KGO newsperson's bad pronunciation!

[jussomeguy]

After the show, I hope Vinnie had her written up and docked a days pay!!!

Written up and a $56.00 fine?

 

[sandwix]

>Yeah, I care. If you're on a station like KGO there's no excuse for an error like that. That's the kind of mistake you make in podunk.

>When I was on KGO radio and TV in the 80's and 90's that anchor would have their ass reamed. Management was always paying attention, I guess they >don't care anymore.

>Jerry Gordon Announcer<

To go back to the first page of this thread, I offer Jerry Gordon's quote above to remind others who are newer to broadcasting or are outsiders to the medium how much pronunciation was valued when real broadcasters really cared about delivery.

For the record, Jamie has been doing the traffic at 97.3 for over two years. She is not a newbie. She really should know better by now.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Suspend her and dock her 2 days pay, then!

 

[JEREMIAH]

......and wash her mouth out with soap!

Jerry Gordon

 

[sandwix]

I'm first in line!

And I'll do one better...I'm using Cidex!

 

[coppersmom]

this jeremiah character who claims to have been the big cheese in radio that no one remembers....jeremiah..Kathy Whitman is a veteran radio news producer who made a common slip of the tongue. I"m sure you've never put your foot in your mouth..whups...you have? someone as perfect as you and so yearning to discipline others?

 

[JEREMIAH]

I'm sure you'll find that Jack Swanson, Mike Amatori & John Bristoe remember me. Mickey would as well.


Jerry Gordon

 

[DavidKaye]

this jeremiah character who claims to have been the big cheese in radio that no one remembers....

Lots of people here remember Jerry Gordon; I'm surprised you don't. He was on KSFO nightly for years, as well as doing other stints including traffic.

 

[sandwix]

If I remember correctly, Jerry Gordon was also "The Shadow" on KGO-TV, and if The Shadow says he knows proper pronunciation, he knows!

 

[JEREMIAH]

sandrix:

I plead guilty....yes, thanks for remembering "The Shadow". David Kaye thank you as well.

If anyone is interested..I have a Wikipedia page. You can google Jerry Gordon radio.


Right now I'm the announcer on a syndicated money advice show. The Jack B. Show. It runs in ten markets including SF
on KDOW at 6am(Yikes) It does have a better time slot in it's other nine markets, including Houston, Atlanta, Seattle,
Sacramento(on FM there).

I was afternoon News anchor here in Las Vegas for 16 years, got blown out by the budget ax on april fools day this year(no joke) (KNUU AM 970...once known as KNEWS)

I did love my 20 years in SF. Lots of great memories.

Jerry Gordon

 

[JEREMIAH]

Apoligies to SANDWIX.

The guy does me a big favor and I screw up his name.

Never said I was perfect. Very bad at proof reading

JG.

 

[sloux]

I think trying to pronounce a place name with the correct accent of the originating language usually sounds pretentious and stops a conversatonal tone dead in its tracks. Note how anyone on KPFA will say Nicaragua, versus the rest of us.

Comic Marga Gomez whose family is from Nicaraguq has a funny bit about the pronunciation of "nee-ha-RAHHHHHHH-quahhhhhh".

But, what to do? How *local* should a local pronunciation be? "Versailles Street" in the city of Alameda is pronounced by locals as "ver-SAILS", not "ver-SIGH". Likewise, Haight Street in SF is pronounced "HATE", not the proper "HEIGHT" as they Haight family pronounces it. Likewise, Kezar Pavilion in SF is correctly pronounced "KEY-zur", not "key-ZAR", according to the family after whom it is named.

In San Francisco, "Bernal" of Bernal Heights is prounced "BURR-null", but in Pleasanton the street named after the exact same family is pronounced "burr-NAL". The correct pronunciation is the Pleasanton way. I'm sure that it was changed to "BURR-null" to fit with "Heights" because it flows better.

Of course, my preference is that Bernal be pronounced differently depending on which Bernal is being talked about. But I think if a traffic reporter referred to "ver-SAILS" Street in Alameda I'd cringe, even if it is locally correct.

Another example where locals differ from the traffic reporters is Estudillo Avenue in San Leandro. Greatest Generation locals and their immediate offspring have always referred to the street in an Anglo way by saying, ES-tuh-DILL-oh. Reporters will almost always say ES-tuh-DEE-oh, as do the generation most recently of age.

In the "pretentious" column though the award will always go to those reporters who refer to Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek as yahg-NAH'-SEE-oh rather than the way nearly every East Bay resident refers to this street: yahg-NAY'-SHEE-oh.

 

[coppersmom]

well Jerry ...you must not remember how to spell your good friend Bristow's name.. You are the one who called for public beheading of a very skilled person who added an "i" to an adjective..that makes you a big jerk.

 

[marshallstax]

Old school types... go to the Internet Archive (dot com) and search "NBC handbook of pronunciation" - excellent (for 1951... and today!)

 

[sandwix]

Coppersmom,

You can have any opinion you want and Jerry Gordon's entitled to his but you don't have to resort to name calling. It cheapens your message.

 

[DavidKaye]

well Jerry ...you must not remember how to spell your good friend Bristow's name.. You are the one who called for public beheading of a very skilled person who added an "i" to an adjective..that makes you a big jerk.

I think somebody's hacked Christine Craft's account. This doesn't sound like her at all. (At least I hope not.)

 

[SFStatic]

@David- I hope you are right. Jerry's one of the giants (not just in size), the shoulders of whom a lot of the current generation of broadcasters stand on. He is a pro's pro. I don't think it sounds like something CC would say, either.

 

[MC]

Re: KGO news person's bad pronunciation!

As I mentioned with Gene Burns there, the language police is in full force at KGO radio. What goes around comes around.

Wasn't there a study once that found that the sportscasters who provided the least information, were usually the most popular in a given market? They spent more time relating to the audience and less time giving out stats, Therefore, a person that is the most precise in their language, grammar and pronunciation may not be the most effective communicator or the person with the best ratings.

 

[DavidKaye]

Re: KGO news person's bad pronunciation!

Wasn't there a study once that found that the sportscasters who provided the least information, were usually the most popular in a given market? They spent more time relating to the audience and less time giving out stats, Therefore, a person that is the most precise in their language, grammar and pronunciation may not be the most effective communicator or the person with the best ratings.

I dunno. Jon Miller is a beloved sportscaster and he specializes in getting the name pronunciations right, as well as delivering all kinds of arcane baseball statistics. Of course, he also knows when to shut up, too, and let the crowd noise talk instead.

On a side note here, it's interesting to note the difference in style Jon has when he's on the TV side versus the radio side. Though he shifts back and forth during a game, he gives full visual descriptions of the action on the radio side, but goes more toward stats while on the TV side. He never seems to get confused as to where he is, though I'm sure it would be easy to forget during a game.