Love NPR but not all the hosts

I was sad to just hear that Neal Conan died August 21st (Talk of the Nation). He was a favored host to me.

NPR is the cure for insomnia. DO NOT LISTEN TO WHEN DRIVING!

Oh, BTW, NPR is now allowing their "reporters" to JOIN protests, which makes them NOT reporters and just activists.

Drone strike for them and their listeners.

I can't stand any of their hosts and the upper middle class/East Coast smug orientation of their reporting. I used to watch and listen to Democracy Now as a substitute, but once Trump came along I tuned out. I find myself watching the local and national news broadcasts instead. I am not even that old! But the tone of reporting targeting my generation (Gen X and younger) is so off-putting.

Todays' substitute Sunday Edition host is good, better than Lulu

Aisha Roscoe might be intelligent but she sounds like she’s a cashier from the Bronx who flunked out of home health aide school.

R5 Top five most difficult majors:

1. Electrical Engineering

2. Astrophysics

3. Neuroscience

3. Meteorology

5. Home Health Aide w/ minor in ass wiping.

Who is that fabulous one who’s always reporting from Rome, I hope she made it through COVID I really haven’t listened since lockdown. Excellent accent, but completely understandable.

Sylvia Poggioli. Love her, too

NPR is hard to listen to.........tons of young women with vocal fry all talking about the same thing - race. No thanks.

R8 Yes love her, she always sounds like she running on two packs of cigarettes and about five cappuccinos

1 A from WAMU is a great daytime program. The old host, Joshua Johnson was my favorite

R4 R7 R8 R10 You don't love any of these people. No loves NPR hosts. They represent everyone you want to die in a home invasion from the usual suspects.

agree r9 that they've gone too far with constant "marginalized groups" and "disproportionately affecting people of color" in, seemingly, every single story ("ice cream sales are down, especially affecting marginalized groups who don't like strawberry") but it's still the smartest most informative thoughtful radio out there.

yes r12 r2 we get it you don't like it. why not find another thread then?

I love Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal and his big dick voice. I think Marketplace is technically APM or PRI, but it's all NPR to me.

R15 That voice makes me dizzy too, but do not to look up what he looks like though, not terrible, but doesn’t live up to imagination.

Sylvia, who is 75, a cultural institution.

I’m still confused how Terry Gross is NOT a lesbian?

This is the basic Terry Gross interview:

Hello people who aren't as lucky as me to be me: today I have a guest on the air who is the most extraordinary writer who has ever lived but what makes her so extra extra-extraordinary is that she is a guest on my show, the show hosted by the most interesting, most extraordinary host of all, and you, listener, are so extraordinarily lucky to be able to listen to me, the best host ever because no one was ever as good a host as I am and no one ever had better guests because everyone wants to be on my show, the most yada yada yada blah blah blah...

R19 Adam Driver would disagree with you.

Nice try r19 but you're really underestimating her interview skills.

Why is NPR so good and PBS so bad?

love me some Amanpour

Totenberg is a well-known whore.

R13, I agree. I have been a huge fan of NPR for over 20 years, the constant harangue regarding "marginalized groups" is exhausting. I now turn it off for most of the day. Plus, our local affiliate is garbage.

Whoever is programming NPR should consider that bombarding the public airwaves with everything that is wrong in every corner of the world all day long is losing listeners. I can't begin to fix most of what's wrong. I think these journalists have inflated egos and are all going for the most triggering stories to win their Peabody or Pulitzer. I don't think NPR cares about its listeners anymore.

How about reporting more human triumph or ingenuity? More storytelling, puzzle and humor shows. Informative stuff on handling finances. Either that, or split off the miserable news from the informative and entertaining content into a separate station. Not saying some of that stuff couldn't show up on the info/entertainment channel--just that it not go on 24/7.

R22 -- That's a good question. In the 1990s both NPR and PBS were in terrible shape. They both knew they needed help. They went different routes. NPR looked to the future -- they hired people who could become celebrities in their own fashion, they understood social media, they developed relationships with their public.

PBS wen the other route. They became even more decentralized (remember, PBS is not a network, it's an affiliation of licensed stations across the country that have no real connection to each other the way a network does.) They relied on their old shows like Nova and News Hour and didn't develop anything new. They created no personalities. They completely ignored social media. Basically, all PBS does well is rent good shows from the UK. Downton Abbey? Just a rental for PBS. The only thing PBS really shines at is kids shows. There's a saying at PBS: we get you until you're six, and then we pick you up again when you're sixty.

PBS truly is a terrible organization. NPR on the other hand got its act together.

Well it’s not like NPR didn’t get a little boost from the house that built the Golden Arches.

"Wow."

The first word out of Steve Inskeep's mouth in response to any reporter.

His salary is reported to be close $400K annually.

Somebody smart will take what's good about NPR and make a commercial enterprise out of it. NPR is no longer objective. Longtime listeners know this.

The public's hunger for truth hooks us when a new outlet (CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NPR, all of them) lands on the scene with a promise of no spin. However, corporations, who run the world, only need these outlets for spin. They may fund the ops just until everyone involved has had a taste of success. Then they call the tune. That's when the original news directors are replaced with folks with no qualms about the "talent" they hire and push.

R26, I get your argument up to a point. If PBS is boring and frame for content from other sources, I have no issue because it is largely an apolitical enterprise. The greatest thing they did this year is the stunning Philly DA series. It is so raw, and balanced as a result. This is the kind of journalism that allows basically warring factions to see the log in their eye. Things like this have the potential to move things.

I swear, at least 2 groups of women have the same voice…I can’t distinguish them from each other (Asma Khalid and Kelsey Snell, and Susan Davis and Danielle Kurtzleben).

I am bound and determined to listen on and I belong to high level giving circles in the cities where I own homes. But I do hear a narrower band of themes and a great many long (really long) form interviews with guests who identify with being “othered” and marginalized. Listening can feel like a form of penance.

In New England a few weeks ago, a local program featured interviews of subjects on the topic of beauty, and alternative concepts of beauty, such as a model who uses a wheelchair. The concept was interesting and would have been very poignant, but the program was a long one, and the interviews had an open, rambling structure. At one point, the program’s host began to cry, and self disclosed that she was ending a romantic relationship and feeling self conscious about her appearance. Her guest began telling her she was beautiful, and it was all so odd and messy. I do see some locally produced content as uneven in quality, but still enjoy some national programming, the national news feed, and quiz shows, Science Friday, etc.

Vocal fry seems to be a threshold criteria for anyone interviewed currently on NPR. It is so prevalent there that NPR has turned me into an exclusive listener of the local classical music station. The hosts have well modulated professional voices, but not the guests.

The exception is Franco Ordoñez. His speech is so affected that he needs a vicious face slapping.

I can't reach for the volume control fast enough when Rebecca Ybarrrrrrrrrrrrrrra says her name.

Andy Wagner’s lovely Bristol accent in the afternoon makes you forget WLRN is in ratchet South Florida.

Former MTV news-reader, Alison Stewart ruins my afternoon. Stupid non-news, women's topics all afternoon. I loath her phony smiley voice. Listen for her to response "hmmm...intresting" (mispronounced), confirming she neither listens or understands her guests. Diversity is great, but Standard American English is also important and profoundly lacking.

The only shows I listen to on NPR are the weekend quiz shows.

APM Marketplace’s Sabri Ben-Achour (left) makes pottery and likely accepts forearms. I love his voice.

Kai Jizzdal has big dick face to match his big dick voice.

Today's topic: How does Dunkin's release of pumpkin flavored drinks disproportionately affect women of color.

I used to like NPR, but I've found it insufferable in recent years. I think r3 nails it -- many of their hosts possess a smug quality that I find very off-putting.

Cocksuckers, all.

It’s all white assholes trying to out woke each other. If i have to hear the terns “unpack that,” “problematic,” “representation,” and “person of color” one more time on Pop Culture Happy Hour…

[quote] I am bound and determined to listen on and I belong to high level giving circles in the cities where I own homes.

Hyacinth, is that you?

Maybe NPR realizes they spent the last decades as a big white people fest and want to change that?

^ Yup, that was it.

r41 = r45

R46 = LaFontaine

I used to like NPR. Bob Edwards had an excellent and deep radio voice. But now it is a woke fraufest. It is pretty repulsive. Most of my friends are similarly finding it too tedious to listen to. Out of habit I will turn it on, but inevitably I switch to the classical music station within a few minutes. For the past several years I gave substantial annual gifts, but I don't think I will this year. Why donate to something when I no longer believe the woke content and just grit my teeth until I turn to another station?

The local NPR reporters are now mostly young women with "little girl' voices (with layers of vocal fry).

They’re all like the old delicious dish skit on SNL. Boring as hell.

I love that NPR hosts get under the skin of the trash here.

I love that DL posters get under the skin of the petulant likes of R51

NPR - National Panic Radio.

"Today we frighten you with more COVID numbers presented without any context. Next, we'll tell you how COVID is racist as it disproportionately affects BiPOC. But the Trans are reaching out and leading the way as they have been for every news story, starting with Stonewall."

Rachel Martin will stammer her way through an interview, pretending to be staggered by facts. re-iterating, "but, I mean" and "I mean". At 10 minutes before the hour she'll get to squeal like teenager because ABBA are releasing new music!

Steve Inskeep will exclaim "Wow!" at some bit of information and later will repeat a reporters comment so the audience knows he thinks it's vital to the story, "Oh, I see Bob Bowman, because of X, we have Y"

Later, during All Things Considered Mary Louise Kelley and Audie Cornish will endure Ari "Reporting from My Fainting Couch" Shapiro quiver with fear over the latest developments in Washington. And they will quietly cringe as he too gets to squeal and giggle during a 10 minute interview (which is 7 minutes too long) with the latest rap/hip hip BIPOC Trans performer who's new release is all about climate change.

I'm too fed up with NPR to comment on Noelle King or the other young woman who's last name is Chang. Jury's out on A Martinez (who replaced David Greene - who was a guy early in his time on Morning Edition but was gradually neutered by the powers-that-be).

I would encourage everyone whether left right or center to be a freethinker and not be intimidated by thought bullies or be swayed by hive thought -- it's the lesson we should be taking away from NPR's death spiral.

Marry me, r53

[quote] I am bound and determined to listen on and I belong to high level giving circles in the cities where I own homes.

Yep, this right here ^^^ is exactly the demographic NPR aims for. Owners of multiple homes who force themselves to "do penance" by listening to a litany of the woes of The Marginalized.

Hairy chested David Greene... I think he has a BDF as well. Anyone else?

Holy fuckballs!

I would bend over for David Greene. In a flash!

David Greene left NPR months ago. Too male, pale, and stale for NPR now.

Oy, David Greene can get it.

That is one of the most flattering pics of DG. Google Images has many, many shots of him looking much less than "DL Hot."

I've met David Greene... he's one of those men that reek of sex. He just does. You could tell he likes sex and is good at it.

He's also totally straight, but the kind of man who does not care that he's naked in a steam room or sauna and knows you're staring at his hairy cock and balls, wishing you were face-planted between his legs. He'd probably reach down for a good scratch and adjustment while asking you about world events.

So . . . a straight cock tease, r62?

I expected a lot of 'radio face' but many are quite attractive.

I still listen every weekday at work. A few things bother me, however. Every host now sounds like they majored in Women's Studies, except maybe Aisha. Bring back that old crone Diane Rehm! There are also three dominant topics: COVID, racism, and climate change. All three are improtant but it seems like 90% of air-time is deovted to those three. It gets boring.

Ofeibea Quist-Arcton does top notch reporting from Dakaaarrr.

R62 - no. I never wrote that Greene was a "straight cock-tease." I said he was straight and seemed very comfortable around gay guys. period.

God, some of those photos at R64 are terrible... really NPR? You are incapable of making sure each host or reporter gets to sit with a professional photographer for a decent headshot? Ayshea's looks like it was pulled from Facebook and Ailsa Chang's is from her online dating profile.

The Greene pic at r57 is particularly flattering

He gained weight. He sits behind a microphone for a living. It has to happen.

He's still hot. I'd still fuck him.

Neil Patrick Harris singlehandedly made being gay respectable.

Neal Patrick Harris singlehandedly made being gay a spectacle.

At NPR, they have been creaming in their pants for months because the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 is approaching.

The hosts can now put on all of their uber-empathy on-air while having earnest discussions about the events from two decades ago.

There will be dramatic sighs, mewling commiserations, stammering before asking an actual question (it conveys how perplexed the host is).

Heartfelt, "thank you for speaking with us" followed by mournful notes from a piano will be heard from coast-to-coast as Rachel Martin cradles a mug from Washington DC headquarters before her next frau=ish tete-a-tete.

g-a-g.

Lulu Garcia Navarro just announced she outta there in mid October. Wonder where she's going ("another opportunity") and whom we'll get? BIPOC trans with a disability?

Sam Seder doing an NPR voice @12:40

One of the newer hosts that gets on my nerves is Noel King. She has a habit of making little vocal interjections and approval sounds during interviews like she’s in the pews of an AME church on a Sunday morning. So unprofessional and annoyingly performative.

I'm ready for Dave Davies to replace Terry Gross. He's there half the time anyway and he's better than her now. I don't think Terry is bad, but she was never spectacular and she's declined a bit.

I haven't read the whole thread; forgive me if this had already been brought up.

There was one somewhat negative mention of Terry Gross upthread but I really like her. She is a generally friendly interviewer but is well prepared and the questions aren’t all softballs. She really pissed off Gene Simmons and he jumped all over her on air. I didn’t see a photo for a long time and she looks nothing like I pictured.

Brooke Gladstone goes way overboard on the cutesiness nowadays.

Aisha Roscoe is obviously accomplished and knowledgeable as hell but damn, she sounds like she stepped out of an episode of What’s Happening!

I listen to NPR everday. Y'all complaint about the Covid, race, topics can't fathom those issues are big issues this country faces. This ain't Mayberry and it never was.

r77 Terry Gross is 70, so seems like she should be about ready to retire. I assume that's why Dave Davies has been filling in for her so much.

Yes, the photo you linked looks nothing like I imagined she would look. However, this photo below of a younger Terry does look more like I imagined she would have looked back in the 70s.

I love that David Sedaris piece a few years back about all the Jewish ones running the station on Christmas Day.

[quote] Terry Gross is 70, so seems like she should be about ready to retire.

Ha! Never!

I used to listen all the time but now I've limited it to the morning only.

All the news is negative and it really affects your life if that's all your hear

Generally still love Brooke. Perhaps a little smirky but so fucking smart and incisive.

For me, NPR has officially entered/declined into the world of CBS Mornings, GMA, and The Today Show... there's a 4 minute segment for Britney Spears. They have interviewed some freak/loser who carried a life-sized poster of Spears to the courthouse... played audio of her lawyer... sent Mandalie del Barqo to "report".

Not only that, they placed the story in what's called Morning Edition's 'A' segment (where real news stories are supposed to broadcast).

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.

I bet they re-broadcast this earth-shattering 'story' in 20 minutes.

I've met Kai Ryssdal at an event. Y'all are dead right. Major BDE. I find him just a TOUCH smarmy on Marketplace, but he was actually very charming in person. He wasn't "ON" like he is on Marketplace.

R37 mentioned this thirsty Instaho. I'm surprised he's not more of a fixture here. Someone here has said they banged one another at a big orgy. I'm surprised Marketplace puts up with it, but I guess gay men's sexual antics are probably off limits from criticism or something these days.

I was surprised to learn a while ago that NPR anchors are not considered journalists but instead voice actors. They are members of SAG/AFTRA.

R88, thanks for that tidbit, it certainly explains having Rachel Martin, Alsa Chang, and Noelle King hosting the programs. It's like the FM rock station "giggle girls" took over with mgmts blessing.

I'm old, so can say that I miss Robert Siegel and Linda Wertheimer on ATC. Morning Edition has not been very good for 20 years... that's when NPR fired Bob Edwards and mgmt decided to go with 3 hosts and have one on the west coast.

Emily Feng has a tiny, little girl "China Doll" voice that, for some irrational reason, makes me leap out of bed to shut off the radio.

All Things Considered is now unlistenable, thanks to Leila Fadel and her insufferable vocal fry. How can anyone take a voice like that seriously? Zero gravitas.

What is A (no period) Martinez's first name? His voice is not objectionable, however cutesy his moniker is.

Ailsa Chang sounds like she'd be the ultimate mean girl. Her voice is beyond grating. It's cruel.

Nice to see A Martinez finding work after Santa Barbara.

Pics of NPR's A Martinez reveal a dude with big guns and BDF.

He has replaced David Greene on Morning Edition.

What about Jack Spear?

A. Martinez has a somewhat controversial origin story in Los Angeles public media. I haven't lived in LA in years, but I distinctly remember his rocky start at KPCC where he felt very shoe-horned in and a VERY poor match for the wonderful Madeline Brand (who subsequently left KPCC for rival KCRW and did very well there.) I imagine A has gotten better over the years -- enough so to move up to NPR. Good for him. And his guns.

What, no love for Lakshmi Singh?

I really can't deal with Mary Louise Kelly anymore. Her questions are so predictable and she's the queen of asking on unanswerable questions with strained indignation: "Well, how will we see the beginnings of the end of Global warming, or is that simply not possible?"

I’ve somehow grown to love that frog in her throat.

I love NPR. The terrestrial radio choices are that, shitty music or Sean Hannity and 40 of his angriest, most jackbooted clones.

WNYC's Brian Lehrer never asks Bill deBlasio tough questions. Afraid the mayor will refuse to be interviewed again.

The worst on WNYC is Lorraine Maddox who read the list of Underwriters, until there were so many complaints about her voice, she's now limited to doing the "One Minute Meditation" soon after Noon. Rest of the day she's back at her original office job at the station..

To make the listeners think the hosts and reporters are more highly-educated than those who are tuned in, NPR created affected pronunciations. Dictionaries show Electoral as eh-LEC-toral and and Mayoral as MAY-oral. NPR has decided t hey are elec-TORAL and may-ORAL.

You are ridiculous, R104. NPR did not invent those commonly accepted pronunciations.

You are not good at this!

R105. If not NPR, where did these "accepted" pronunciations originate?

[quote] If not NPR, where did these "accepted" pronunciations originate?

In Connecticut, Rose!

R99, Mary-Louise is becoming a parody of herself (and I don't think she should have run off from Mike Pompeo to report his confrontational behavior on-air), but she is still head and shoulders above the other female hosts, except Audie Cornish, who I think is the last of the hosts who sounds the most like the old NPR. She is serious and somewhat distant sounding when covering actual news, speaking to lawmakers. For the interviews about music or books or TV, she's is looser, has a very warm laugh.

A Martinez's first name is Adolfo (easy enough to Google and find that out). He was a radio sportcaster who came the KPCC (an LA NPR station) when they got a grant that required a Latino person fill it. Station first paired him with Madeleine Brand, as r97 detailed. The pairing did not go well, largely because he was such a novice at talk radio and public radio. Brand quickly departed the station, moving to rival station KCRW, where she now hosts a news show called Press Play.

Meanwhile, once Martinez got his sea legs, he did well with his afternoon new show, Take Two, on KPCC. He did so well that NPR snatched him up for Morning Edition, something that apparently pissed off the KPCC brass.

I did a shriek of utter joy when I heard that Lulu Garcia Whatever is leaving the show. I HATE HER AND HER STUPID VOICE.

I used to listen to Weekend Edition non-stop until she came along. It made me eventually tune out of the Saturday show as well. She sounds like a judgmental preschool teacher.

I'd be interested in the gossip behind her departure, of course.

I’ve tuned away from NPR newscasts since January 2017 as they almost always began with “President Trump today…”. Two minutes later I’ll go back to NPR.

tons of young women with vocal fry all talking about the same thing - race.

Sad but true. Boring.

I think the previous General Manager had baby - vocal fry voice. Seriously, the GM hired their own voice.

Ari Shapiro seems a bit too full of himself. There I said it a big Nelly Queen trying to sound butch.

Today is Lulu's last day hosting Weekend Edition Sunday! Yea!

When she announced she was leaving, I hoped she would just exit stage left, but no - she was on-air over and over, being her super-chirpy and extra-empathetic self for too many more weeks.

But no more! Today was it. She's out.

Of course, now we have to wait for NPR to find the next host - something I dread. They no longer employ journalists as hosts, but people who can read copy, be super-duper empathetic, express their own surprise at information reporters convey, and in general give new meaning to N-P-R ~ National Panic Radio.

COVID COVID COVID - PANIC PANIC PANIC - IMMIGRANTS BEING MISTREATED IMMIGRANTS BEING MISTREATED IMMIGRANTS BEING MISTREATED - and on and on and on.

If it’s Ayesha Roscoe I won’t be listening. I can’t believe she hasn’t been sent to a dialect coach to beat the What’s Happening? sound out of her voice.

As a non-American, my understanding was that NPR makes faux-intellectual content catering to hipsters. Is that not right? Serious question.

R117, that is not true. However, NPR tries to be hip. I don't think hipsters fall for that kind of reporting and storytelling and who looks to the 70 year old Terry Gross for "hip"? She's just an old Jewish Girl from Brooklyn who cannot put together a question or statement without, like, you know, and, um, interjection?

NO ONE is looking to Ari "Reporting from My Fainting Couch" Shapiro to provide 'from the 'hood' reporting on the latest hip-hop or rap album. Of course if the hip-hop or rap performer happens to be gay or cutting singles about climate change or female genital mutilation (and why it's bad), NPR will be all over that like white on rice.

The 'realist' reporter/host NPR has is Audie Cornish (followed by Mary Louise Kelly) and she never seems to fawn all over her guests like Rachel "Squeal Like Teen" Martin. Noelle King and Alsa Chang try to be 'NPR hip' like Rachel, but Rachel's in a class all her own.. I mean - Really? - Oh wow, that's so interesting!"

Yeah, I...don’t think R118 understood the assignment😕

The contemporary connotation of hipster is something quite different to that definition imo

I’m just on there waiting for Sylvia Pajoli, and her two pack a day and five cappuccinos from Europe reporting.

So R119, how would you answer R117's query?

And now they're having a Wes Anderson fuckfest for his new movie. Seems like every NPR show is doing a feature on The French Dispatch. Also Cousteau doc.

Terry Gross is goddamn awful and I can't stand her voice. This opinion is shared by many critics.

"The hesitant, beseeching ingénue, so timidly obsequious — cut the crap, Terry. You’ve been doing this for 40 years. If you asked guests to strip naked and stick daisies up their arses, they would.

You know what you are? The Church Lady of Public Radio. You’re why ’HYY has to f"und-raise all year long; you alienate 99 percent of the human race. Listening to you is like going for dinner at my rich brother-in-law’s; you make me want to scratch myself and pick my nose. In your elitist snobbery, in your delineation of what’s worthy of attention and what’s not, you’re as guilty of perpetuating our Red and Blue State America as any Tea Party bigot ever could be. "

All of the male hosts sound like their testes never dropped.

Journalism professor Curtis White did an excellent take down of Terry Gross and explains why she is so awful.

Let’s think about Terry Gross and Fresh Air for just a moment. Here is an interview program that claims quite earnestly to be for intelligence, for the fresh and new, for something other than regular stale network culture, for the arts and for artists. But anyone who much listens to the show knows (I certainly hope that I’m not the only one who has noticed) that: 1) Terry rarely interviews an artist or intellectual that real-deal artists and intellectuals would recognize. 2) She has no capacity for even the grossest distinctions between artists and utter poseurs. Many of the “writers” she has interviewed recently have been writers for TV series and movies. People who can with a straight face say, “Seinfeld is a great show because of the brilliant script writing” love Fresh Air. Now, Seinfeld may be a cut above the average sit-com, but it’s a sit-com! 3) The show is a pornographic farce.

She's GOOP without the rich, well connected parents.

R104, do you remember 5-10 years ago they were pronouncing 'ProPublica' as "proPOOblica"?!

They tried for about a year make that a thing.

They dumped it down to ProPuhhhhhblica to sell it to the unwashed masses.

Any intelligent person knows that's true, just as they know how to correctly pronounce the goddamned name.

On Morning Edition, they never seem to budget enough time for their live interview segments. They're always trying to rush their long-winded guests, and sometimes, even the NPR reporters. ("Very briefly, because we only have 20 seconds left, what do you think is the solution to climate change?") The hosts end up cutting off their guests, and you can tell that some of the guests aren't very happy about it (probably thinking, "I had to wake up at 4 a.m. for this, and you only let me talk for 2 minutes.").

R129 and others... NPR made many, many changes to Morning Edition and All Things Considered after 9/11.

Little background... on 9/11, Morning Edition had already finished its live two hour broadcast. It was repeating the major segments with live top and bottom of the hour newscasts. The reports of the planes hitting the WTC start coming in and guess what? The sole program host is outside headquarters, smoking a cigarette. The network scrambled and scrambled to get up and running with coverage that the major TV networks were already covering.

NPR made big changes after... Edwards was out after a time, the program then had more than one host (one on the west coast!) AND all of a sudden, they are doing live segments... it must be live! Programs must sound up-to-date and current, current, current. It's been a thing now for almost 20 years and you can hear how hosts have never figured out to handle most guests so they do not have to do what you typed..."Very briefly, because we only have 20 seconds left, what do you think is the solution to climate change?"

At least 10 minutes of every hour of Morning Edition now consists of repetitive ads.

It's frau-week on Morning Edition from NPR (National Panic Radio). Hosted by Rachel Martin and Noelle King (who has just said, "I was talking to my Mom about this yesterday"). It Mon, 10/25 at 5:13am ET.; it's gonna be a long broadcast... good thing I know I can change stations and not hear more! Blech.... "it's the holiday season, Halloween's Sunday..." fraus-fraus-fraus including Alison Aubrey.

I’m on a job in the Boston area, and there is a local NPR lady who has that delicious Boston accent- it’s hilarious hearing the news from her. There is also a lispy guy who sounds exactly like Vizzini from the, “Princess Bride”. I keep expecting him to say, “INCONCEIVABLE” all the time.

Eleanor Beardsley voice bothers me- she reminds me of Edith Massey until she busts out her French. There is also a female (possibly African) reporter who has amazing over-pronounciation deliveries, with rolling rrrrs.

Morning Edition has found its 10 minute slot for Rachel Martin to be her frauiest self... full of interjections, laughing and casual comments, such as, "so that your M.O.?"

It just goes on and on and on...

She looks like a 'Karen' too.

Audie Cornish of All Things Considered is leaving NPR. What’s going on with the exodus of talent from NPR lately?

"Exodus of talent"

That last word needs a little thought....

Ari Shaprio posted a series of tweets about Audie Cornish leaving. Ari seems to be more a little pissed at his bosses over all the recent departures of hosts from "marginalized" backgrounds.

I used to wonder what the hell kind of Italian woman's name "Yucchina" was, since the reporter signed off with Yucchina Gucci. Turns out, her name is Yuki Noguchi.

Wade Goodwyn makes my day. His booming, Texas-accented voice is very pleasant.

Then there's Korva Coleman. "kourva" means cunt in West Slavic languages, e.g., Polish.

If Ari Shapiro were any more fond of himself he'd disappear into a room with just mirrors and recordings of his voice he could listen to until the end of time.

If Dante were rewriting The Inferno, there would be a circle of hell just for pretentious, self-involved radio personalities.

Standard American English should be a prerequisite. Clearly some executive with vocal fry was casting their own voice. If the Great British Bake Off can hire talent capable of pronouncing different languages, so can NPR. Bad leadership, bad taste.

There's no better cunting on DL than when the subject is NPR. Keep up the good work. Thanks especially to the NPR contributors here ;)

I would be surprised if Ari doesn’t post here. He probably turned his bff, bi BBC anchor Rich Preston onto it as well. Both strike me as super professional and mildly snarky on the clock, while being a bit cunty behind the scenes.

Scott Tong the only Oriental man ever made me moist

“Oriental”??

Ari’s ass

For the SJW pearl clutcher at R144:

The definition of Oriental: "of, from, or characteristic of Asia, especially East Asia."

Ari Shapiro is part of the class of NPR hosts (I won't use the term journalist) who have been intentionally placed in visible positions at NPR (National Panic Radio). Ari couldn't provide a weather report without sounding like Chicken Little who is flailing about, arms akimbo over his head in a state, close to fainting on his divan.

He is also, one of those clueless individuals who does not see the irony in using social media to post, "I’m on vacation and not planning on staying glued to twitter or email."

BTW - the network is not "hemorrhaging hosts from marginalized backgrounds." - again, there's that near-panic, overwrought writing he uses - three (3) women Noelle King, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and Audie Cornish have moved on. If life at NPR was so God-awful for the persons of marginalized backgrounds, listeners would not be hearing so many voices of correspondents from such wide backgrounds on a regular basis. NPR has diversity of hosts and correspondents down long before it was a thing.

I hope he leaves NPR - All Things Considered could only improve without his Aunt Pitty Pat tone of voice.

but the ass at r145 is nice!

Ari's obligatory virtue-signalling on Twitter is ludicrous. He was supposedly hired by a female executive at NPR who was partial to Jewish boys (along with David Greene).

Yeah--Kai Rysdall does have that big dick voice---I listen to him on the drive home from work each day.

What is Ari Shapiro's salary at NPR? Is it public information? He's hot but it looks like he shaves off all his body hair. Agreed--he is very into himself--typically Ivy. He has on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and had story from "his time at Yale" and in the course of 15 seconds must have dropped Yale at least 5 times. Yes Ari--we know you went to YALE!

Is Mary Louise Kelly a lesbian--her voice is lower than Ari's. I actually liked Audie Cornish--she never flashed around her marginalized background.

R150, Did you know that Ari Shapiro met his future husband Michael Gottlieb... at Yale?!

R150, Mary Louise Kelly has lesbian voice to me, less to do with the depth of her voice than some other quality of her voice that I can't quite put my finger on.

She's married to a man, though.

New slogan: NPR, serious radio for the seriously woke.

Has Ayesha Roscoe had the ghetto sound of her voice ironed out. She sounds like Regina King in 227.

How’s about Steve Inskeep? He’s sweet looking and his voice is gentle. I’d love to rough fuck him.

Mass exodus!

I miss Soterios Johnson.

R150 I love Kai ryssdal’s voice. The way he says, “this… is marketplace.”

I no longer listen to NPR now that I’m a RWNJ but I sort of miss it.

Who is the chick who is a This American Life reporter who has a very strong Midwest/Chicago accent and sounds kind of butch? I love her voice.

R159 Ira Glass?

Lol r160. I think Zoe Chace is the one I’m thinking of.

The idiocy of the link for R156... women have so much power and presence at NPR and have since the network's beginning. Of all the female departures, Audie is the only voice I miss. She was a wonderful program host. She understood the (now very old-fashioned) concept of remaining objective and neutral when interviewing lawmakers, gov't representatives from foreign countries and such. No interjections and commentary (I hate, hate, hate Rachel Martin - notorious for interjecting her opinions. Who is she spending time with off hours to host Morning Edition AND be sent to Ukraine?! Frauiest of the fraus). Audie knew how to be looser with celebrities and others... she had a genuine warmth, fabulous laugh.

All of the others belong on GMA or Today... terrible. They were NOT journalists. They were suited to frau podcasts. I do not miss them at all. Now if only Ari Shapiro would head for the exit...

I'm Ari Shapiro. Have I ever told you that I went to Yale?

Ayesha Roscoe seems to have toned down that Regina King in 227 sound to her voice.

Eleanor Beardsley sounds like a Midwestern mom with a slight lisp. But I saw her yesterday on a French News Channel, and she sounds completely different speaking French- a lower register, no lisp, less nasal.

Love that one contributing listener named their dog Mandalit del Barco.

I love pronouncing her name r166.

Ugh, they had a a mom with a trans child (what else) on. The hysteria, handwringing and crying was something else. Have we as a country gone batshit insane.

I have it on nearly all day on work from home days and they've gone way overboard as the inequality marginalized population station. Yes it's an important topic but it feels like nearly [italic] every [/italic] story is told through that lens.

PS and it upsets me because I still love their format and depth and style better than anything else.

Used to love NPR but now that it unlistenable I'm doing more BBC.

Follow the money. NPR is just a mouthpiece for its corporate sponsors now, virtue signaling liberalism while promoting the military industrial complex at the top of their lungs.

NPR's college-educated, supposed professional newscasters and anchors haven't all learned in "Announcer Training 101" that N-E-W-S rhymes with Mews and Views. They think "News" rhymes with booze.

I miss Air America

There is a narrower focus on fewer ideas, and even progressive listeners like me are getting bored and irritated with the shame game.

The Takeaway is the worst these days with Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University

She ^ could find inequity for marginalized populations in a story about gnocchi.

NPR could drive one to Fox it is insufferable.

I miss Audie Cornish already.

R179, I miss Audie as well and I wonder if David Greene found his balls after leaving NPR. He was one of the last males on-air whose voice and demeanor exhibited any trace of testosterone. Honestly all of the men at NPR were neutered several years ago. The Rob (Sob) Stein's and Ari Shapiro's rule and those two always sound like they are either going to a) cry, b) panic or c) cradle a mug when curled up on their couch because the world is just too much to handle.

I love a deep masculine voice to wake me up in the morning.

Every sentence on "Morning Edition" starts with one of two words: "yeah" or "so". Inskeep mixes it up with "wow."

Has anyone else noticed this? It seems to me that within the couple of years, instead of silencing or limiting the interviewer's interjecting "ahs" or "ohs" in response to the guest's answers, radio like NPR and podcast media are leaving these in or even featuring them. It's very annoying and interrupting and performative. It's like someone baked a cake for you and instead of allowing you to eat it, they won't shut up trying to convince you how delicious it is. They can't allow the guest to be the main attraction. Maybe our current culture has to have an "Amazon review" or "Twitter feedback" on every human interaction.

I know it's not NPR, but the NYT podcast "The Daily" has a host who can't stop saying "uh-HUH, uh-HUH" so suspensefully and full of tension that it sounds like he's pushing you to the edge of a gangplank and is about to push.

Just read the article posted by r156--unbelievable! It's nuts how they are systematically turning the entire organization into a one-mission focus on race.

[Quote]Data shared by NPR's corporate leadership suggest that the network has made strides in racial diversity. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the turnover rate for employees of color at NPR was lower than it was for the entire staff. And 78% of all hires were people of color, up from roughly half over the previous two years. (The network did not break down those figures exclusively for editorial staffers. NPR's staff is majority female, both in its newsroom and more broadly.)

80% "poc" hires? Majority female? It's like they heard the Republican hyperbole from the 2000s and decided to make it their game plan. This is not meritocracy, this is not diversity of ideas. This isn't even pretending to be, anymore! This is nuts. NPR is over.

No problem with female BIPOC affirmative action hiring on NPR, but the new on-air "talent" all sound like 19 year-old interns now.

[quote] the new on-air "talent" all sound like 19 year-old interns now.

YES I heard what sounded like a not very literate teenage give a review of a pop album that sounded like a bad high school report.

Not a fan of the remixed All Things Considered theme.

I love when they interviewed that Cambridge Analytics whistle blower way back when. The interviewer said a bunch of stuff to make it sound like a pretentious question and the interviewee responded with... Yeah.

Ah I love that. Get real NPR.

Let's have a drinking game. Down a shot every time they say "inequity" or "inequality." Then in 20 minutes when you're roaring drunk. post a naked selfie.

Tear it down, start over.

When I was in the Army overseas, all we had was AFRTS and NPR. I really loved listening to Dr. Joy Browne's show. She always gave the best advice. When I cam back the the US, I phone in on her call line just to let her know how much us soldiers appreciated her show and listened. She said she appreciated my call as after all these years, I am one of the few to let her know we were listening. She seemed really sweet.

So, I just looked her up on Wiki and it says: Browne was married once (to Carter Browne, whom she divorced, although she kept her married name professionally) and had a daughter. Browne died suddenly in Manhattan on Saturday, August 27, 2016, aged 71.

Goodness, what happened?

From a story this week about the regret of millennials who overzealously purchased houses, often buying unseen and/or without inspections, and the debt and remorse they're feeling now. Sounds like a terrible experience, right? You're about to be Race-rolled, NPR'S race Rick-roll. How do you think they're going to play it?

You think I'm going to say that new-homeowner black Americans disproportionately impacted by these rash decisions, right? You think I'm going to say that because BIPOCS are historically wary of contracts, they prefer to sign them without reading them and we as a nation need to revisit the way we conduct our inherently racist mortgage banking with BIPOC. Well, you're wrong.

NPR wants you to know that it's a privilege to make such a (dumb) mistake, a privilege to experience a disaster that has been denied to black people because they own homes at lower rates.

"Of course, buyer's remorse in this housing market may seem like a good problem to have to those people who were shut out completely. According to a report released this month, homeownership among Black people in the U.S. hovers between 42% and 45%, while more than 70% of white people own their homes."

If this needs to be spelled out to anyone (& I'm sure it does and it won't make a difference anyway), my beef is with NPR'S incessant 'damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't' framing, NOT black people.

R189, you're privilege is showing!

In the name of equity and inclusiveness, let's make it teetotaler, religious zealot, and AA-friendly:

Every time someone on NPR says "marginalized", those in the above-listed protected groups should swallow a tablespoon of margarine!

*^Your

I had NPR on most of the day Sunday while doing stuff around the house. Takeaway, Reveal, TED and Sunday Edition all had inequity stories. They said ‘marginalized,’I went out for a bit, I came back, they were saying ‘marginalized.’

r151 That LiveRampup article looks like it was written by someone who doesn't speak English as a first or second language. They obviously don't have editors either.

Will this shit ever end? Surely they're getting a lot of blowback.

I just ordered one for myself.

R197... if NPR is receiving any blow-back, the network is not changing its current ways. And remember, a number of the program mentioned here are productions at stations and distributed by NPR, so the program is NOT an NPR show per se.

The Takeaway is from New York's WNYC. Here and Now was originally a production of WBUR. The list goes on.

Within public radio, there's all sorts of chatter and hand-wringing about declining audiences and the one topic a webinar NEVER approaches or tackles is, maybe the audience is going away because NPR programming is unlistenable to many of those who were once devoted.

Industry insiders, know-it-alls and 'experts' will jabber about "changes in morning driving habits because of COVID", "distractions because the kids are at home because of COVID"... then there's the fact that those under 50 do not have radios in the homes, the rise of podcasts (which is miniscule when surveyed, but gets a lot of press)... what the insiders would have to acknowledge is that not everything in life is built around the marginalized, the black, the 'T'. If they did that, the twitter-ati would rise up and begin a social media shaming campaign and NPR don't want dat!

Right now Morning Edition is starting a lengthy piece about the new opera Emmett Till... here we go, this hour's reminder that white people suck (yes we do... but on NPR is exhausting).

Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter saying it should be open free speech. All Things Considered is doing a story about how women - especially women of color - don't get to express themselves on Twitter.

I've posted a lot on this thread - I may have started it back in August, now I'm not even sure - but have to call out Brian Lehrer on WNYC for maintaining sanity, fairness, and even-handed coverage of events, with appropriate experts and a variety of call-ins.

[quote]So, I just looked her up on Wiki and it says: Browne was married once (to Carter Browne, whom she divorced, although she kept her married name professionally) and had a daughter. Browne died suddenly in Manhattan on Saturday, August 27, 2016, aged 71.Goodness, what happened?

She dropped dead, R191.

I loved listening to her on 710 AM in the NYC area. Then, the station became all conservative. Being "cheerful and stupid" at family get togethers was one piece of advice of hers that I still follow.

Like others have noted, I'm a bit tired of hearing about the "marginalized" on NPR. Love Terry Gross' "Fresh Air" interviews.

Is no one looking at the big picture over there? I was just listening to the culture show All of It with an interview of musician Ron Carter, and there was a promo for All Things Considered promoting an interview later today with musician Ron Carter.

Once they pick something to plug, they go all in, or they simply have no idea what's going on down the hall.

Kai Ryssdal can look super skinny in some pictures, but they can be deceiving. He has some of the most powerful thighs I've witnessed. He gets up at 3:30am every morning to workout. Must be the military background. He's been flirtatious in person, but I actually think he's remained faithful to his wife.

David Brancaccio sounds like he could be a good lay.

Ayesha Roscoe is just unbearable to listen to on Weekend Edition. That voice (and accent) is the absolute worst.

[quote] Honestly all of the men at NPR were neutered several years ago. The Rob (Sob) Stein's and Ari Shapiro's rule and those two always sound like they are either going to a) cry, b) panic or c) cradle a mug when curled up on their couch because the world is just too much to handle.

Precisely what you expect from the college radio to NPR pipeline

R207, you've hit the nail on the head, that is exactly how I envision Sob Stein and Awi Shapiwo... wrapped in their snuggly pjs, drinking hot cocoa and fearing COVID.

And Ayesha Roscoe - man, so unlistenable on Weekend Edition Sunday. A little Ayesha goes a long way - 2 hours? Ouch.

Asking as a non-American: is this station/network more or less pretentious and replete with twaddle than BBCRadio 4?

Sort of, R219. Definitely has more of a cutesy element than Radio 4.

Ayesha is getting better, but Alison Stewart has to go. MTV voice, MTV crap. I support representation but I also support Standard American English someplace on national radio.

Well put, R211.

[quote] From a story this week about the regret of millennials who overzealously purchased houses, often buying unseen and/or without inspections, and the debt and remorse they're feeling now.

Isn't this like all those pandemic dog adoptions of dogs with unknown backgrounds and no temperament testing before adoption.

People are like herds of cattle stampeding at the crack of a lightning bolt. Moo moo

r35 I kinda like Stewart - but she did just pronounce "pogrom" as PO-grom in an intro to a story about Zabar's.

listen for liddle for little.

Brian Lehrer on WNYC is extremely good but has a tendency to get a bit cutesy. Yesterday he used the words “epidemiology” and “epidemiologist” in the same sentence several times. It was quite annoying,

There are lot of gays at NPR. Who do we think is the biggest slut?

I love On the Media and Brooke G but I miss smarmy smug Garfield even if he is a bully

What about Jack Spear?

Listening to Kai Ryssdal is like listening to the guy in high school who boasted about how many girls he'd already kissed, how many guys he'd beaten up, how much money he has, and how cool he is, while you realize he's just a loudmouth creep with a really large voice. And probably a large dick. And nothing in-between.

Terry is a ugly, tacky name for a man or a woman.

Anyone who calls himself or herself Terry is always such a type. Not necessarily the same type, but they will be A Type. Horrible, annoying people.

BRING BACK TAMA WAGNER OR I’LL KILL MYSELF!!!11!!

Fred Friendly was annoying AS FUCK OH MY GOD.

Ari Shapiro is a great Singer ;-) Well some of us from the Great city of Portland Do 😆

We all know how ugly most of them are. Let them live and have a job otherwise what would they do prrime example Ari Shapiro ugly as they come. Btw talk about that egg face lol 🤣

r225 at least they can mostly speak English, which is more than we can say for you. What?

Related thread.

Nice story on Ari Shapiro today on CBS Sunday Morning.

I remember Ryssdal being a bit put out that his own child didn't know which show he hosted. I think she said Morning Edition.

Uh oh - layoffs at NPR! And you know what that means!

"Tone policing"!

“When Civility Is Used As A Cudgel Against People Of Color.”

"The team highlighted that diversity levels remained roughly consistent before and after the cuts, though trans people in the programming department dropped, going from 2.5% of the workforce to 1.2%."

Veteran NPR reporter Uri Berliner on how NPR has changed (not for the better) over the decades and his recent article criticizing them:

R5 So I didn’t know who you were talking about so I YouTubed her. The Bronx? This chica don’t sound nuffin like New York. She is from North Carolina. And your comment is racist as fuck. SMDH.