On Monday, October 15, NPR Member Station WBUR celebrated 35 years of Car Talk at their Annual Gala in Boston. Tom and Ray Magliozzi (known to some as Click and Clack) were present to be toasted and roasted by NPR colleagues Robert Siegel, Nina Totenberg and Scott Simon among others.
While there were many laughs as Scott talked about how the brothers tried to teach him to drive and Nina playfully dug at Tom with an original court report imagining what would happen if he became a Supreme Court Justice, there were also sincere and touching tributes for the show and the brothers who made Car Talk a phenomenon of public radio.
"For all the shows I've heard in my life, when people write or call in to talk about sports or opera, on those shows the callers are just a device to talk about sports or opera. These guys, the cars are just a device to hear from the people talking. The program has been about life all this time, and I love the life they describe," Robert said.
The brothers may no longer be in the studio recording new material as regularly as once before, but for many listeners this goodbye is more of a "hear you later." Fans of the show can still spend Saturdays with Click and Clack on NPR Member Stations across the country.
Melissa Hmelnicky is Manager of Talent Relations at NPR.
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