A significant part of my family is from the Florida panhandle, which is very definitely "The South." Jacksonville is in north Florida, but it has a large Navy base and a significant number of people from other parts of the country, so lots of accents. Southern accents vary significantly by location and economic level, too, but actors and actresses usually sound like they've watched "Gone with the Wind" too many times. The staff of GH, which has a very difficult time with any kind of geography, probably doesn't care about this kind of nuance.