There are maybe two things that everyone in Boston can agree upon and they are: a) Go Sox and b) Benedict Cumberbatch’s accent in Black Mass was fahkin awful. In the most parochial place that ever was or ever will be, authenticity functions as a means of psychic gatekeeping, and someone who doesn’t speak the lingua Francona isn’t someone who’s worth listening to when the game’s on.
Regional accents are being slowly genericized into a sort of gloppy Americanese, but Massachusetts will surrender its non-rhoticity the day they bulldoze the last Cumby’s, which is to say: Never gonna happen. Outsiders are to be viewed with skepticism, if not outright contempt, and while there are no shortcuts to legitimacy, a shared dialect goes a long way toward boosting the credibility of the people who talk about the hometown team for a living.
NESN CEO David Wisnia gets that, even if he’s a transplant from Los Angeles. (Whatever. Jeremy Renner’s from Modesto or someplace like that and his accent in The Town is unimpeachable.) Since taking the reins at the RSN in October 2024, Wisnia has done his bit to boost in-game deliveries—the Red Sox closed out last season up 46% in average household ratings—while spearheading an efficiency review that gave way to the relaunch of NESN’s direct-to-consumer service.
