KBYU-FM'S PART-TIMER WHO APPRECIATES CAREFUL DICTION - MICHAEL ASAY

Talk about sloppy and lazy diction on the public radio and TV stations in Utah. 

Is there anyone at KUER-FM who can say "twenty" without making it sound like "twenny?"  Not a single one, as far as I can make out.  Consider that KUER is owned by the University of Utah and thus is a university station.  What does it say about university standards when employees of such a university station talk and articulate as if they are still in grade school?

Even Fred Child of Performance Today falls into the lazy-speak mode, omitting "t"s every chance he gets when they follow "n"s, as in "international," "internet," and "Atlanta."  And this is the person whom the New York Philharmonic chooses to announce some of its live TV broadcasts nationwide!

And how about at KBYU-FM, which likes to call itself "Classical 89?"  Who can pronounce "20" correctly with the "t" that it has?  Not Eric Glissmeyer, program director, who even has a Master of Music degree from BYU.  Not Bruce Seely, who should know better because he sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I don't believe that either BYU or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sanctions sloppy, lazy and imprecise articulation.  So how did Seely and Glissmeyer make it through?

Is there anyone at KBYU who takes the trouble to avoid the sloppiness of lazy diction other than Rosie Stevenson of Midday Classics?  Yes there is!

A student part-time announcer, Michael Asay! Well done, Mr. Asay.  Thanks for realizing that KBYU's listening audience expects standards of its classical music announcers that are higher than those normally found on AM or Eyewitness News.

P.S.  I heard Mark Wait, certainly not my favorite classical announcer on KBYU, read the commercial for Perfomance 20/20 the other day.  The first three of four "20"s came out as "twenny" but the last one came out as a crisp "twenty."