WCBS reporter Peter Haskell lost his radio voice
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Kevin R. Wexler, NorthJersey.com
Peter Haskell had already enjoyed a successful career as a radio news reporter when the thing he relied on most – his voice – began to fail him.
The first signs of trouble appeared 12 years ago, when his vocal range was unable to go too high or too low for short periods of time. Soon he found it difficult to produce words. Haskell’s voice began to sound scratchy and weak.
The New Jersey native was eventually diagnosed with a rare disorder called spasmodic dysphonia – a spasm of the vocal muscles that most people can organize their lives around.
But when your voice is broadcast day and night to millions of people across the tri-state area on WCBS Newsradio 880, the stakes are far higher and the consequences are far greater.
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“I was on the radio all the time, so I couldn’t hide it,” Haskell said. “Every time I did a newscast, they were looking for perfection, and it was clear my voice wasn’t the same.”
Haskell is one of an estimated 50,000 people in North America who suffer from SD, as it is often called, a neurological disorder that causes a vocal tremor, especially in middle-aged people, that typically lasts a lifetime.
There is no cure, but treatments developed by a Hackensack doctor help temporarily relieve symptoms.
More attention in light of RFK Jr.’s presidential candidacy
The condition was brought into the spotlight by the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Although the independent candidate has suffered from the disorder for nearly 30 years, his scratchy, trembling voice has attracted even more attention over the past year through numerous campaign speeches, media appearances and commercials.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times this spring, Kennedy said his voice doesn’t get tired or worse when he speaks. It just sounds like he’s always on the verge of breaking down.
The condition can be life-changing, but it doesn’t have to be debilitating. Risa Clay spent years as principal of Red Bank Regional High School with SD – a position where public speaking is a big part of the job. She describes herself as an “extroverted and articulate person” and is now president of the Tinton Falls Town Council, where she presides over every public meeting.
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“When I was diagnosed, I told myself I was just going to carry on living my life the way I was,” said Clay, who also runs a support group for vocal cord disorders. “I loved my job and I wasn’t going to let my voice stop me.”
It hasn’t always been easy. Knocking on strangers’ doors while campaigning is awkward enough. When you have a voice disorder, it’s even more difficult. “I spoke in front of 18,000 people in Tinton Falls,” Clay said, laughing. “And now I speak at council meetings 90 percent of the time.”
For Haskell it was a different story – with a different outcome.
A reporter for WCBS Newsradio 880
Haskell grew up in East Brunswick and developed a love of broadcasting at an early age, often doing his own commentary on television for Mets and Knicks games. After graduating from Syracuse University, he got a job at WSUS in Sussex County before moving to WCTC in New Brunswick, where he reported from the field, anchored the newsroom and even did live commentary for Rutgers Sports.
His big break came in 1994 when he was hired as a reporter at WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York, one of the most listened to news stations in the United States. He covered New Jersey news for the first three years and then moved to New York, where he got a new assignment every day.
He was also trying to adjust to the crazy hours of an all-news station, starting at 5 a.m. some days, working late into the night on others.
Haskell became one of the network’s top reporters, having a front-row seat to nearly every major event in the region, from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Superstorm Sandy to the Yankees’ World Series and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He covered eight national party conventions and interviewed some of the region’s most important public officials, but the most satisfying part of his work was meeting ordinary New Yorkers and New Jerseyans.
“When a major event like Sandy happened, there were so many ordinary people trying to help complete strangers rebuild their lives,” Haskell said. “Those are the stories I love to tell.”
Changes in his voice indicated spasmodic dysphonia
Around 2012, Haskell noticed some changes in his voice. There were brief periods when his voice didn’t go as high or low as usual. Sometimes he would try to speak, but nothing would come out. “It came and went,” he said. “It happened very quickly. It didn’t last long. At first, I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
But as the attacks became more frequent and prolonged, Haskell sought medical help. After seeing a number of doctors, he was finally diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, also known as laryngeal dystonia.
Like Risa Clay, Haskell was treated by Dr. Andrew Blitzer, an ENT specialist in Hackensack who developed a now common treatment for SD that involves injecting Botox into the throat muscles to control the vocal cords.
It started to work, and Haskell’s voice was fine for three or four months, until he needed another chance. “I could do my job. Not as easily as before, but I could do it,” he said.
Over the years it became more difficult.
It used to be easy to record a pre-recorded report of a news event in a single take. Now Haskell needed multiple takes before the clip was ready to broadcast to millions of listeners throughout the day.
Haskell said he was honest with his WCBS bosses from the beginning. They supported and encouraged him and told him to keep working until he felt he could no longer do it.
In his last two years at WCBS, Haskell said he struggled, and the improvement from the Botox injections didn’t last long.
“For years I thought it was acceptable to have a needle stuck in my neck every few months,” he said. “But eventually it wasn’t. The benefits weren’t as great and it became a lot harder to do the job I loved.”
Tunnels to Tower Foundation, teaching at Fordham
On October 13, 2022, Haskell went public. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he told everyone that he was leaving the station because of SD, and received a wave of support from officials, journalists and ordinary people he had always supported.
“I had been carrying this struggle inside me for so long, and then people were so kind,” he said. “It was heartwarming considering how cruel the whole time is.”
A few weeks later, on Halloween, Haskell finally gave up his microphone.
Haskell’s next stop was the Tunnels to Tower Foundation, where he served as a “storyteller” about the charity’s work in providing homes for the families of fallen soldiers and first responders.
And something else remarkable happened. Haskell’s voice slowly improved. The stress of doing radio shows to overcome his SD helped hasten the end of his career, he said.
Haskell was confident enough to take a part-time job that spring teaching multimedia journalism to students at Fordham University.
“If I say something in a classroom or social setting that doesn’t come across perfectly, the students can still understand it or I can just correct myself and move on,” he said. “That wasn’t the case with radio.”
As with many rare diseases, research funding is minimal at best. Haskell and Clay are trying to change that by volunteering with Dysphonia International, the only major charity dedicated to the disease. Haskell has written op-eds for news websites and tried to use his former career in the spotlight to raise awareness of SD. It’s a situation he never imagined he’d be in.
“I always tell people, ‘It’s not life-threatening, but it’s life-changing,'” Haskell said. “And right now I’m just trying to spread the word.”
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