Who Will Be the New Voice of Boston Logan Airport?

Eight finalists with distinct Boston accents are competing in a statewide search to become the new audio voice of Boston Logan International Airport, with the winner to be announced next Thursday after online voting by Massachusetts residents.

From Classroom Embarrassment to Airport Audio

The contest drew more than 5,000 submissions from Massachusetts residents who recorded video auditions using a script featuring local references like the North End, Gloucester, and the Green Monster. Finalist Kristin Ingala recalled how a western Massachusetts college professor once wrote on a whiteboard, and everyone in the class started laughing when Ms. Ingala asked for a darker marker, exposing her pronounced regional speech. Max German, a Worcester resident and another finalist, remembered students cackling during his first-year case analysis at Boston College Law School before realizing they were laughing at how he spoke. Meagan Lewis-Michelson, a finalist who grew up in Everett and attended Harvard, noted that the only people on campus who shared her blue-collar accent were maintenance workers.

English Settlers Shaped the Accent and Airport Announcements

The distinctive speech patterns trace back to 17th-century settlers from southeast England who started dropping their Rs after upper-class prestige in southeast England in the 1700s led colonists to latch onto the trend. Over time, the accent became associated with lower socioeconomic status in a transformed city, though Dartmouth College linguist James Stanford noted that people still describe it as beloved. Airport officials launched the search after survey complaints about a generic atmosphere. Past announcements relied on elected officials, starting with former Mayor Tom Menino and continuing through current Mayor Michelle Wu and Maura Healey.

The Final Selection Process

Contest guidelines require the winner to achieve crystal clarity and effortless understanding for travelers unfamiliar with local speech, alongside sounding natural and friendly. Mr. German balanced this by fully pronouncing the Rs in the word airport while dropping them in other regional terms. Ms. Ingala prepares to learn the winner next Thursday, while more than 40 million annual travelers await the new arrival announcements by Christmas.