Those who listen to National Public Radio on a regular basis no doubt are aware of the end-of-year retirement of Carl Kassell, longtime news announcer for Morning Edition.
I'm sure he is a fine man but, frankly, I won't miss his voice. To me the deep tone is not so much authoritative as it is ponderous.
Besides, it's an anachronism. At the dawn of radio when the devices were primitive, an announcer had to have a voice that could cut through the static and actually reach the listeners' ears. That resonance became the gold standard. One even wonders if Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and other media giants would have achieved their status with voices of higher pitch.
Tone of voice certainly has been a problem for women. In addition to outright discrimination, the difficulty that female announcers had in breaking into the news business had much to do with the perception that their voices lacked a certain gravitas. Today, fortunately, among those who have been sharing the announcer's booth at NPR with Carl Kassell are Nora Raum, Korva Coleman and Jean Cochran.
I readily admit that many people would disagree with my critique of Kassell's delivery and consider his a classic voice for broadcast. On the weekly Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! quiz program, where he continues as "Official Judge and Scorekeeper," the prize is to have his voice on the winner's answering machine or cell phone.
But I'd rather hear speakers who can modulate their voices, adding interpretation to their words and making key points stand out from the rest. And that goes for presentations by those in business and elsewhere.
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The Cleveland market has its share of professionals with deep but well-modulated voices, including Joe Cali, Jim Kisicki and Mike Kraft. Several years ago I was part of a video industry organization meeting on the deck of the William P. Mather museum freighter when a sudden storm struck. Over the howling wind I thought I heard the voice of God behind me: "Don't worry. It will be all right." I turned around. It was Cali.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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3 comments:
Thanks. It occurs to me that after criticizing the tone of a low voice I praise the three local performers who all have low voices. In addition, the older I get, as with most men, the heavier my voice gets.
One of my last - and most unpleasant - work experiences was when someone accused me of rudeness during a telephone conversation. Mary Beth just laughed. "You always sound mad on the phone."
Maybe singing in the church choir will help.
Are you really singing in the choir? If so, I'll have to dispatch one of my henchmen to capture some video, so we can put it up on You Tube.
Maybe in 3 or 4 years ....
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