WFSB has hired a new reporter who started this past weekend. He’s Ray Villeda and comes to the station from WSYR in Syracuse. He’ll be working weekends and three days a week.
Ray, because you’re from Monroe, Connecticut we probably don’t need to give you The Laurel’s ” New On-Air Person Training Course”, which consists solely of teaching you that they’re pronounced “New HAY-ven” and “BER-lin”.
Welcome!
How about “New LON-don”, not “NEW Lon-don”?
Also, heard on a “Local Information Update” one recent afternoon on WDRC-AM, the two-syllable town name “Cheshire”, second syllable supposed to rhyme with “burr”, pronounced as a three-syllable word with the last two syllables rhyming with “tire”.
Good point Duby! It was so annoying hearing all the national media talking about “NEWhhaven” the last few weeks. It takes me back to a commercial years ago, I think about barbeque sauce, where someone with a southern accent asks “NEWyorkcity?”
I don’t know why it’s difficult for people to say “New-HAY-ven”, if they can say “New YORK” on TV every day, with the stress not on “New.” Maybe it bothers me more than other because I used to give speech lessons many years ago. One way to tell a native New Havener or someone from Greater New Haven is in their pronunciation of the city’s name: usually “Nuh-HAY-vin” or “Nu-EV-in”, just listen to the next news report where the Mayor says “The City uh Nuh-HAY-vin.”
Then there is Shelton, but the locals never pronounce the T, it’s more like SHEL’in, the same thing for that city’s village of “HunninTIN” (Huntington).
There’s also Orange (OR-inge), but some of the locals prefer to say “AHH-ringe”. Just listen the next time you see a commerical for Orange Fence, Inc. – one owner says OR-inge, the other AHH-ringe, in the same commercial!
There’s also Coventry, but instead of it rhyming with “covenant”, it sounds more like CAH-ventry, in the same way they pronunce “car” in Boston.
If you ever have the chance to watch or cover local football in the old mill towns down past Waterbury, you’ll laugh when you hear that the locals in Naugatuck call the tow “NUG-a-duck”, and Beacon Falls sounds like “Beacon FAWS”.
Then there’s the good old ‘Staven, although it’s not Christmas time just yet. Anyone remember the classic Vinnie Pen song, or am I dating myself now?
You also know when someone is a local or not when pronouncing the names of the towns ending with -bury. Waterbury, Danbury, Southbury, Middlebury, Roxbury, etc. It should rhyme with the word “berry” as in strawberry or raspberry, and not the word “furry”.
Last but not least, there is the town of Norfolk in extreme northern Litchfield County. Five or ten years ago, I think Bob Maxon from the old NBC30 asked viewers to email him with the pronunciation of their town. Apparently people were complaining that the weather guys weren’t saying it properly when giving the local temperature in the morning. I won’t dare spell out how the town’s name is pronounced, but one hint: it rhymes with “puck”, and the automatic spammer would probably trash my comment if I did. 🙂
There’s also Somers – which has a long “O” when it is a town in Westchester County, NY, but not when it’s a town in CT.
I’m sure he’ll be all over the city names, after all he’s from “mun-ROW”, not “MON-row”!!
Oh, and don’t forget about Wolcott , which is pronounced “WOOL-cut”, not “wall-COTT”.
I also remember a radio commercial years ago, I belive for Levitz, which used to say “SOUTH-ing-ton” (as in the deep South), instead of “SU-thing-ten”
BetterCT is in HD now, when will WFSB News be in HD??
I heard its being shot in 16 x 9, not true HD.