[London Lite]

Only just seen that original video. While it's not the best I've heard, the tone was right for such a solemn intro. It's not like the CA was delivering as if he was introducing Love Island on ITV2.

[Nini]

I feel like accents aren't the trouble but rather a certain cadence that's imposed on announcing. Some do sound stattaco or otherwise stilted or even tonally odd but I wouldn't put that down to accent or even dialect though would put it on being too inflexible or unnatural. These announcements can be appropriate with those voices but for some reason they've been trained and/or geared towards a specific delivery style, great for a specific tone or mood but incongruous outside of it.

That can be unlearned, stiffness eased out and loosened up but I wouldn't say "oh, it's definitely these accents" because it reminds me of the exact same stuff that was said when RP was gradually phased out for less staid voices. Maybe, just maybe, a lot of this thread exists merely out of hearing a voice that makes them uncomfortable.

[Si-Co]

Only just seen that original video.  While it's not the best I've heard, the tone was right for such a solemn intro.  It's not like the CA was delivering as if he was introducing Love Island on ITV2.

To be fair, the more I listen to it, the less I find wrong with it.  Rightly or wrongly, on a channel like BBC One, we aren’t used to hearing such solemn announcements being voiced by someone with a noticeable MLE accent, and that’s a lot of what draws attention to it. Sure, I could pick fault with the delivery - but if that announcement was made in exactly the same tone by someone with a more standard accent I doubt we would be having this discussion. 

I can’t say similar about the woman announcer though - her pauses and emphasis were in all the wrong places, and had she appeared in vision I can picture her with a huge smile on her face while making those announcements into the news and Panorama. A bit more than having a bad day, in my opinion.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Yes he was certainly trying hard with the tone, and at least managed make sure he didn't say "Her Majesty Da Queen".

Duncan, Dean, Phil etc could have announced it in the manner they would have used for a news bulletin without anybody passing comment, but for the guy involved it was a real departure from his usual style, even in other announcements that night such as into MOTD or the Attenborough programme which didn't need to be quite so solemn.

The announcement after the funeral is very different!

[Blubatt]

I stand by what I said a few days ago: The job of a continuity announcer is to tell the viewer what is coming up next, or what is about to air. There is no other requirement than to speak into a microphone. The hyperbolic critiques of people sounding 'all over the place' and being 'toe-curlingly baaaad' would make it seem that there are prejudices against people who don't sound how you think they should sound.

Personally, I think there is some leeway to be had on this. Continuity announcing isn't easy. I looked at some old videos last night from the 80s/90s, and the lion's share of announcers were stumbling on their words, pausing, stuttering, correcting themselves. I think people need to be a little less harsh.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Stand by it by all means, but I but I suspect I won't be alone in standing by a view that, with respect, you're objectively wrong.

I have literally quoted the job description as making a significant requirement of getting an appropriate tone.

It's called continuity for a reason. An announcement that jars in tone with what precedes and follows it is the opposite of continuity (honourable exceptions for those who can subvert conventions with artistic license where appropriate).

[London Lite]

Regional accents can work well in broadcasting, but I think they have to have some form of elocution lessons which allow the broadcaster to keep their accent, but uses standard English which can be clearly understood.

Steph McGovern had lessons to make sure her pronunciation was clear, but still has a distinctive Teesside accent.

I must admit that despite living in London, MLE is one of the harder accents to understand. Like other regional accents, they use slang terms I don't understand, but that CA I understood word for word even if he doesn't use RP. MLE people I've spoken to consider me "posh", yet I have what is considered to be an Estuary accent.

[robrymond]

A nice shutdown signoff from Kate just now (who has an accent but knows how to do tone). I don't often hear shutdown signoffs but most are quite short and just a 'lets join BBC News now' but this was a full signoff with a mention to the BBC One team!

[Steve in Pudsey]

Memories get skewed because only the "notable" junctions turn up online, the bog standard ones that pass without incident are underrepresented.

Going back to the point about accents - I don't think that's the factor here. I don't remember any particular controversy when Mark Chapman was announcing on network BBC with his Mancunian accent.

I think there are two separate issues which have been identified: delivery, such as a jarringly cheerful announcement into a serious programme; and non-standard diction/pronunciation such as "wiv" and "da" instead of "with" and "the".

The former is hard to be charitable about, but I don't have a particular problem with the latter being represented amongst a team of announcers, but when linking into a formal occasion it jars a bit.

But then if they had switched out the scheduled announcer for somebody with a more standard delivery you can guarantee that somebody would have tried to make a racism scandal out of it.

Lose/lose really.

[BBCMeridian]

The wonderful Beccy Wright has made a return to the BBC Continuity team, this time she's now a freelance announcer according to Duncan Newmarch.
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