First, I admit that this is a pretty obscure obsession – the voice of an NPR foreign correspondent, but I’m sure like many others, the voices on public radio have become familiar companions on my way to work each morning. My favorite (by far) is Eleanor Beardsley. Beardsley is NPR’s correspondent in Paris and has that best kind of southern accent – one that sounds warm and soothing while never losing the subtle irony and edginess of an intelligent speaker. Think of buttery bread pudding with rum sauce.
I really like the musical quality of her phrasing, with her intonation changing — sometimes surprisingly — without it sounding fake and pretentious. Here, I need to acknowledge that I seem to be in the minority on this point. When I was looking around the internets for information about EB’s background, I kept finding people complaining about how terrible her voice was. How could so many be so wrong?
I’ve saved for last the best of all — Eleanor speaking French in her South Carolina accent. What can I say except it doesn’t get any better than that.
So to her Neanderthal and undiscerning critics, I say — reconsider this unique talent. May I forever hear, “From Paris, this is Eleanor Beardsley.”
You are not alone, I too perk up when I hear Eleanor Beardsley’s NPR reports from France. I don’t have a “southern accent fetish,” but I love Eleanor’s accent. Very attractive voice.
I’m with you 100%. I was shocked when I just googled her and the first suggestion after just her name was “eleanor beardsley annoying.”
I agree. Although I’ve heard her before, her report from Tunisia today was lucid, compelling, and delivered in intelligent Southern accent. As I commented, it’s good to hear Holly Hunter back on the air. (That’s a compliment.)
She makes everything sound like a silly joke. As if it is all about her and her weird sounds, not the actual news she is reporting.
She could dial it back – a lot – and still sound unique without sounding like she is mocking everything she reports on.
I agree completely. She has a wonderful voice with great melodic range and a charming gravelly low dig. Would love to hear her sing.
I find the flow of her tones absolutely annoying. Her reporting? Great. Her southern accent when speaking French? I wouldn’t be able to tell, as I speak Japanese. The actual tones of her voice are fine, but the way she ends her sentences makes me want to kick puppies…or grind my teeth into nothing.
The ends of her sentences are over exaggerated and absolutely, for lack of a better term, disgusting.
Eleanor Beardsley’s voice is admittedly unusual, but it is also wonderful. I’ll admit to being a francophile, but if you listen to the words she uses and to her diction, it becomes clear that hers is clearly one of NPR’s most intelligent voices. She shares this gift with Susan Stamburg and Scott Simon. And she gets to live in the world’s greatest city. You can’t beat that. Her reports from north Africa have been especially good. NPR otherwise has slid a long way since the 1970s when I started listening. Eleanor, just keep doing what you’re doing. We love you. You’re the best.
I HATE her voice and pronunciation. It’s the most irritating voice ever!
I HATE her voice and pronunciation. It’s the most irritating voice ever! — I couldn’t agee more! The hair stand up on my back when she comes on the radio. This woman would not be able to hold down a radio job in any other country – with some standards as far as radio! Please get her of the air!!! She can write, she can do whatever… just do’t let her open her mouth on radio with her utterly disrespectful, careless, irritating voice!
I too have thought the same thing…I heard her in a relaxed interview about the new Burka laws in France and I was surprised to find that she sounds even better (and more Texan-like) in that atmosphere.
I love her voice too! It’s such a welcome surprise from “normal” radio voices. And I like the intelligence and humor behind it. Her picture did not look like I imagined from her voice: sort of a dark-haired, plump, old-school teacher appearance.
Sorry to be the sour grape but I find the sustain she uses on certain words throughout her narratives extremely annoying. It’s as though she took the stereotypical radio voice and upped the cliche ante.
Every time I hear her, it reminds me of the Family Guy reporter stereotype Tricia Takanawa.
Her voice e is the essence of annoying. Her vowels are excruciating long and unnecessarily so. She was speaking about Libya and the rebels getting weapons, but instead used the word ‘arms’, but it sounded like aaaaaaaarms. No joke, the first vowel lasted more than a few seconds. And I just heard her say ‘acount’ like aaacooouuunt. Just sounds very pretentious and dumb. So many other good voices other than this lady.
Just stumbled upon this trying to find out where she’s from… I was surprised to learn it is SC.
I think the way she says Paaaaris sounds like she’s from the Northeast (PA, NJ, or NY).
I can just imagine her saying “I haad to go to Paaaris to see my faaaamily and my friend Laaary.”
I found this page because I absolutely despise her voice, I’d rather listen to Stephen Hawking read the news underwater.
Haters gunna hate.
Eleanor has a fabulous voice and her reporting is the best! Her voice is “Paris”!
I love her voice too! It’s weird, I was just looking up info on her because I was really curious to see what she looked like. Kinda wish she was my age
She has a very young sounding voice. But I found a lot of videos of her speaking french….she doesn’t have that same je ne sais quoi
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbj3cg_eleanor-beardsley-radio-publique-am_news
Dear Lord, “the voice of Paris”? Parisian women sound like adults. Eleanor sounds like a sixth grader holding court at recess. Her mind may great, and she seems to love Paris, but her voice . . .
I think she sounds like a gargoyle. Her voice is so raspy, it’s distracting. As far as pretentious, I find that all NPR radio hosts are condescending in addressing their listenership.
Ms. Beardsley has the most annoying voice on NPR. Her nasal tones and dragging delivery are awful. I just turn the sound off until I think she has finished. I can’t imagine her speaking French!
I think her voice sounds kinda cool.
Southern? Don’t hear it at all. She sounds mentally disabled, and if not stop talking like that.
Add me to the fan club. Love the voice, and the smart reporting behind it.
can NOT stand her voice. found this blog because i searched for more info on just what kind of accent she has and where she went to school … so i never send my kid there.
I love it too. Nothing better than hearing her talk about Nicolas Sarkozy and “le rigeur.”
Eleanor Beardsley’s delivery is bizarre. You know that she does not speak in that absurd voice in normal conversation.
If only she would listen to the other NPR anchors and reporters. But maybe she does and she thinks that her delivery is distinctive and therefore justified? I am perplexed that NPR does not require her to get some training.
Her delivery is so distracting that it overrides the substance of her reports.
If I wanted to be bombarded with exaggerated vowels and a loud, preachy voice, I would listen to Fox News.
I do not understand why NPR allows her to plug into some melodramatic alter ego that talks like a bad cartoon character.
P.S. EB participates in a panel here: http://www.france24.com/en/20100522-en-world-week-bangkok-red-shirt-Iran-Reiss-Vakili-Rad-nucleaire-europe-crisis-austerity-part1
She speaks about half way into the clip. Using her normal voice, which is not offensive.
I love hearing her voice, though I never really thought about why. I just really enjoy it, so entertaining for my ears! I finally looked her up on the internet today, and found your blog. I am not surprised by the opposing responses, as her voice is so unique that a person would either love it or “hate” it. So, the ones who don’t like it can turn off their radios, and those of us who love it can enjoy it and smile!
Love Eleanor Beardsley’s voice! if I hear she has a report, I will stay in my car just to hear it!
Nails on a chalkboard. That’s how I describe Eleanor Beardsley’s voice. And I wouldn’t consider myself picky.
I have to agree with a post below: she draws out the ends of her sentences with what I can describe as a long drawn out, nasal, whine that makes me want to flog a kitten.
It made me want to look up if others despised her voice as much as I did, and ironically I came up on this blog. Ha! Oh well. I guess it just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Ultimately, whether a person likes the sound of her delivery or not, her voice is a “reporting voice” and not her normal voice. It is this theatricality and disingenuousness that is offensive to my ear.
That her affected radio voice also triggers in me the puppy-kicking, kitten-flogging response is apparently a response not shared by everyone.
I can think of no other NPR reporter who assumes a counterfeit, theatrical delivery. The only thing comparable is Frank DeFord (commentator) who affects a bad amateur-theater delivery when letting us know what his alter ego the Sports Curmudgeon thinks.
That’s interesting because I’ve always been repulsed by Frank DeFord, too. I think I’ve nearly driven off the road more than once when his swarmy, “I’m slumming when I talk about sports other than sailing or horse racing” nonsense comes on my radio. For whatever reason (and I admit it’s just a gut reaction) I enjoy EB.
Thanks for your smart comment even though we see (hear) things differently on this one.
Totally love her voice and her reporting. She’s a national treasure, in my opinion.
I was taken away by her picture. She looks HOT! By listening to her, I thought she was an old crone with arthritic hands, a wrinkled face and about 70 years old. I would buy her a croissant any day.
Sorry, but to me her voice is like fingernails on the chalkboard. The whine and wide swing of inflections make me turn down the radio and sometimes change the station.
Absolutely captivating is how I would describe the wonders she can work with her voice. As a radio person I’ve developed a proclivity to carefully listen and analyze the spoken word. I fall in love every time she stretches and stresses her words along with a charming bit of gravel in her delivery and I mentally take myself to France. And yes, she is a beautiful lady. I could listen to her unique and masterful styling forever.
Robert Henrickson
East Nassau, NY
“Unique and masterful style” – yes, one could say that about Howard Cosell,
Dick Vitale and Tiny Tim as well.
I’m a member of the Eleanor Beardsley fan club too, but before she came along Joanne Silburner was my favorite NPR voice.
Hearing about the shootings in Toulouse, I cringed at the thought that NPR would be informing me on this issue through the carnival barking of Ms. Beardsley’s adopted radio voice. But perhaps the solemn nature of the matter will cause her to at least tone it down. We can hope.
Wow. I just heard Ms. Beardsley interviewed on ATC about the Toulouse shooting. And she talked in a normal, conversational voice.
There is hope….
Her voice is so GREAT! Its fun and serious and whimsical and intelligent all at the same time. For sure a welcome change from most reporters.
EB is the best on NPR. She is worth 100 Steve Innskeep! No BS. Just the facts and it is appreciated. She is one of the great journalist of our time (of course the bar is low- but she is heads above the rest)…..
Her theAAthrical intonations are aKIN to capitaliZAAAtion whilst TEEEExting or EEEEEmailing. Downright JUUUUUvenile.
YEEEAAAAASSSSSS inDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDuh.
When I first heard Beardsley’s voice a number of years ago I thought she was doing an Olive Oyl impersonation. “Oh POPeeeyyyyeee!” She sounds JUST like Olive Oyl. It is a bizarre and distracting intonation she uses.
Lorna put it exactly right: that it sounds as if Beardsley is mocking what she is reporting on, like with an “Oh BROTHER, here we go AGAIN” sound. “Nicholas SarkoZEE had another round of TALKS with his FInance ministers todaaaaaaay…”
The end of her sentences sound like a high revving electric motor winding down, or a spring bouncing after being released from tension.
That said, she is a very good reporter who really got my respect during her coverage of the revolution in Tunisia, and I have just started to notice that maybe she finally toning it “DOOOwwwnnnn…” a bit.
I find her voice irritating, especially the way she rides certain vowels. However, I find many of the young women who file reports on NPR even worse. There is a tendency among them to conclude words with a gravelly growl that reminds me of the worst days of the 1960s rock FM DJ tracheotomy voice: so laid back it is six feet under.
Eleanor Beardsley at her most subdued is worse than all the others combined. Recordings of her reports should be used as what-not-to-do examples in journalism/communications courses.
I am a North Carolinian living in Syracuse NY for over 25 years….and totally love Eleanor Beardsley’s voice. Just read up about her…..from SC huh? I was thinking maybe from Georgia. Whatever, I always enjoy her reporting….but most of all her wonderful voice (btw….I am also a Speech Pathologist)
Thanks for weighing in. I think it’s fascinating how polarizing something like our pleasure or discomfort with someone’s voice is.
Eleanor Beardsley’s sing-song phrasing and random emphasis of syllables makes her reports nearly unintelligible.