Community Corner

NPR's "Car Talk" Puts on the Brakes

After 35 years, the chatty pair of mechanic brothers from Boston are calling it quits. But KUSP will still air re-runs.

Sad news out of Boston today: Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as the Saturday morning radio mechanics on NPR's "Car Talk," are calling it quits, the Associated Press reports.

After 35 years of giving at once useful and hilarious advice on car maintenance to callers with every manner of malfunction, no new episodes will be produced. Older brother Tom is 74 years old, while Ray is 63.

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

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"It's brutal!" Tom added.

The show was first broadcast on WBUR in Boston in 1977. It's now the most popular program on NPR and is heard coast-to-coast.

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NPR on the Santa Cruz can be heard on 88.9 KUSP. Going forward, KUSP will run shows comprised of the duo's greatest hits, so to speak — best calls, funniest moments, etc. 

Are you sad to see "Car Talk" go? Were you a listener? Did you ever call in? Tell us in the comments!


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