This was posted on Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV Talk blog on Friday, October 21, 2016
Jamie Dupree - Washington D.C. correspondent for Cox Media Group, including News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB - has been off air due to vocal issues since late July.
The timing is not fortuitous, given the heated presidential campaign.
"My health is good, and my doctors have found nothing wrong with my vocal cords or anything structural related to my voice," Dupree wrote me, "but the muscles in my larynx are not working together properly all the time, for some unknown reason. The result is that I sometimes sound like I’m inhaling a lot of helium. It’s just not a voice made for radio."
The medical diagnosis, he said, is “muscle tension dysphonia.”
Dupree, who has worked for Cox since 1989, has seen vocal experts in D.C., at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and the Emory Voice Center. "Same diagnosis from everyone, with the same guidance" he wrote, "that voice therapy should unwind things and get my voice back to normal. But it is proving stubborn."
He is unsure when he'll be back on air. In the interim, he is sending audio from candidates and supporters. He also helps morning show hosts such as Scott Slade with campaign prep. He remains active on his blog and on social media.
"To say the least," he wrote, "it is pretty frustrating to be off the air right now. But at least I’m still in the game."
WSB and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are part of Cox Media Group.
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