Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-23
RADIO AUDIENCES
ARE SUPERCR|T|CAL
Announcer's Position il
Speaking Thousands of
Words Defended.
BY DIR. FRANK HI. v1zETELLY.

BY DIR. FRANK III. vIZETELLY.
AS the infant art or industry--radio
grows up, the general public is be-
coming more keenly critical of what
it hears on the air, and in the case
Of the spoken word 1t is no exaggera-
ton to say that people are super
critical It is easy enough TO under
stand how this comes to be.
We have in the United States so
many educationists, ranging all the
way from college presidents to grade
school teachers, authors, newspaper
men, drainatistS, scenario writer's, pub
fishers and others associated with them
in the innumerable processes of Jug
Cling words which are an essential part
of modern life, that 1t is impossible
for us not to have millions of people
acutely conscious of the mechanics of
speech and writing.
Whenever these students Of English
turn on the radio they naturally listen
with an air trained to catch details of
the announcers' diction, enunciation
and pronunciation. The moment they
hear something which happens not to
accord with their preconceived views
they write a letter to the local paper
about it. or else write to the radio
station direct.
States AnnOuncer's Position.
Thus. whenever the announcer on a
network program steps before the
microphone, he is confronting an un-
seen, but highly critical audience. wait
error, or what they believe TO be an
error, In speech.
First Of all let US look at the situa-
ton from the annolncer's point of view,
He probably is not q trained plliloIo-
gist, or else he would not be an an
nouncer. Most likely he has gone
through college, with distinction In
English, and Is Is wen informed as
the great majority Of US, II not bet
ter. of current topics. But is he ex-
pected to have vocabulary equal 70
that of an unabridged dictionary?
The average business or professional
mans vocabulary ranges from 5000 to
20 900 words. Is an announcer ex-
pected to know half q million? Is he
expected to be able TO pronounce cor
rectly-and this without taking alterna-
tive recommendations into account--all
those half million words? / hope not
But even If he is, want to emphasize
that it does not end with half q
million. The radio program schedules
contain musical names in as many as
20 different languages. The Columbia
network recently carried programs in
Producing the diplomatic representatives
of over 40 countries accredited to the
United States.
Few Errors Found.
Obviously, it is impossible for any one
man 10 attain perfection In 50 enor-
nous q field as this, and ridiculous for
any one to expect him TO do 50. In
my contact with the announcers Of
the Columbia Broadcasting System ]
have found 50 few definite errors IN
pronunciation that they could be
counted on the fingers Of the two
hands. Yet there are. am told. about
700, 600 words spoken every week into
their microphones. have, on the
other hand, encountered over a hun
dfed frequently used words which can
be pronounced in two, three or even
four different ways, and in these cases
the remedial measure to be taken con.
sists OF securing uniformity and il
totally different from correcting mis-
takes.
All this is not to say that there are
not many gross and blatant mispro-
nunciations heard on the radio. There
are-but they are perpetrated by guest
speakers and guest artists, in the great
majority of cases. Language enthusiasts
who take such pleasuring in poking fun
at the mistakes they hear, or think
they hear. on the air are neediessly
and foolishly deprecating good work
well done. AnnouncerS are not re-
sponsible for the frequently ignorant,
idiotic and absurd mispronunciations
broadcast by independent speakers and
artists who, II educated at all, have
been il-educated or have forgotten
what they were taught.
The work done by the announcers
on the Eastern networks has been done
In every respect as well and as clearly,
and IN every way as correctly, as the
work done by educators or teachers,
who, alas, too often speak their mother
tongue inaccurately. These men and
women are guilty Of mistakes which
all too often are blamed upon the an
nouncers, and the self-appofnted critics
Of radio pronunciation take too little
care in aiming their poisoned arrows.
Faults Are Defended.
Some time ago I had occasion to
tell a man who had devoted years 10
teaching that there was no need Of
III in Bosporus or Reims. He in
sisted he knew better, and was told
10 EO anu 1Ooh bAtCAAA APs 1LC NAA ~
and corrected the error of his ways.
That is but one example Of many
could quote where the people who
should be authorities have been at
fault. There is no need for me to
name cases in which some demagogic
politician has referred to the "cruci-
fcation" Of his party, or its ire
mendous success" and when corrected
by some well meaning friend, has re-
piled, "Oh. my pronunciation IS good
enough for people to understand me.
have been attacked myself Tor
putting the stress on the first syllable
Of abdomen and communal. Many peo-
pie, probably about half of those who
use the words. prefer to stress the
second. But the change from the lat
ter to the former, in the case OF anoo-
men, has been going on for decades,
and gradually the form which use
is replacing the older one. Eighteen
out OF IS advisers to the new standard
dictionary on disputed pronunciattons
voted for com 'munal rather than COM
mun'al
Considering that sponsors get the
services of q qualified announcer. who
knows the rudiments of English pro-
nuneiatson. whenever they buy time on
an Eastern network. or the better IN
dependent stations. am surprised they
do not recommend q course IN the
language to the guest speakers. Many
Of them badly need such instruction.
E1o RA0I0 STATIONS