Monday, June 18, 2007

Regarding Robert Siegel

One of the unique things about working at NPR is the voice recognition factor. I now work with people that I have heard on the radio for years. At first, hearing these voices come out real people was surreal, it was like the phantoms inside my radio box came alive and told me to log their tape and dub their audio. The whole experience of meeting these people is especially strange when their actual faces don’t match the phantom images in your mind.

I learned this lesson on my very first day of work as I walked down the hallway, a man and a woman walked by me. The woman spoke casually as they passed and walked towards the elevators. The man started talking, and as soon he opened his mouth, I froze.

It was Robert Siegel.

I was star struck. I stood there and thought, “I should go introduce myself,” but then I didn’t. I was too nervous and shocked by being ambushed by a famous NPR personality in the hallway.
For most people, this would happen if they met Kelly Clarkson, or Johnny Depp, but for me, it’s Robert Siegel. My friends at home don’t understand this, but I have spent so many hours in the car and at home with these people, I may as well be meeting Oprah. Now I constantly use the internet to hunt down the faces of those NPR personalities I have yet to meet. So the next time I’m walking down the hallway and Lakshmi Singh crosses my path, I’ll be prepared.

Benjamin Frisch
Arts and Information Desk

2 comments:

Allison said...

I swear, Robert Siegel's voice does not match his face at all. Neither does Garrison Keillor's. I'm convinced that's why they got hired -- they've just got these totally surreal voices that capture attention. I mean, nobody even talks like that off air!

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