The Voice.

I listen to NPR and various other podcasts alot. Some of the hosts, reporters, commentators, guests, politicians, shills, have excellent speaking voices and some don't. Got me thinking of people with excellent voices and people with bad voices.

People with excellent voices (in no particular order):
Christopher Lydon
Tom Ashbrook
Ray Suarez
Michael Goldfarb
Dominic West
Clarke Peters

People with bad voices (no order)
Sarah Vowell
Nina Totenberg
Bill Gates
Bobby Knight
Dave Damashek
Jerry Seinfeld
Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr
Senior News Analyst Jack Beatty
Marilyn Monroe

Sarah Vowell has, I guess it's a lisp (I don't know what else to call it), and she speaks in a too high voice and she kind of slurs words. I literally turn off the iPod or switch to a different show when I hear it. The rest of the guys I'll listen to but with some degree of annoyance.

I sort of like Diane Rehm's voice. She has an actual disorder that makes her speech a bit halting. It might have been odd at first, but I don't really have problem listening to her now. Maybe it helps in that she speaks a little slower and more methodically.