Re: Pro's & Kin's

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 12:22 PM 10/14/2003, Sven Franklyn Weil wrote:
>Has anyone noticed also how (particularly with NPR's Hispanic hosts), they
>go out of their way to emphasize the Spanish accent (pronounce Lo-pes the
>way a Spanish speaker would instead of "Low-pez" the way you'd say it in
>English)  while reading/speaking in English?  It sounds akward, stupid and
>affected, especially to a genuine, native Spanish speaker.
>
>Why do they do this?
>--
>Sven

The cynic in me says that it's because NPR is trying very hard to become 
the "mainstream niche alternative" in radio.  They're attempting to 
capitalize on the (alleged) lack of diversity in radio these days and 
pandering to the Latin American demographic because it's easily the largest 
minority in America right now.

The scary thing is, it's kinda working.  Despite years of cutbacks on gov't 
funding and loss of much underwriting money over alleged bias in their 
Middle Eastern reporting...NPR is doing quite well these days, and their 
affiliates largely are, too.

Still, I suppose it's worth giving NPR credit for at least attempting to 
address minority demographics, even if it's in a clumsy way.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA