the accents of the midwest are often clearly different from the accents of the south and many urban areas of the american northeast. the accent of most of the midwest is thought by many to be "standard" american english. many national radio and television shows in the u.s. like this accent more than many other accents. this may have started because many television show hosts — such as walter cronkite, johnny carson, david letterman, tom brokaw and casey kasem — came from this area.