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R.I.P. NPR Staple Car Talk: "Time To Get Even Lazier"
NPR listeners and car aficionados will have to hang their hats in mourning today: NPR announced that Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, are going into retirement after 25 years on the air. Or as they put it in a blog post today, it's "time to get even lazier."
The brothers have hosted Car Talk out of WBUR in Boston for 35 years, and have been a part of NPR for 25 years. But older brother Tom is turning 75 this year, and the two decided it was time to "stop and smell the cappuccino." There have been tons of Twitter reactions to the announcement, many etched with Click and Clack's humor:
Car Talk is the bumblebee of public radio: 2 guys w/ thick accents laughing @ their own jokes & talking cars? It'll never fly! But it flies.
— John Moe (@johnmoe) June 8, 2012
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Thankfully, this Saturday won't be the last time you hear Click and Clack on the air: NPR will start airing a newly assembled Car Talk show, selected from the best material in their 1,200+ show archives, starting in October. And they'll still be contributing to their website, writing their weekly “Dear Tom and Ray” column. Until then, listen to a classic segment on sheep below, and watch the two give some advice to Arthur below that:
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
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