'Car Talk' Guys Are Retiring, But Their Best Stuff Will Be Rebroadcast

June 8, 2012
by Mark Memmott

Click and Clack are going into retirement.

This just in from NPR's communications department:

June 8, 2012; Our Fair City – Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, the comedian mechanics who host NPR's Car Talk, will tell their listeners this afternoon that as of this fall, they'll no longer record new programs. But their weekly call-in series will continue to be distributed by NPR drawing on material from their 25 years of show archives.

"My brother has always been 'work-averse,' " says Ray, 63. "Now, apparently, even the one hour a week is killing him!"

"It's brutal!" adds Tom, 74.

The brothers have been taping Car Talk at WBUR in Boston for 35 years, and the show has been a staple on NPR Member stations for the last 25 years. With older brother Tom turning 75 this year, the guys decided it was time to "stop and smell the cappuccino."

NPR will continue to distribute the weekly show ... to stations across the country.

Beginning in October, the Car Talk production team will actively produce new shows built from the best of its 25 years of material – more than 1,200 shows – with some updates from the brothers. The guys will also still write their twice weekly Dear Tom and Ray column, and put their feet in their mouths in surprising new ways on the web and Facebook. ...

The brothers will mark their 25th anniversary on NPR this fall, and then put the series in the hands of their producers, who will continue to produce the show.

Here image

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