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It's not much of a secret that public radio is white -- 

 white. The lack of diversity has hardly gone unnoticed locally or nationally.

The origins go far deeper than race. Back when I was a young college student, my Boston accent was (mostly) beaten out of me in a voice and articulation class. If you wanted to go into the radio business, you had to sound like a Midwesterner, which at the time was considered the ideal American voice.

At the same time, people changed their names to hide their ethnicity. If you heard someone on the radio with two first names -- Roger Allen, Gary Roberts etc. -- you were listening to someone with something to hide.

We don't do that as much now, but the industry still functions on the sound of whiteness.

This week, NPR itself pushed the issue front and center on its airwaves with this new twist: that it's not enough to 

 a person of color on the radio if you don't 

"Public radio wants me to be black, but not too black," Tavis Smiley once said.

Chenjerai Kumanyika, a radio producer/reporter, got the conversation started this week with a manifesto that has sparked a long-overdue conversation in the industry.

, he said he was confronted with what a public radio voice should sound like.

So last evening, NPR's All Things Considered 

Then last evening, NPR's Audie Cornish hosted a "tweetup" featuring people of color working in the public radio system. Their stories -- those limited by the 140-character limit -- are worth considering.

https://twitter.com/katielizsmith/status/560928137736114178

https://twitter.com/ACVTweets/status/560937921747099648

https://twitter.com/nextgenradio/status/560944720697131008

https://twitter.com/yayayarndiva/status/560944861403435008

https://twitter.com/Maria_Hinojosa/status/560944879011115008

https://twitter.com/mizamudio/status/560944944958169089

https://twitter.com/samsanders/status/560945094053085184

https://twitter.com/ACVTweets/status/560945345379987456

https://twitter.com/aurabogado/status/560945584287133696

https://twitter.com/ACVTweets/status/560945616755621888

https://twitter.com/JesseThorn/status/560945871513456640

https://twitter.com/Maxiewcpn/status/560945979781050369

https://twitter.com/asmamk/status/560946400360681472

https://twitter.com/nextgenradio/status/560946855576485888

https://twitter.com/CelesteHeadlee/status/560947525319163906

So why not just let your natural voice flow? Because on radio, the number one complaint of listeners is often someone's voice.

 by the man too many public radio people try to imitate -- Ira Glass.

Does public radio sound too ‘white’? NPR itself tries to find the answer

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

It’s not much of a secret that public radio is white — really white. The lack of diversity has hardly gone unnoticed locally or nationally. The origins go far deeper than race. Back when I was a young college student, my Boston accent was (mostly) beaten out of me in a voice and articulation class.…

On the radio, ‘whiteness’ is more than skin deep

Go Deeper.

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