Us v Uz

[derrynoose]

Has anyone noticed the increasing tendency of speakers on the radio to pronounce "us" as "uz" ?

[bednobs]

well i dont see it as a problem, seeing as how that iz how it's pronounced!

[Quizmonster]

Chambers Dictionary offers both pronunciations as acceptable, though The Oxford English Dictionary only the 's' variant.
As the publication date of the former is almost 20 years more recent than the latter, the 'z' one appears to be just a dialectal variant that has 'crept in'.
In earlier times, unless one spoke Received Pronunciation, one had no hope whatever of getting employment as a radio announcer. Nowadays, Jock, Geordie, Brummie and whatever are commonly heard...and a good thing too!

[dundurn]

Wilfred Pickles was tried out on national radio as an announcer and finished his first broadcast with his traditional Yorkshire "guid neet" and was packed off back to the provinces. A little surprising in some ways given that Lord Reith was a Scot and had a bit of an accent himself!

[Quizmonster]

Early male radio newsreaders were obliged to perform their task whilst wearing evening-dress...ie black bow tie with all the trimmings! How mad is that, given that they were on radio and could be seen by nobody listening anyway? It was felt that only thus attired could they provide the appropriate gravitas to the proceedings!