An experiment on PM turned out to be a great success. Let's have more
A radio experiment introduced some variety into the listening experience last week. The standard BBC diet of received pronounciation – the educated, southern dialect that operates as the modern equivalent of an old school tie – was switched for the voices of regional news broadcasters on Radio 4's PM programme.
Headlines were read out by announcers culled from as far afield as Cumbria, Merseyside, Yorkshire, Wales and Somerset, although the reaction seems to prove that the audience is ready to move on to the really hard stuff. The accents chosen were too muted, complained listeners who are already used to hearing the northern tones of Winifred Robinson and Lord Bragg, or the Scots lilts of James Naughtie and Kirsty Young.
Many other pillars of Radio 4 are regional talents, but some are harder to spot. It is surely time for Woman's Hour's Jenni Murray, from Barnsley, to shorten her Yorkshire "a's" again and for Dudley-raised Sue Lawley to flatten out those Black Country vowels when she introduces next year's Reith lectures. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.
A radio experiment introduced some variety into the listening experience last week. The standard BBC diet of received pronounciation – the educated, southern dialect that operates as the modern equivalent of an old school tie – was switched for the voices of regional news broadcasters on Radio 4's PM programme.
Headlines were read out by announcers culled from as far afield as Cumbria, Merseyside, Yorkshire, Wales and Somerset, although the reaction seems to prove that the audience is ready to move on to the really hard stuff. The accents chosen were too muted, complained listeners who are already used to hearing the northern tones of Winifred Robinson and Lord Bragg, or the Scots lilts of James Naughtie and Kirsty Young.
Many other pillars of Radio 4 are regional talents, but some are harder to spot. It is surely time for Woman's Hour's Jenni Murray, from Barnsley, to shorten her Yorkshire "a's" again and for Dudley-raised Sue Lawley to flatten out those Black Country vowels when she introduces next year's Reith lectures. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.