ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Instagram turns modern photos into images reminiscent of snapshots from long ago. But that clever tool omits something that we appreciate here in radio: sound. Suppose a determined app developer could give us a way to filter our modern voices into how people sounded long ago? A touch of audio nostalgia.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
And to save that hypothetical genius the trouble, we already have a name for this important new app: We'll call it InstaVox. It would replace our present-day remarks, our syntax, our idioms with a retro sound shared instantly with friends on Facebook, Twitter or any other site. Merely speak into your InstaVox app, as you would normally...
SIEGEL: Hey. Listen up, dudes. Stop freaking out about the economy. We're going to be OK.
CORNISH: ...select the Great Depression filter, and out comes...
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
SIEGEL: Or say the phrase...
CORNISH: O-M-G. You guys rock. We've had so much fun together. Can we do it again?
SIEGEL: And select the British Royal filter, and you get a young Princess Elizabeth.
QUEEN ELIZABETH II: In wishing you all good evening, I feel that I am speaking to friends and companions who have shared with my sister and myself many a happy children's hour.
CORNISH: Develop it. When someone buys you out for a couple billion dollars, remember your local public radio station at fundraising time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.