Car Talk
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| Genre | Automotive repair/advice, Humor |
|---|---|
| Running time | approx. 50 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | WBUR-FM |
| Syndicates | National Public Radio |
| Hosted by |
Tom Magliozzi Ray Magliozzi |
| Executive producer(s) | Doug Berman |
| Recording studio | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Original release | 1977 (WBUR-FM); 1987 (nationally) – 2012 (original episodes) |
| Audio format | Stereophonic |
| Opening theme | "Dawggy Mountain Breakdown", David Grisman, composer |
| Other themes | B. J. Leiderman (composer) |
| Website | cartalk |
Car Talk is a Peabody Award-winning radio talk show broadcast weekly on NPR stations and elsewhere. Its subjects were automobiles and automotive repair, discussed often in a humorous way. It was hosted by brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi, known also as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers". The show was produced from 1977 to October 2012, when the Magliozzi brothers retired. Edited reruns (which are introduced as The Best of Car Talk) continue to be available for weekly airing on NPR affiliates, although in July 2016 the network announced its intention to end the broadcasts after September 30, 2017.
Car Talk was presented in the form of a call-in radio show: listeners called in with questions related to motor vehicle maintenance and repair. Most of the advice sought was diagnostic, with callers describing symptoms and demonstrating sounds of an ailing vehicle while the Magliozzis made an attempt to identify the malfunction over the telephone and give advice on how to fix it. While the hosts peppered their call-in sessions with jokes directed at both the caller and at themselves, the Magliozzis were usually able to arrive at a diagnosis. However, when they were stumped, they attempted anyway with an answer they claimed was "unencumbered by the thought process", the official motto of the show.
Edited reruns are carried on XM Satellite Radio via both the Public Radio and NPR Now channels.
The Car Talk theme music was "Dawggy Mountain Breakdown" by bluegrass artist David Grisman.
Throughout the program, listeners were encouraged to dial the toll-free telephone number, 1-888-CAR-TALK (1-888-227-8255), which connected to a 24-hour answering service. Although the approximately 2,000 queries received each week were screened by the Car Talk staff, the questions were unknown to the Magliozzis in advance as "that would entail researching the right answer, which is what? ... Work." Producers selected and contacted the callers several days ahead of the show's Wednesday taping to arrange the segment. The caller spoke briefly to a producer before being connected live with the hosts and was given little coaching other than being told to be prepared to talk, not to use any written preparation and to "have fun". The show deliberately taped more callers than it had time to air each week in order to be able to choose the best ones for broadcast. Those segments that did make it to air were generally edited for time. For the last four years of the show, new shows included previously broadcast segments as much as 10 years old. The re-used segments, including re-used puzzlers, were not acknowledged as old material and sometimes new caller material was mixed in alongside the recycled calls.
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