Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Some singers and broadcasters seem to substitute the V sound for the B sound. For instance, in a song, "oh, baby, baby" sometimes sounds like, "oh, vavy, vavy." I've even noticed that, on AWWW, it often sounds like Martha says, "vye, vye," vs. "bye, bye," when ending a discussion with a caller. My theory is that perhaps singers and broadcasters are trying to soften the B sound and thus avoid the harsh sound that can result when singing/speaking B words into a microphone. Thoughts?