"Car Talk" Parks It After 25 Years

[vchimpanzee]

Last week the guys were talking about whether one of them was unnecessary or "moot".

And here's a joke from several weeks ago.

A man buys a car but discovers the radio doesn't work. He is told the radio is voice-activated. So the man gets in the car and says "Country". Willie Nelson starts playing. He says"rock and roll" and hears Elvis. Then a crazy driver nearly hits him. The man yells, "Moron!" From the radio speakers he hears, "Hi, we're Click and Clack ...."

 

[vchimpanzee]

And this week there was a reference to sequestration when Ray said, "Even though ... tis is NPR".

 

[cefgw]

The Magliozzi brothers were a local Boston Phenomenon back in the 70s and early 80s, at WBUR. They were awesome, which is why they rose to the top. In their golden era (local days) the Puzzlers were mathematical, after all they were MIT graduates so they are were (are) nerd gearheads. They answered more calls, solved more car problems and spent less time laughing.
My observation is that when they went national, they were produced much differently. The emphasis was changed to entertaining the listeners. Their Cambridge ("our faiah city") accents were suddenly quaint. The stories and puzzlers were restructured towards the NPR target market: non-technical liberal arts people. So, the puzzlers became logical, like solving murder mysteries and less numerical. Nothing spoils a good product like success.

 

[aaronread]

The rampaging success of the Car Talk brand across radio, newspapers and TV speaks volumes about your assertions, sir.

Just because you liked it better when it was a local show doesn't mean they weren't a helluva lot more successful after they went national.

 

[cefgw]

The rampaging success of the Car Talk brand across radio, newspapers and TV speaks volumes about your assertions, sir.

Just because you liked it better when it was a local show doesn't mean they weren't a helluva lot more successful after they went national.

So, you are saying that success = quality. Ok, fine. I merely shared my observations of early Car Talk compared to the syndie version. Don't read into things so much. Did you hear them when they were local? If not, please remember that what I wrote weremy observations. What are you trying to prove?

 

[aaronread]

Car Talk went national in 1987. I was 11 and attending junior high in my hometown of Mystic, CT. So no, I wasn't listening back then. ;D

Not sure I'm trying to prove anything, just making a point that it's a bit much to be pining for a show the way it was over a quarter-century ago. And you were definitely pining..."nothing spoils"?? :

 

[uncamark]

Car Talk went national in 1987. I was 11 and attending junior high in my hometown of Mystic, CT. So no, I wasn't listening back then. ;D

Not sure I'm trying to prove anything, just making a point that it's a bit much to be pining for a show the way it was over a quarter-century ago. And you were definitely pining..."nothing spoils"?? :

In case you've forgotten, Aaron, there is a portion of the public radio audience like Mr. cfegw who want their stations to sound exactly like they did in the 80s. They just can't accept the fact that times, listeners and the way they listen to radio change. Probably the fact that you said "brand" when referring to "Car Talk" drove him crazy--don't you know that public radio stations aren't supposed to be run like businesses?

 

[vchimpanzee]

The brothers mentioned a call about rancid butter two weeks ago and thousands of responses. Furthermore, they were having Martha Stewart answer questions. The puzzler, which had 911 days of accumulated sick leave, was given the day off and Martha joined the brothers for the entire third half of the show, helping to answer four questions (rather than the usual three) and even saying "Even though ... this is NPR."

 

[mwd711]

The brothers mentioned a call about rancid butter two weeks ago and thousands of responses. Furthermore, they were having Martha Stewart answer questions. The puzzler, which had 911 days of accumulated sick leave, was given the day off and Martha joined the brothers for the entire third half of the show, helping to answer four questions (rather than the usual three) and even saying "Even though ... this is NPR."

That was very old. That segment was from 2001! You can find it on the Car Talk cd, "Four Perfectly Good hours" I believe some of the magazines Martha mentioned aren't even in publication anymore.

 

[dyeingeye]

The brothers mentioned a call about rancid butter two weeks ago and thousands of responses. Furthermore, they were having Martha Stewart answer questions. The puzzler, which had 911 days of accumulated sick leave, was given the day off and Martha joined the brothers for the entire third half of the show, helping to answer four questions (rather than the usual three) and even saying "Even though ... this is NPR."

They are tying together parts from various shows.

 

[Gregg]

A few things that no one has mentioned yet...

First, I think Car Talk brings in a lot of contributions. Let's remember, NPR and its stations don't care about ratings as much as which shows bring in the most contributions. I think NPR could continue to run "Best of Car Talk" for many years to come. I honestly don't care that much about the specific car repairs as someone mentioned above, or that the cars being discussed keep getting older. I listen for the humor and conversation. If I remember that a loose fan belt might be why I hear an odd noise in the engine, so much the better.

Second, Car Talk and A Prarie Home Companion are probably the most famous NPR shows. Companion may have been turned into a movie with Merryl Streep. But The Sopranos had Car Talk on their kitchen radio in one episode. There was a weekly Car Talk cartoon, with odd things happening in the brothers' car repair shop. One of the networks took George Wendt after Cheers ended and built a sitcom around him and his "brother" doing a radio car repair show.

I notice Sirius/XM no longer runs Car Talk on their NPR 122 line up. That's too bad. Let's hope local NPR stations continue to run "Best of Car Talk" for years to come.

 

[TheBigA]

Second, Car Talk and A Prarie Home Companion are probably the most famous NPR shows.

And yet, as everyone knows, PHC in not actually an NPR show. It was pitched to them, and they turned it down.

 

[FredLeonard]

Second, Car Talk and A Prarie Home Companion are probably the most famous NPR shows.

And yet, as everyone knows, PHC in not actually an NPR show. It was pitched to them, and they turned it down.

They did distribute it at one point.

 

[TheBigA]

They did distribute it at one point.

I don't know about that. Just because it's on the public radio satellite system doesn't mean it's distributed by NPR. Car Talk isn't produced by NPR, but it's distributed by NPR. Thus the NPR cue at the end of the show. To the best of my knowledge, PHC never had that.

 

[aaronread]

APHC has gone through more than one iteration over the years, but I don't think it's ever been distributed by NPR. It was originally distributed by Public Radio International and later by American Public Media.

 

[aaronread]

I think NPR could continue to run "Best of Car Talk" for many years to come.

Maybe, maybe not. It's the $64,000,000 question. I have anecdotal evidence that Car Talk is already slowly getting weaker in the ratings for at least some NPR affiliate stations...but how quickly it slows down, and how many stations it slows down on, is a giant question mark.

I personally have felt that Car Talk could do the "new repeats" trick for about two years, maybe three, before ratings start to drop. That's just a gut instinct, though.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I think NPR could continue to run "Best of Car Talk" for many years to come.

Maybe, maybe not. It's the $64,000,000 question. I have anecdotal evidence that Car Talk is already slowly getting weaker in the ratings for at least some NPR affiliate stations...but how quickly it slows down, and how many stations it slows down on, is a giant question mark.

I personally have felt that Car Talk could do the "new repeats" trick for about two years, maybe three, before ratings start to drop. That's just a gut instinct, though.

WFAE Charlotte, NC runs the show both Saturday and Sunday. WUNC Chapel Hill, NC has an extra hour of "Weekend Edition" on Saturday. I think they air the show on Sunday but I'm not sure.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The brothers mentioned a call about rancid butter two weeks ago and thousands of responses. Furthermore, they were having Martha Stewart answer questions. The puzzler, which had 911 days of accumulated sick leave, was given the day off and Martha joined the brothers for the entire third half of the show, helping to answer four questions (rather than the usual three) and even saying "Even though ... this is NPR."

They are tying together parts from various shows.

Well, they're doing a good job because everything sounds like it was done recently, since there really was a call about rancid butter two weeks ago.

The puzzler was back, and there were several references to March 20 being the first day of Spring. That doesn't happen every year.

 

[Gregg]

OK, we know that the Sirius/XM NPR channel dropped Car Talk. They never explained why. But I don't know of any NPR station that has dropped Car Talk from its line up.

Nearly every NPR station runs it at 10am Saturdays. Even stations that are mostly music give it a weekend run. Many give it a second run someplace else in the weekend.

Has anyone heard of a station that dropped Car Talk? Or dropped its second weekly airing?

 

[mwd711]

WDET has dropped Car Talk over the years. They first dumped it in 2004 when they went virtually all music with Caryn Mathes as station manager. And when they did air it, pre-2004, it was buried in a 7 AM timeslot on Saturdays with This American Life preceding it. They brought it back a year later (airing it on Sat and Sun) dumping most of the music in the process once Mathes departed for WAMU. In 2010, they dumped it again and it is still off the schedule. Detroit is kind of unique though since WUOM can be heard in most of the metro area and has always been the more traditional NPR station in the market.

Additionally, I know WBEZ pulled it off Saturdays shortly after their retirement was made official. It still airs Sunday evenings.