Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Sportstalk 980 Updater - Al Galdi - Is Annoying

I've talked about my dislike for almost all of Sportstalk 980 (WTEM) because it could be so much better, especially if the general manager started by removing the inane John Thompson. (Did you hear him talk over (and ruin) the play-by-play call of Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer in the championship game?) During my morning drive, I flip between the Junkies and Steve Czaban's show. It helps that I fit both demographics and tend to agree with a lot of Czaban's arguments. However, the second he goes to a sports update by Al Galdi, I change the radio before Galdi utters his first syllable because I can't stand his voice. If Bergenfield's resident coach John Minko did the updates, I wouldn't change the station.

I find it hard to describe Galdi's voice, which I suppose makes it unique and why he's on the radio. I'll give him that much. But it's its uniqueness that makes me want to drive into a Beltway median. The first thing I notice is that he sounds out of breath, only speaking for 3 seconds before breaking for air. His speaking never gets into a rhythm or cadence because of the frequent breath breaks. When he does speak, he sounds like a robot with a cold speaking through its metallic nose.



"I love Al's voice, but then again I am a robot," said Nintendo's Robotic Operating Buddy.

Just as my Carl Kassell post has become a sounding board for his dislikability (work with me) with 15 comments, this post serves to vent my general annoyance with Galdi. I would love to look, I mean listen, past his voice because he's a fellow Terp alum, but he is on the radio so all I have to judge him by is his voice. He does a fine job writing the sports update and I understand he has to talk about anything Redskins whenever possible, but maybe someone else could read what he wrote.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hear ya. Galdi's voice blows.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I love writing blogs about hating someone's voice too.

Anonymous said...

couldnt agree more. and now 2 and a half years after you wrote this, he's on even more frequently. that being the case, i thought i might be the only person who was severely irritated by the way he speaks. ugh. he used to not even pronounce his name clearly. the voice and the cadence is very off-putting.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Al's a nice guy and all, but I don't understand how he remains employed as an on-air worker. He sounds like someone doing a bad imitation of a radio guy.

Anonymous said...

He (too often)attaches an "ah" sound to the end of his utterances-ah. Orapkoa-ah colliding with Bell-ah. It's maddening once you pick up on it-ah. Ahhhhhhhh!!!