March 10, 2004

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We have discussed Anderson Cooper in these pages before. A piece from the New York Observer (I love/hate their salmon-colored pages) on the AC includes this graf:

Mr. Cooper is a good anchor, and it’s because of his ear for tonal range. “To me, the important thing is to not cover the Grammys with the same sense of urgency” as the hard news, said Mr. Cooper. It’s the anchor pitfall — like the famously mocked “poetry voice,” there is anchor voice. While it may be as comforting as codeine cough syrup, eventually it becomes a sick stream of meaninglessness stridency, death made palatable over America’s Lean Cuisine dinners.

I think that is the first time I’ve seen “anchor voice” — the worst! — described in print. I gotta watch this show and see if Cooper actually doesn’t use it.