill the station.

R58, Sylvia is still posting from Rome, and Oheibea Quist-Arcton is still in Dakar.

R51: I can't deal with Scott Simon either lol so Weekend Edition Saturday is out. I miss Leanne Hanson from Weekend Edition Sunday. She was great! I used to get up on Sundays in college and listen to that show from the station in Juneau, AK lol. That way I'd listen to a 7AM show at 10 central. Now it's Lulu Garcia-Novarro who used to be Lourdes. She's OK.

R56: "serious left-wing bias" Prove it.

What the fuck kind of name is "David Folkenflik?"

The consonant popping and vocal fry keep me away from NPR much of the time.

From listening to Canadian public radio I've noticed that some Canadian vocal peculiarities are drifting down to the states and are being picked up by young women, particularly the vowel shift wherein a long a is pronounced as a long e (ex.: "greet" for "great.").

I don't know about "so," but the cable news channels seem to instruct their guests to begin their answers with "sure." They also seem to force their anchors and news readers to say certain things, such as "that's a lot to unpack," "walk back," "double down," and so forth.

And as for the person who suggested NPR hosts get lessons from the BBC, even the BBC is turning to shit. They're hiring more and more people with lower-class accents. When they interview people from outside the UK, Northern Europe, and North America, who speak English unintelligibly and insist on screaming when they speak (presumably because their lives are so miserable), the BBC fails to put in a translator who can turn all that noisy jibber-jabber into proper English.

And don't get me started on people who start sentences with "like" or similar words, or end every sentence with "ya know what I'm sayin'?"

And this is Elenor Beardsley from Paris.

Terry Gross and On the media are my favs.

Beardsley is the fucking worst.

I love Terry Gross, too.

Jamie Floyd on WNYC seems like a nice lady but she can be awfully cutesy at times.

I’m thanking God for Trump only for the fact that Brian Lehrer spends a lot less time discussing the state of New Jersey public schools. Like, who gives a fuck about New Jersey public schools?

I think some of you are imaging this “vocal fry” and “upspeak” that is ranted about so often on the DL. I personally don’t hear it at all, either on the radio or in real life. Some people- who are probably smokers- just have raspier voices.

I wish, R66. I put on WNYC every morning and it’s playing when I get home. It’s changed a LOT in the past few years.

NPR is insufferable everywhere in the country. The conversational tone they've adopted is off-putting. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

Nope - fry is a real thing and an affectation. I heard this person on the radio today and the fry really stood out to me. Go to 12 seconds in when she says "that's not a great reason to start a company". That's fry.

I hate to admit it, but the OP is right. I quit listening because of the ignorance of the new people and the smugness of the veterans.

Their website isn't quite as bad, but it's so full of race/women/victim-coddling shit one has to filter or ignore any stories aiming at white shaming.

And I'm biracial. It's just a matter of loss of objectivity and a particular political stance that, even though I support most of it, doesn't belong in "journalism." Who needs a left-tilting FOX-type bias network?

Since R66 claims to not perceive fry & upspeak, just imagine trying to speak to her in person.

Itwas, like, sooo painfullll be'cuz sheee jus' di'int even know she sounnnded like that?

Scott Simon's smug repulsive laughter is one of worst sounds on Earth. I like Tom Ashbrook. I miss Diane rehm. Jamie Floyd has a winning twinkle in her voice. Not pretentious. Joshua Jackson is an earnest dullard. Ari Shapiro is ear cancer. Like a left wing maxi pad. Drippy and stinky. Terri gross can go fuck herself. But obviously there is no more foul curse on humanity than the diaper that is Pod Save America.

R70, thank you. I’m liberal as hell, but this coddling shit has to stop. It’s almost aggressive.

and I don’t need my personal feelings validated by the radio. I don’t want my opinions mirrored. I want OBJECTIVITY.

Just the facts, ma’am.

R72, I hate to break it to you but Tom Ashbrook got canned for verbally abusing his staff.

R74: It's a right wing troll. That list the troll typed out is typical right wing snowflake whinging. Especially since Pod Save America has NOTHING to do with public radio. Right wing dipshits are gonna dipshit.

For all of you outside the listening area for WAMC fm in Albany, NY, count your blessings. It is dominated by an odious little man named Dr. Alan Chartock. He's the Board President. He's the CEO. He implements the vision he creates by hiring himself to do the broadcasting. And he's a nasty little man with a mile wide streak of misogyny.

And the worst voice in radio, just to make it all as bad as it can be.

Oh, OK, thanks, R75.

I used to listen to Leonard Lopate faithfully Monday to Friday, noon to 2. Engaging discussion of the arts, culture, science, history, cooking, and current affairs.

But Lopate apparently once told a female producer that the word avocado came from the Aztec term for testicles.

Now that he got the heave ho, midday on WNYC has become Social Justice Radio, the Callout Culture Hour. WNYC, you’ll never see another penny from me.

Same here, R78

Leonard Lopate was the only show I listened to.

R78, Is that why they ditched Leonard? Good grief. He was good and the show is trash without him.

I used to listen almost daily, and now, as you said, it’s “Social Justice Radio, the Callout Culture Hour” (that made me gasp a little because it’s so accurate). I mentioned upthread a show I heard the other day with the host egging on an argument between two feminists. I’m still annoyed by that one. It was like witnessing a “let me speak to the manager I’m calling the Better Business Bureau!” situation about a dangling button on a clearance blouse.

I’ll still turn it on while I’m loading the dishwasher, but there’s a 50/50 chance I’m going to be scolded for my white privilege or harangued to include the station in my estate planning.

I do like Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Maritsa. But the station is quickly becoming a SJW treehouse. Public access quality. No substance no dignity.

I listen to it here in England because it gets me away from the fucking BBC.

If you don't like it, then turn it off. There's WSHU, WNPR, NJPR in the Tri-State Area alone. I think we should have an actual national public broadcaster like other civilized nations but the silver lining of our decentralized, plutocrat funded system is there are often multiple public stations in the same market that will air different programming. Additionally, you can stream any station in the country.

Though a lot of the complaints here seem to be right-wingers pretending to be liberals crying about how people on the radio are being mean to white people. The giveaway is the use of "SJW" and other right wing conjuring words....

R82: I'm genuinely curious, what don't you like about BBC radio? There's like 10 national stations now with digital radio and local ones on top of that. None of them appeal?

R33 You made me giggle! When I hear her name, my mind conjures up a love story between an Audi and a Rolls Corniche! I do notice fry, upspeak, and other annoying vocal qualities but still listen; I enjoy Jerome Mc Donnell, Kai Ryssdal, and Teri Gross. I find Jerome's nasally voice very sexy BTW.

I never get the gist of Elenor Beardsley's stories because her weird delivery and vocal tic distracts me so badly.

R84: We're all talking past each other here, because people are complaining about WNYC shows which only New York hears and you mention Jerome McDonald who is only hear on WBEZ here in Chicago. Anyone outside of these markets and who isn't streaming these stations have no idea who these people are and have never heard them.

To your post: Kai Ryssdal annoys me. He's so bro-y. Plus the whole concept of Marketplace is obnoxious, there are tons of business magazines and radio shows and whole TV channels and web-streams devoted to business. Let public radio do something different and out of the mainstream, that's supposed to be the main point of it.

R83, this is my first post in this thread. I'm a lifelong liberal and I've listened to public radio all of my adult life (20 years) I can't stand public radio anymore. I grew up in Kansas, poor, female and white. I do care about other people and I don't need to be clubbed over the head every day with the privilege stick by public radio.

Do they do stories on rural teen boys from broken homes at all? Now there's a sorry lot. How many of you know any of these guys? No hope at all, so no drive. No special programs for them either and no one gives a shit because they're white males --being raised by their grandmas who are still working 40+ hours a week because mom's in prison or on the lam or strung out and dad was never in the picture (sound familiar?). It's a fucking epidemic, too. Give this ten years to come to fruition.

I echo the poster up thread who said that stories on immigrants, minorities, etc ARE necessary, but does EVERY fucking story have to be obviously or even tangentially about these things?

WI lived in NYC for several years, and know who they are R86; I have friends and family there and NJ and visit often. You seem quite assumptive and elitist.

Why the fuck can’t the Berlin correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson spit out her own name properly. She does it like she’s not sure how to pronounce it. Fucking annoying.

If you're complaining about "millennials" and "SJWs" then why are you even listening to NPR? A low IQ freeper like you would probably feel more comfortable watching Fox News.

r87 is the kind of person I'm talking about. Republicans love to play the "white victimhood" card while simultaneously accusing minorities if playing the victim. Why are right-wing redneck females posting on a gay site, anyway? You probably think homosexuality can be cured through prayer.

R87: While the link below does not specifically speak to your issue, they do cover rural, white America. It is not all minorities, all the time like so many of you claim.

R88: I'm not speaking about you obviously, I'm talking about the people elsewhere in this thread who don't live in Chicago or New York.

See, I feel like I hear nothing but stories about salt of the earth and twice as white rednecks in mining towns and hardscrabble plains states and methed up Oregonians and Midwestern farm boys whose limbs were claimed by combines and single Maine mothers hiding heroin in their diaper bags even tho their parents are spending their retirement caring for their junkie grandbabies. It's just a who's who of white trash. But, yeah, the vocal fry kills me. I happy to see it causes throat damage.

[quote] I do admire how Jack Speer says “This is Jack Speer” in the exact same way every single time.

I prefer "From NPR News in Washington ... I'm Dave Mattingly."

I think a lot of you would be happier listening to Rush LImbaugh and his ilk. It would resonate with your worldview much more.

And for that retard fellow Canadian who constantly carps about CBC, "regressives", etc, well, there are always Ezra Levant, Stefan Molyneux and Gavin McInnes.

Americans no longer trust the broadcast media. Their agenda is clearly subversive.

R90, nowhere did I blame minorities or immigrants for anything. I'm glad to hear their stories, I'd also be glad to hear about something else.

You've fallen quite hard for the old divide-and-conquer tactics, calling me a republican just because I don't fall in line with you.

The Russians must be so proud.

R94 and his ilk want us all to be serfs.

r95, the Americans who claim they don't trust the broadcast media are the ones who believe every lie they hear on Fox News.

Bless r94 for telling it like it is. Freepers, be gone!

R86, if you don't recognize Market Place as a business show that is very, very different from the other business shows all over radio, then you have not spent much time listening to those other business shows.

Market Place is very much different and out of the mainstream, just as you requested.

Kai Ryssdal is annoying and comes across as a narcissistic fuck, but the content of his show is distinctive.

R99: I just don't see the point of it. But the solution is simple, I don't listen so problem solved. :)

The World is my favorite program on public radio, though it is from PRI and not NPR, which I've noticed is the case for most of what I like, lol. It's a shame The Takeaway failed as a PRI morning drive alternative to Morning Edition, it was well done and flowed better with better interviews. But stations wouldn't take a risk on it, so it got turned into another mid-morning talk show and Hockenberry was revealed to be an asshole perv. Opportunity lost.

Well said R99 , Cheers.

Doesn't it seem like a lot of the guys have semi-gay voice, even if not gay.

Teri Gross has Asperger's or something and misses thing in conversation. I can't listen to her.

The long-time NPR (and CBC) listeners disappointed with their deterioration are not "Freepers" or "Republicans. " Idiot! !

So stupid . The people who make these repetitive, brainless comments must be the stupidest on DL.

R104: The poster was specifically referring to those who criticize these services as focusing too much on minorities or having a left bias, not the vocal fry critics. Fucking reading comprehension, how does it work?

You guys should check this podcast out:

Kai Ryssdal, Scott Simon, Steve Inskeep are all annoying and not nearly as clever as they think they are. Ari Shapiro's voice is gratingly queeny. Good riddance to Jonathan "when Frank and I were in Palm Springs" Schwartz. Frank Cavalcante is terrific. Richard Hake sounds like he's talking with a mouth full of cum. Jami Floyd can be a good interviewer, but her cutesy inflections grate.

Todd Zwillich is my hero. Speaks well, smart, polite, engaged. And with a face made for TV. Todd, why did you leave "The Takeaway?" I MISS YOU!

^^PAUL Cavalcante

R78 - the avocado comment was on example. Both men were fired after an extensive investigation done by an outside source. Since the dismissal was based upon a violation of NYPR employee rules/regulations both men could have contested the firing. Which neither have done.

It's funny to read the complaints.

1) You don't like the way people sound or are offended by some pretty insignificant grammar errors, or what you consider unacceptable usage but not necessarily an error.

2) Public radio produced content i ignoring the issues of main stream white people.

3) Public radio produced content includes too many voices from conservative think tanks. Too many stories about the struggles of white people.

R87 - Why is your local NPR affiliate covering the stories yo mention?

Betwen the publicradiofan.com, NPR, APM, PRI and a few stations I like to stream I find I satisfied with the programming available.

For the record Marketplace isn't an NPR show.

[quote]Richard Hake sounds like he's talking with a mouth full of cum.

I never listen to NPR or any of the rest of it but now I'm tempted to seek this guy out.

I hated The Takeaway right out of the gate because of its extremely cutesy title. A “takeaway” is the British equivalent of “to go.” And we’re not Britain. Funnily enough more people in the UK are using the term “to take out” or “to go” rather than “to takeaway.”

R109, R87 here. I got out of Kansas when I was in my twenties, thankfully. If you're asking why rural Kansas public radio doesn't cover these issues, I can guess it's because Kansas public radio, outside of KC, is probably as flat broke as everyone else there.

When I was a kid, I did love our local public radio, but all they carried was Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and the weekend programs Prairie Home Companion and Car Talk. Oh, Thistle and Shamrock. And that was about it. Other than that, it was called "that classical station" and many people didn't even know they had news programs because they were almost always playing classical music. There wasn't any money for other programs. There was certainly no hard-hitting local reporting.

I didn't have TV back then, so I endured every pledge drive in its entirety as I puttered around the house. In Kansas, 15-20 years ago, they'd ask you to send in whatever you could, even if was just mailing them a few dollars, and they really meant that. I'm in Dallas now where the head of our local public radio, KERA's Maryann Alhadeff, makes close to half a million dollars a year. Here they flat out ask you to include them in your will, give them your car/boat, and set up your donations to be automatically withdrawn from your bank account every month. Certainly a different demographic.

Anyway, I don't listen to much public radio anymore. I do miss it. I still enjoy PBS: Frontline, News Hour, Nature, American Experience, etc. I really like the Hidden Brain podcast.

R111 - I suggest using Google to find the current usage of takeaway.

R112 - So you know live in Dallas and don't listen to much public radio but you know what is being covered by public radio in Kansas?

I know someone who actually worked on The Takeaway and said Hockenberry was a complete and utter bastard. The running joke there was that someone would start to complain about him and someone would inevitably have to say “But he’s in a wheelchair.”

Is Diane Rehm's replacement still on the air?

R50, you cracked me up! I couldn’t make out what her name was, either. But from the start I imagined she was saying, “I’m More Wrong.” Now that’s what’s stuck in my brain.

LOL, R116. Yeah, her diction totally sucks. She also makes her name sound like “More Raw” on occasion.

R115: Yes ,it's Joshua Jackson with 1A and it's still on. Oddly enough, I've never heard it :)-

R107: Todd was only ever the fill-in. They just hired the new permanent host so he's not on everyday. I don't know if he'll stick around to fill-in or not.

R109: I'm not any of those complainers, my only issue is, if you bring on these right-wing think tankers, or even these Republican election officials, do NOT let them just say whatever damn false thing they do and not push back on them. Hold them to account, even if their fee fees get hurt and they won't appear on the show ever again ever ever. They hate NPR anyway, and work to defund their CPB funding every chance they get, so stop trying to appease them by showing how fair and balanced you are.

R114, dish on Todd? PLEASE.

I thought Hockenberry came off as arrogant. Much too directive in his interviews--"don't you think that..."

What r72 said x1000. I am by no means a right wing troll. I actually prefer the politics of Democracy Now for the most part. Even if you don't like their politics, they speak in normal, dignified voices. NPR is the worst.

Who will inherit the late Carl Kasell's ill-fitting, slobber-soaked dentures?

I think part of the loss in formality is due to a generational rejection of it, but perhaps a bigger part is the explosion and ensuing influence of podcasts, where such a register of discourse sounds almost pompous.

Right-wing radio is where the real vocal horrors occur. It’s as if they are aiming for the descriptor “blowhard.”

Interesting, r122. I think you are right about podcasts. I can't stand listening to them either. There is something about the tone that really rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I am old, but the formality used in the past, and still used on network newscasts, seems to signal objectivity or neutrality.

"The people who make these repetitive, brainless comments must be the stupidest on DL."

No, the brainless ones are the ones who repeat right-wing talking points, like you.

R120: Amy Goodman is an obnoxious cow. Her militant, clenched-butt cheeks delivery is unlistenable. She's even worse to look at on TV. And I would likely agree with most of whats on that program, but I cannot deal with her at all.

90% of content boils down to: Men are bad. White men are bad. White people are bad.

r126, that sounds like a press release from Fox News. For a "lefty" you seem to recycle a lot of white victimhood and MRA talking points from the right.

^ Pure observation. Please don't label.

On WNYC "Midday" replaced Lenny Lopate from Noon-2:00. They rotate hosts who sound like college kids. The legal ID's are now voiced by people you can't understand. Guess they have to meet EEO requirements. The Beg-A-Thons make us think donations are for programming. I stopped giving when I read that CEO/President Laura Walker makes $800,00 a year.

I missed a zero. Laura makes Eight-Hundred-Thousand dollars a year!

I mean eight MILLION a year!!

[quote]the avocado comment was on example. Both men were fired after an extensive investigation done by an outside source. Since the dismissal was based upon a violation of NYPR employee rules/regulations both men could have contested the firing. Which neither have done.

What “both men” are you referring to? I referred to Leonard Lopate. You seem to be responding to a different conversation.

If Lopate was fired due to “multiple incidents” why did the avocado reference feature so prominently ... when it’s so completely, laughably absurd? He seems to have had one millennial female producer make claims about him that every female producer that’s ever worked with him scoffed at. The main complaint from the young producers was that he was “sometimes mean to them!” He yelled! Which, frankly, isn’t surprising when he would do an interview with a guest and the facts he was provided by the lazy millennial idiots on his staff would prove to be completely, crassly wrong.

So ... Here’s what actually happened.

WNYC did let some sleazy behavior on the part of other producers go unpunished. Then #metoo happened. Laura Walker got in a panic that she would lose her million dollar a year job so suddenly needed to prove how “tough” she was by firing every male host who ever hurt the feelings of a female producer. It seems to have worked — Walker saved her job.

WNYC has done us one favor. Lorraine Maddox who did the sponsorship announcements in her sing-song delivery is gone.

Paul Cavalconte is a refreshing and knowledgeable replacement for Jonathan Schwartz, who sounded smug.

R94, no it wouldn’t. I’m just as alienated by Fox News and Republicans.

Is it so hard to believe that a moderate person might be turned off by the constant scolding?

I’m not going to list my liberal cv. I saw what you did to r87 and r126. Calling people Russian trolls, white trash hilbilly, MRA, Stormfront... Liberals here are discussing the change in one of the places we used to feel comfortable. It’s gotten a bit radical.

But if it makes you feel better to call people names and try to discredit them, I can’t stop you. I just wish you would understand.

NPR has always been unbearable to me. It is infused with an upper middle class smugness, and those hushed speaking voices and fake background noise. Sad part is I think the reporting is good, but I can’t bear the delivery.

Everyone says “right?” all the time, it’s very annoying.

There is A LOT of vocal fry, both men and women. It drives me crazy.

R132: Found the whiny misogynist! Now find the whiny racists! Go!!

Icky, unctuous PC banalities; Windsor Johnson's BIZARRE robot-voice delivery. And maybe just a bit too Jewy for most of us outside NYC.

For those of you who don’t understand it, vocal fry is a real thing. I’m a trained singer. It’s unsupported sound. It’s immediately trained out of any vocalist. It’s very weird to me that these hosts, who I’m sure have had some vocal training, do it. Its just not done. It’s an irritating sound that is considered to be weak and lacking in authority. It’s bizarre to hear it on news radio. TV hosts do not do it. They may think they are being more “conversational” but it’s just embarrassing. It sounds like teenage speak. I immediately dismiss anyone who does it. It means you are insecure and immature.

R139: Bonus!! Found the whiny Anti-Semite!!

R139 is a bit too bigoted for most of us in NYC.

[quote]Found the whiny misogynist!

The women who said there’s no way they bought some of the outlandish accusations against Lopate must be misogynists too.

Because you’re a misogynist unless you believe women are always right and men are always lying.

R143: Is there a link to any of your wanton bullshit? Or is it just the patented Fox Nazi News method of "some women say"?

Dumb people say "talking points "and they think they are saying something brilliant .

Remember when people on radio had beautiful voices and didn't try to sound like confused , spoiled children?

The podcast angle is interesting - how it's changed the standard for radio discussions. I often enjoy the casualness of podcasts, and don't need them to sound like objective news reporting in light of what's being covered. Marc Maron interviewing Chrissie Hynde doesn't require formality - it's a conversation about her career and about their shared passion for music. But, that's the kind of podcast I listen to. If it were a newsy, current events, political podcast, I might think differently.

"The women who said there’s no way they bought some of the outlandish accusations against Lopate must be misogynists too."

That probably has less to do with misogyny and more to do with being biased and not wanting to believe the worst about someone you know (many people, male and female, are guilty of that)

But you sound like a whiny MRA guy, so......

[quote]Is there a link to any of your wanton bullshit? Or is it just the patented Fox Nazi News method of "some women say"?

So this is the game where you demand I cite every source while you just pedal Million Dollar Walker’s butt-covering as brave feminist action, right?

Right.

[quote]“I’ve known Leonard for a very long time and he’s never said anything sexually suggestive at all,” said Susie Stulz who has worked intermittently at the show since 1996. “I am profoundly grieved because I think it’s so unfair. He’s such a good guy.”

[quote]That probably has less to do with misogyny and more to do with being biased and not wanting to believe the worst about someone you know (many people, male and female, are guilty of that)

Because anything that veers from the external feminine victim syndrome is bias, correct?

[quote]But you sound like a whiny MRA guy, so....

And you sound like a Michfest hippo, my love, so ....

Agree with OP except for the "a" before a word with a vowel (e.g. a egg)

That's NY-metro accent. Esp bridge and tunnel.

R115 - The show, 1A, which replaced The Diane Rehm Show is still on the air. The host is Joshua Johnson.

The Dallas public station plays several hours daily a show out of Austin called "The Texas Standard" which is excellent at covering local and state news. The host is engaging, regular contributors are from the Austin American Statesman newspaper keep things current and topical. It's a great supplement to the national NPR and APR syndicated shows.

R132, I think the Lopate situation is far more complex than you described. They had to do a thorough internal investigation. If Lopate isn’t back there’s a reason.

I hate the idents of “normal New Yorkers” saying “This is WNYC, New York” to the stupid clatter of coffee cups. So provincial. And the Polish accent on one and Aussie accent on another are a joke.

Does anyone else get the impression that local NPR affiliates will hire ANYONE if they have a British accent?

I like Wade Goodwin, the Texas reporter. No-nonsense and smart.

I don't like the business of a reporter starting a sentence, then using a recorded expert quote to finish the sentence. Very sloppy. Also, on Morning Edition, sometimes the two reporters actually take turns saying the sentences of a story. Tacky.

It's like they think people have no attention spans and have to be "entertained."

R83, NJPR is not an alternative, they simulcast WNYC. When Governor Christie decided the state should get out of the broadcasting business, FM stations were sold to New York Public Radio. WNET-13 now simulcasts on New Jersey Public Television.

R156 here. WNET-13 owns New Jersey Public Television, but has separate programming,

Joshua Johnson is a very intelligent guy but his show is boring AF. I miss Diane.

Brian Lehrer began his show today with a discussion of McCain’s book and the second half hour is about NYC schools. He should do the first hour on the latest on Trump every day except for his DiBlasio call-in on Fridays.

R156/157: I knew that but I thought at the least there would be some differentiation in programming. Sad that there is not.

R148: Listen up! When you make a claim, you best bring the receipts to back that shit up! And you have not done that. ONE LOUSY WOMAN says oh, I never saw it, this is bad. That's not multiple women like you claimed. And complaints went back years, as your own link states. Judging by your uppity attitude towards people here and your use of right-wing conjuring words (I have no fucking idea what million dollar walker even means) it is clear you're just an MRA misogynist fuck boy troll.

I must ask you to now sit down, shut up and stop wasting this thread's time!

Me too.

And I grew up listening to NPR.

They totally grate on my nerves

R132 - Lopate and Schwartz, both long time hosts, were fired at the same time. The fact you don't know this leads me to believe you actually know very little about what happened.

For those of you so worried about Walker and her salary I don'think $800,000 a year for a President/CEO of an organisation as large as New York Public Radio is out of line.

R100- I don't know what shows you listen to but in my experience the host serves as a moderator. In the case where either side of an issue needs to be challenged other guest do it. In some cases if a guest steps over a line a host will step in. What doesn't happen with hosts on public radio? Comments like Laura Ingraham made about David Hogg.

I think R125 pretty much sums up this thread. He doesn't like Amy Goodman because of the way she looks. Superficial criticism that has nothing to do with content.

R162: Other guests can't challenge bullshit when there are no other guests. You clearly do NOT listen to Morning Edition as it is always the host and one guest. The guest, usually a Republican consultant or stink tanker, lies a mile a minute, and the host offers almost no push-back. If there are other panel shows that do the format you describe, then good for them. I'm not talking about then.

Incidentally, I did listen to the Takeaway this morning with the debut of the new host Tenzin Vega. She's good, and what I noticed is that the program interviews journalists on all subjects. Whereas NPR this morning brought on consultants and think tank people. Case in point, for the West Virginia Republican primary, Morning Edition talks to a Republican strategist, with his spin and obvious leanings. The Takeaway talked to a West Virginia Public Broadcasting journalist on the ground. It's like night and day in terms of coverage.

R153 You seem astonishingly gullible. In this 'me too' era, if there had been accusations of substance someone would have come forward with them and doubtless been lauded for her bravery. Instead, we had the [html removed] avocado revelation.

I worked with Lopate and never saw him be anything but professional with all people. This was some time ago. I really cannot picture him sexually harassing or creeping on women. He just wasn't that type of person.

I can imagine him possibly getting grumpy with age. Many people become less tolerant of fools as years go on. If that was the problem then the punishment was out of proportion to the offense.

And Laura Walker is getting paid 3 or 4 times what that position should draw. If you think ts how listener contributions should be spent, then go ahead and send them your money. The only program there that I still listen to is On The Media.

I agree that the pay is high considering the size of the organization. It seems that as the federal funding has diminished and the corporate funding has increased there has come along with it pressure, subtle and sometimes not, to lean rightward politically, and that rightward tilt is at it's apex when the Republicans have the Presidency, the House, and the Senate.

Like the politicians who dance to the tune of their corporate sponsors, it is inevitable that both management and highly paid on air talent all factor in this knowledge that their masters are listening as they shape their rhetoric and manage their interviews. Maybe that's why the number of careerist creeps on staff seems to be on the increase while the quality of journalism is definitely on the wane.

Last time I listened, mine was all DACA, Syrian refugees and Trans, all the time. Of course, these groups have well-funded backers. Big business wants to keep the borders open for cheap labor. Israel wants Syria depopulated.

Trans have had tens of millions of dollars devoted to them - why? Why did gays and lesbians struggle for hundreds of years in this country while Trans have had the red carpet bought and rolled out for them, with champagne and canapés at the end? I agree with those who speculate that part of the Trans push is because it provides Big Pharma with new victims for life.

And mine also has a foreign-accent fetish: a good percentage of the hosts are foreign-born, as if the relatively-educated, well-traveled Americans who listen to NPR are going to go weak at the knees at a non-American accent. It's really condescending.

Anyone else think that Kelly McEvers and Elsa Chang are the same person? They have that same rapid-fire, startled delivery. I think I almost prefer the fry. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED is unlistenable no matter what the topic.

The US desperately needs independent and truly objective news, but this isn't it.

R184, you admitted you worked with Lopate “some time ago.” Then how do you know his behavior wouldn’t have deteriorated over time, becoming unprofessional and inappropriate with his colleagues? You don’t. He would not be gone unless they had a good reason.

r167 is psychic!

R163 - The piece on Morning Edition was on about what the Republican primaries mean for Republicans in the midterms. I'm not sure why you think interviewing a Republican strategist is a problem? The original complaints I read about conservative think tank guests was they were invited on a show in a lame attempt to be fair and balanced. I didn't know your complaint was about trying to gain insight into Republican primaries from an insider.

Who is the woman host that sounds like DL fave Pam Shriver?

I like Democracy Now, but am put off by the way Amy Goodman always speaks with clenched jaws.

You do know that she's really Gloria Upson, don't you?

I live for Nina Totenberg. Sadly, she is not on very often.

When I moved to LA, there were to NPR stations: KUSC with classical music and KCRW with public affairs and the fluff. But the GM of KCRW was Ruth Seymour, a loud, noxious woman with an affected "classical New York accent," which was as fake as the name Seymour (she changed it from Hirschmann). Happily, Pasadena CC started KPCC, which quickly grew larger than KCRW, in terms of subscribers. I changed my tithing from KCRW to KPCC 20 years ago. But I am thiiiis close to dumping KPCC and NPR altogether, as it seems to have become a dreaded echo chamber.

Brian Lehrer on WNYC should have an interesting show tomorrow covering the Schneiderman debacle.

I agree with you completely OP about "upspeakers", fryvoice and ignorance of when to use the articles a and an, but what is the solution? Is the situation with language too far gone? Are mandatory speech classes necessary for nearly an entire generation of Americans? Where would the vast quantity of qualified English and speech teachers be found? People who seem to act as apologists for this shit should realize the difference between evolution or perhaps what they might also call "progress" and disintegration. There are a whole generation of millenials who use calculators in school instead of learning simple arithmetic (memorizing multiplication tables, long division, working with fractions, etc.) and for whom cursive writing is given about as much attention as learning Roman numerals was given when most people in their 50s, 60s and older went to school which wasn't much as I recall.

I really can’t believe people on NPR don’t use an in front of a word that begins with a vowel? That is so basic.

Curious which shows on 'NYC bring in the biggest bucks during Beg-A-Thons. Co-owned QXR "Classical New York" offers CD's as gifts, not cheap tote bags like 'NYC.

David Greene is far from the worst, EXCEPT for the way his voice goes high and breaks when he asks a question. Sounds like he's 12.

Bob Oakes drives my crazy on WBUR Boston. He sounds like he hasn't slept in weeks and worse, pronounces his first name as "Bahb."

Yes, Bob Oakes has an odd voice although I happen to like it. NPR has too many young reporters who could learn a lot from Bob Oakes on how to read the news objectively and how to ask a question straight, without bias, affectation or self importance.

R11, Schwartz's encyclopedic knowledge was not always correct and he would not acknowledge mistakes.

"So" has replaced "well" at the beginning of a sentence.

Classic thread about NPR personalities with annoying names

R183, thanks, that was fun.

What does Laura Walker spend her money on? Certainly not clothes...

Maybe she has 870 houses like Sean Hannity.

Just bumping this to admit I was wrong about Lopate -- I was defending him upthread. But recently I heard and read some things about his behavior that makes it seem much likelier to me that he was a harasser and engaged in inappropriate behavior with the younger females on his staff.

Sad because I loved his show. I still do -- I listen to the archive when the hopeless SJWs that replaced him drive me off the station.

R125 Amy Goodman sounds and looks like she's holding in a huge shit.

Amy Goodman and her husband/producer are partially held responsible for bankrupting the Leftist Pacifica radio network. She is said to be a bare-knuckled fighter and managed to get a struggling Pacifica to give her full ownership of Democracy Now! Pacifica stations have to pay to broadcast it, and many are in the hole partially as a result.

A little off-topic regarding Amy Goodman-- I was living in Detroit about 13 years ago and her show was airing on the public radio station. At the end of the program she announced that she was moving from one NYC studious or apartment to another and solicited the public in NY to come help her move that weekend. I just thought that was weird. I'd be afraid to show up to help for fear of accidentally microaggressing everyone there. As if.

Studios*

Whenever I heard the name Amy Goodman in the decade and half since, I always pictured her barking orders at her volunteer movers as they carried down the stairs one of one of those cheap pole lamps with the three of four swiveling lights mounted at different angles.

Anyway, after all these years of having that image in my mind, I now bet she wasn't even there on moving day.

People, while it's all well and good to vent about WNYC, NPR, and other stations here, you should really be doing it where it will get seen at the station's website or on the NPR Facebook page. If you're part of twitter, make sure you follow some of the hosts and then you can excoriate them where they'll see the comments.

Unfortunately, I actually work in public broadcasting, so cannot partake in the fun. If I could I'd being targeting Rachel Martin (she might as well be a giggle girl on a morning zoo in commercial radio), Steve Inskeep (insufferable and perpetually pleased with himself) and Kai Rysdall (who I hate with the heat of a thousand suns).

I love, love, love Audie Cornish and Mary Louise Kelly. I used to dig David Greene (what a great radio voice!), but he's doing things on-air now that his younger and hipper producers want and it's cringe-worthy.

Ari Shapiro? Now there's a voice that begins to grate when it goes high.

R193: I listen to two PRI programs now, The Takeaway and The World. Best stuff on public radio, bar none, mostly for the reasons you've listed. I, too, hate Kai Rysdall. Tanzina Vega and Marco Wermann just do a great job covering the news and doing interviews, I don't really miss NPR or APM. Good luck in the industry!

This thread is why I love gay men.

R187, do you know anything about why Jonathan Schwartz got fired? Did he threaten to hit young interns for never having heard of “My Way”?

Ari Shapiro is the worst kind of stinky dreary fake.

Rysdall does this thing with his voice that is like an audio leer. Inskeep is both pompous and sophomoric. The Snark Twins.

[quote][R187], do you know anything about why Jonathan Schwartz got fired? Did he threaten to hit young interns for never having heard of “My Way”?

I'm not r187, but according to someone I know at WNYC, Schwartz had gotten away with harassing young female interns and freelancers for years. At one point it was policy for a male executive to be on the floor when Schwartz was in the house - just in case. Schwartz was a big deal and the honchos thought they could keep his obnoxiousness under control with mild warnings. And, of course, the hypocrite Laura Walker has known all about this asshole from the beginning.

They are currently running an ad for a story on WNYC about Mob Deep and the death of Prodigy, one member of the duo. They play this clip of someone saying, “Prodigy is dead right now..” It’s so fucking grating. He’s dead for now but we can expect a return to life in the imminent future?

[quote][R187], do you know anything about why Jonathan Schwartz got fired? Did he threaten to hit young interns for never having heard of “My Way”?

I'm not r187, but according to friends who worked at the station Schwartz creeped on/harassed young interns and free lancers who felt they couldn't complain publicly against him. Laura Walker and HR knew and did sweet fuck all except to require a male executive to be on the floor when Schwartz was sliming around the station.

Then things got too hot, women were fed up with his shit, and it all blew up in his ugly face. Good. He's a Sinatra expert; maybe he thought he could act like a member of the Rat Pack too.

I cannot stand Joshua Johnson on 1A. To me he sounds completely smug, pretentious and condescending all the time. He also speaks in upspeak. Yes, he is very smart and intelligent but he knows it and flaunts it which makes him seem even more condescending. Also, even though he is a gay black man I have a strong suspicion that he is secretly a right leaning conservative. The very first thing he stated he was going to do when he started that program was to embrace the people who voted for Trump. And he does. That and his smug attitude turns me off completely.

I really like the Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me program. It's always entertaining. And I like Terry Gross. I think she's one of the best interviewers ever because she not only asks interesting questions, she also knows how to listen and best of all, she gets interesting guests. She often has guests that nobody else can get.

Remember, when you give money to WNYC, you are giving it to Laura Walker -- until they make almost $900K, it all goes to her.

She is a money-hungry, greedy cretin who apparently last year tried to up her salary to one million.

GOP invades DL.

I'm a little tired of Ari Shapiro. His interviews of disaster survivors are particularly obnoxious as his "I'm so sorry for what you're going through" comes off (to me) as insincere.

Kai Rysdall has always been fratty douchebro.

I love Lakshmi Singh because she sounds so unimpressed with everything when she's reading the news.

Oh, and motherfucking Michael Krasny on KQED's Forum, can fuck right off. Worst interviewer ever and so enamored by the sound of his own voice.

I don’t listen to NPR that often anymore but I am very frustrated by The New York Times’s podcast “The Daily” because it is so, so good, and its host Michael Barbarro is so, so difficult to listen to. His cadence and intonation and emphasis are maddening. Every single sentence climbs a mountain and then crashes down the other side. If you listen to it, you’ll know what I mean. Sometimes his vocalization is so distracting I have to turn it off.

SNL actually made fun of Barbarro’s intolerable manner of speaking last week.

R204 A dislike of upspeak, vocal fry, overuse of the word “so” and a desire to hear “an” instead of AN incorrect “a” does not make one a member of the GOP.

It's annoying but that's pretty much just the way younger adults talk now. Not confined to NPR, unfortunately.

R209, I expect more from NPR, though. And radio in general.

R208: They weren't talking about you, DEAR. They're talking about all the Nazis in here whining about left wing this, SJW that. So you've got no problem with that comment.

Jesus Christ, I just looked up Marketplace’s Sabri Ben-Achour. First, the gays definitely looooove careers in news lol. Second, I want him to softly read me a bedtime story while I nurse on his hairy tits and fingerfuck his hot hole.

R212 He’s a carefully cultivated kind of odd. He likes to showcase that he eats smelly fruits, grows exotic ugly plants and taxidermied insects and makes unusual pottery. It’s funny then that with all that curated nonconformity, he is the ultimate gay conformist, showing off his gym body in Speedos at every opportunity and apparently only interacting with other gay men who live in gyms and out of clothes.

I produce a podcast for my job and someone brought up vocal fry during a meeting on Friday. The guy who does the audio is a year older than I am at 41; the others are 32 and 25. The younger two had never heard of vocal fry or upspeak. They understood the concept of upspeak and agreed it is annoying, but they couldn’t understand vocal fry. I told them it’s how the Kardashians talk. “How do they talk?” the two Millennials asked. I told them it’s how Lena Dunham talks—one of them said she hates the way Dunham talks, but couldn’t pinpoint why.

So we pulled up some YouTube videos about vocal fry. Both of the Millennials shook their heads and shrugged.

“They sound normal? That’s just how people talk?”

R212 Interesting. Sabri split off his look-at-my-body posts from his ceramics account a while back, and it now looks like he has either stopped putting up the narcissistic fuck-me pictures or else (more likely) changed his handle to a hidden one. Even his boyfriend isn’t tagging slutty pictures anymore. Marketplace must have been less proud of his “thotness” (He loves to tag his pictures with “#thot -and #thirsty.) than he is and given him an ultimatum about choosing to be a serious journalist or a fulltime porn star. The guys here who pray that David Muir will one day strip off his shirt would probably cum at the sight of Sabri’s old Instagram account. He never wore more than a skimpy Speedo.

The real language epidemic is hosts and guests saying “right” at the end of every single phrase, trying to force agreement. It’s extremely obnoxious.

[quote] So we pulled up some YouTube videos about vocal fry. Both of the Millennials shook their heads and shrugged. “They sound normal? That’s just how people talk?”

That's upspeak, not vocal fry.

R216 Right, a very British affect, wouldn’t you say? Or even French? N’est-ce pas?

R217 My point was that the Millennials couldn’t even hear vocal fry when it was being specifically showcased as vocal fry in videos. And yes, they “upspoke” themselves when saying that the people with vocal fry in the videos “talk normally.”

Did you play them this video, r219?

Upstaging lava fields with “thot” pecs and abs.

Almost every video on youtube has people who constantly start everything they say with "so." It's maddening. It seems to have replaced 70% of people using "like."

So...I have said "so" at the beginning of sentences since the beginning of my learning to speak. And that begins in the 1950s. Not new.

Hey. So...like, every generation has its verbal ticks, you know what I mean? You know, right?

Nothing bothers me more than “went missing” in place of “missing.” People who go missing run away; if they were abducted or if they may have been abducted, then they are missing. But everyone in the country seems to have adopted the “gone missing” thing overnight several years ago.

Oh well. Be best!