When interviewers get your name wrong...

[Ken Isaacson]

I'd like to hear how others handle it when a radio interviewer gets your name wrong.

For example, this morning, on a live call-in interview, the interviewer introduced me as "Ken Isaacman." Since--being radio--there are no visual props, such as a book cover or onscreen text, some kind of correction is needed.

What I did was to wait for an appropriate time during the interview to ask whether it was alright to tell the listeners about my website--the URL for which is my name. I pronounced it and spelled it out. Thus, I was able to make the correction without doing so expressly.

How have others here handled this? It would seem kind of awkward saying "Uh, the name's Isaacson, not Isaacman."

Thanks!
Ken

[Jude Hardin]

Whenever this happens to me, I proceed to answer all the interview questions in pig latin.

[Angie]

Just tell him/her. If you are repeatedly referred to by the wrong name, what do you think listeners are going to remember - the wrong name they heard a bunch of times, or a web addy? Seriously, no interviewer worth his/her salt is going to get upset about something like this. Everybody's human, mistakes happen, but if you can correct it on the spot, then do!

[Dan Coleman]

Act as if nothing happened, then do everything incorrectly yourself, kind of like a little joke, not necessarily smart-alecky. If his name is Jim, say something like, "Well, Kim, it's great to be on your show today. I'm a big fan. Where's the camera? Oh, this is radio, sorry. I thought I was coming here to be on TV. You don't have your own TV show?

"No, it's okay, Slim. I'm fine with it. I'm already here. I was just, uh, you know--the suit and everything. I just thought--Well, it's not really important. I have friends who do radio and I'm very proud of them..."

Or you could say, "Why don't you clean the wax out of your ears, moron."

Or you could say, "Anytime you're ready, Clem."

Or maybe, "That's okay, everybody gets it wrong. Except the one who don't."

[Dan Coleman]

But Angie is probably right. In fact, if you think about it, you might even arrange for the interviewer to ask how your name is spelled, for the record, so both he/she and the listener will not likely forget it.

My first response was just wisenheimer stuff.

Did you know Ben Isaacson?

[Jack Getze]

I think you handled it perfectly. That's the way I do it. Interrupting the interview with a correction can throw off the interviewer, even make some jerks secretly angry. While you can't let them keep repeating the mistake, agreed, I wait for a convenient spot to slip in the correct spelling or pronunciation, or even correct book title.

[Dee Savoy]

Few people can pronounce my first name --Deirdre-- correctly, unless maybe they're Irish, and even then. Most pronounce it DEEdra, forgetting the first R. This drives me crazy. I usually handle it with humor. I often joke that my name has been mispronounced so many different ways I've started answering to anything that starts with a D.

As long as the interviewer doesn't seem to be purposefully obtuse or obnoxious, I'd find a convenient time to bring it up, make the correction, then move on.

[Beth Groundwater]

I think you handled it very well, Ken. I have a standing joke when folks get my name wrong. No one believes it when they hear "Groundwater" and they always ask me to spell it. I get mail addressed to Brownwater (lovely!), Grovelwar (how does THAT work?), and all kinds of variations, so I always say no one ever believes that my last name is really Groundwater, dirt and water, just like it sounds. Then I describe the history of the name--my husband's Scottish (NOT American Indian) ancestors both fished & farmed for a living, earning their livelihood from both the land and the sea. And, if there's time, I talk about my brother-in-law, who is a water engineer, Mr. Groundwater in the Wastewater Division. Now he REALLY gets the jokes!
- Beth

[Jack Getze]

Someone better hope "Brownwater" doesn't stick as a nickname. Good thing you're not on my softball team.