Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Ted Koppel - Humorous or Nasty?

Ted Koppel is guest-hosting NPR's Talk of the Nation today. Wednesdays means TOTN is in the Newseum in front of a live audience.

Generally speaking I really like Koppel. He brings the gravitas, which can make him all the funnier when he wants to be. He can do really silly stuff with an amazingly "heavy" deadpan voice.

But today, he's sometimes taking it one notch too far...I suspect that the audience is seeing a knowing wink and a grin, but us radio listeners don't have that visual cue and his words are definitely on the stinging side. Not all that much, and not all that often, but just enough that I think it's throwing your average public radio listener a bit off-stride.

(Here's a link to today's show page with audio archives and transcripts)

1 comment:

David Wilkes said...

My late wife never forgave Ted Koppel. He went to Stanford and should have known better. I was at home in San Jose and she was on a business trip when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. When she got to a TV, there was Ted showing pictures and reporting on the damage in SF and Santa Cruz. He then said there was no word from San Jose. She spent an anxious four hours until she could reach me by telephone.

(c) DW 2011