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Everyone Makes Mistakes

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Last week, some very visible errors made headlines. "Game Of Thrones" fans spotted what looked like a Starbucks coffee cup in a medieval setting. In Australia, the government printed 46 million new dollar bills with the word responsibility misspelled. We all make mistakes - right? - some that keep us up at night. Our NPR hosts sitting behind the mic are no different. For your listening pleasure, our hosts recount some of their cringe-worthy moments. Listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: I'm Scott Simon, and I was anchoring inauguration coverage a few years ago. That's, you know, six, eight hours live. And I had to vamp because the Marine band was getting new sheet music or something. So I was sort of reminiscing about previous inaugurations in U.S. history. And I guess what I was trying to say is that President Reagan had gotten word that the U.S. hostages were being released from Tehran as he was going back and forth between inaugural balls. What I said was President Reagan got word that the U.S. hostages had been released from Tehran between the balls - not a high point.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: I'm Susan Stamberg, a special correspondent now at NPR. But I anchored All Things Considered for 14 years, starting in the 1970s. But before I came here, at a local station, I was just sort of cutting my radio teeth and had to sit in one day for the classical music DJ.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STAMBERG: I didn't know a whole lot about classical music. I still don't. In those days, there was a great conductor named Eugene Ormandy. For 44 years, he conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. And in my debut as a classical music disc jockey, I said, ladies and gentlemen, we now present Eugene Orchestra and the Philadelphia Ormandy.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hey. This is Ari Shapiro. I'm one of the hosts of All Things Considered, and I'm willing to admit that I have a problem with siblings.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOCEAN WORKER'S "RIGHT NOW (FEAT. RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK)"

SHAPIRO: There was a time when there were two sisters in the U.S. House of Representatives, Linda and Loretta Sanchez. And I misidentified one of them on the air as her sister. There was another time when I lived in London, and the head of the British Labour Party, Ed Miliband's brother, was also famous. David Miliband runs the International Rescue Committee. I misidentified Ed on the air as David. So basically, now I have a rule that if somebody in the public eye has a famous sibling, I won't report on them, which is why I'm glad that Jeb Bush is not running for president in 2020.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOCEAN WORKER'S "RIGHT NOW (FEAT. RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK)"

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And this is mine. You know the billionaire Koch brothers? Well, their name is spelled K-O-C-H. I don't know why, but when I first became a host, I saw their name, and I gave it the German pronunciation. So I said the Cock (ph) brothers live on air. Yes. I did that. And I've just done it again.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOCEAN WORKER'S "RIGHT NOW (FEAT. RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK)" Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.