Car Talk Going Off the Air

SonomaRik · Jun 8, 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/npr-car-talk-duo-retiring-reruns-continue-154209328.html

NEW YORK (AP) The comic mechanics on NPR's "Car Talk" are pulling in to the garage.

Brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi said Friday they will stop making new episodes of their joke-filled auto advice show at the end of September, 25 years after "Car Talk" began in Boston. Repurposed versions of old shows will stay on National Public Radio indefinitely, however.

The show airs every Saturday morning and is NPR's most popular program.

"We've managed to avoid getting thrown off NPR for 25 years, giving tens of thousands of wrong answers and had a hell of a time every week talking to callers," Ray Magliozzi said. "The stuff in our archives still makes us laugh. So we figured, why keep slaving over a hot microphone?"

The duo will continue writing their "Dear Tom and Ray" column twice a week, NPR said.

With their byplay and Boston accents, "Car Talk" was as much about laughs as motor advice. On last week's show, a caller confessed that she had broken the clutches of some ex-boyfriends' cars and was now worrying that she was damaging her own.

"That might be the reason none of your relationships lasted," she was told.

The two men proved that public radio didn't have to be stuffy, said Doug Berman, executive producer of the show. "Car Talk" began as a local call-in show on Boston's BUR radio in 1977. It's now on 660 stations across the country, with some 3.3 million listeners a week.

"The guys are culturally right up there with Mark Twain and the Marx Brothers," Berman said. "They will stand the test of time. People will still be enjoying them years from now. They're that good."

The staff has stored and logged some 12,500 phone calls since the show began, rating them in order of their entertainment value, Berman said. They will take the best and use them for the repurposed shows. Berman said he figured there was about eight years' worth of strong material without the show having to repeat itself again.

"I'm the producer of all their shows and I can't remember most of" the calls, he said.

"Car Talk" has tested out the repurposed show and is convinced they will work. There's a strong wish among NPR stations to keep the show going even if there isn't fresh material, he said.

Berman said he knew the retirement was a possibility; Tom is 74. That didn't stop Ray, 63, from mocking him. "My brother has always been work-averse," he said. "Now, apparently, even the one hour a week is killing him."

In a goodbye message posted on their website and titled "Time to Get Even Lazier," Tom wrote, "We're hoping to be like 'I Love Lucy' and air 10 times a day on 'NPR at Nite' in 2075."
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If you have no idea what this is, you truly missed out on a great car show.
knew the day would come, but just not this soon.

NNNnnnooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Dom · Jun 8, 2012

Bummer to hear about this. They are pretty funny guys.

Smiles · Jun 8, 2012

Thanks for posting.

I'm over 40 and have been listening to them since I was a teen.

I can't believe that they've been so consistently funny and "on" for so long.

Steelton Keith · Jun 8, 2012

I have been to their garage in Cambridgeport. I also have listened to them for a long time. I have rarely listened over the past 5 years, it's the same schtick and not funny or entertaining in my opinion. Sorry to be the contrarian.

2000 CVPI · Jun 8, 2012

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s[/ame]

SonomaRik · Jun 8, 2012

Steelton Keith said: ↑

I have been to their garage in Cambridgeport. I also have listened to them for a long time. I have rarely listened over the past 5 years, it's the same schtick and not funny or entertaining in my opinion. Sorry to be the contrarian.
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schtick aside: I always found it fun to try and diagnose the problems... they were seemingly very good at it, and when not...enter the schtict

UroTrash · Jun 8, 2012

I always loved that show.

PV Dirk · Jun 8, 2012

All things come to an end. I'm saddened to hear it. I did enjoy trying to diagnose the problmes before they discussed. I don't know if my wife was impressed but I was always happy to have them agree with me.

avalys · Jun 8, 2012

Car Talk always cheers me up. They are clearly having fun, and so even if the jokes are lame and the callers are sometimes morons, it is fun to listen to.

My favorite parts of the show are actually the running jokes that change every episode: e.g. the expensive, esoteric item you are supposed to send along with your puzzler answer, the "bribes" for listeners calling back on Stump the Chumps, the wacko eating event their producer has "just returned" from, etc.

"..and John "Bugsy" Lawlor, just back from the Vietnam honey ham, pickled spam, battered clam, curried lamb, fatted ram, cherry jam, candied yam and no-cal Pam lunchogram!"

They are also very smart - they both went to MIT - which occasionally shows through.

wingfeather · Jun 8, 2012

Didn't realize they were still around after the invention of Google. Huh.

Gatorrari · Jun 8, 2012

I think the part of the show I liked the most was the closing credits, with all of the wacky names like Haywood Jabuzoff, Picov Andropov, Euripides Imenides, Oh Takashawa, Ewell B. Hoofinett, and O. Noah Fundrive, to name a few. You can see the whole list at http://www.cartalk.com/content/staff-credits.

Ducman491 · Jun 10, 2012

It is the only reason NPR is programmed into my presets.

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