CAR TALK

'''Car Talk''' is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are automobiles and repair, and it often takes humorous turns. The hosts of Car Talk are Tom and Ray Magliozzi, also known as ''Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers''.

Contents

The Show

Call-in procedure

Features

Cliches and humor

Hosts

Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe

Animated Television Show

Website "Mechanics Files"

References

External links

The Show

As a call-in radio show, listeners call with questions related to motor vehicles maintenance and repair. Most of the advice sought is diagnostic with callers describing symptoms and demonstrating sounds of an ailing vehicle, while the Magliozzis make an attempt at identifying the malfunction. While the hosts pepper their call-in sessions with jokes directed at both the caller and at themselves, the depth and breadth of their knowledge of automobiles is extensive and they are usually able to arrive at a diagnosis and give helpful advice. Also, if a caller does not have a common name, they will inquire about the spelling, pronunciation, and/or origin of their name. The Magliozzis previously took a break at approximately the half-hour mark of the show. More recently, two breaks divide the show into approximately 20-minute segments referred to as the "three halves" of the show.
''Car Talk'' was first broadcast on WBUR in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977. It was picked up nationally by NPR ten years later. For most of its national run, ''Car Talk'' has been the highest-rated and most financially successful program on public radio in the US. NPR reports that it is heard on more than 370 stations by an audience of more than two million weekly listeners.
In May 2007, the program, which had only previously been available digitally as a paid subscription from Audible.com, became a free podcast distributed by NPR after a two month test period where only a "call of the week" was available via podcast. The full show quickly became the top-subscribed program within the iTunes Store's podcast directory upon its release.
The ''Car Talk'' theme song is "Dawggy Mountain Breakdown" by bluegrass artist David Grisman.

Call-in procedure

Throughout the program, listeners are encouraged to dial the toll-free number, 1-888-CAR-TALK (1-888-227-8255), giving the impression that real-time calls are being taken. However, the 800 number actually connects to a 24-hour answering service. Although the approximately 2,000 queries received each week are pre-screened by the ''Car Talk'' staff, the questions are unknown to the Magliozzis in advance as: "that would entail researching the right answer, which is what? ...Work." Car Talk Official FAQs Producers select and contact the callers a few days ahead of the show's Wednesday taping to arrange the segment. The caller speaks briefly to a producer before being connected "live" with the hosts, and is given little coaching other than being told to be prepared to talk and to "have fun." The show deliberately tapes more callers than they'll have time to air each week in order to be able to choose the best ones for broadcast. Those segments that do make it to air are sometimes edited for time.

Features

The show opens with a comedy monologue, followed by eight call-in sessions. They run a contest called the "Puzzler", in which a general knowledge word puzzle is presented. The answer to the previous week's "Puzzler" is given during the "second half" of the show, and a new puzzler is given during the "third half". The hosts give instructions to listeners to write answers addressed to "Puzzler Tower" on some non-existent or expensive object, such as a 26-dollar bill or an advanced SLR digital camera. This gag initially started as having the answers "on the back of a twenty dollar bill." In reality, they have received answers on objects as unlikely as a dead fish.
A recurring feature is "Stump the Chumps", in which they revisit a caller from a previous show to determine the effect, if any, of their advice. A similar feature began in May 2001, "Where Are They Now, Tommy?" Like "Stump the Chumps", a previous caller was revisited with the difference being, as described by Tom Magliozzi, "an excuse to talk to some of the previous wack jobs we've had on the show."
Celebrities have been callers as well. Examples include Geena Davis, Morley Safer, Ashley Judd, Gordon Elliott, and astronaut John Grunsfeld from the Space Shuttle. There have been numerous appearances from NPR personalities, including Bob Edwards, Susan Stamberg, Scott Simon, Ray Suarez, Will Shortz, Sylvia Poggioli, and commentator/author Daniel Pinkwater. On one occasion, the show featured Martha Stewart as an in-studio guest, whom the Magliozzis twice during the segment referred to as "Margaret".

Cliches and humor

The humor of ''Car Talk'' also extends into the end credits. The show is produced under the Magliozzi corporate banner making use of a common cliché from the legal field, ''Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe''. A caricatured crediting of several ''Car Talk'' production team members including producer, Doug "The Subway Fugitive", "Not a Slave to Fashion", "Bongo Boy", "Frogman" Berman which leads into series of fictional perennial "staffers" such as: "Paul Murky of Murky Research", assisted by statistician "Marge Innovera," their Russian chauffeur Picov Andropov, and their Japanese hygiene assistant, Otake Ashawa; sponsors, "The Horseshoe Road Inn", where fictional guests are accommodated; and the official optometrist, "C.F. Eye Care".^[2]
The end of nearly every show, Ray warns the audience "don't drive like my brother" to which Tom replies "and don't drive like ''my'' brother". There have been variations—such as "Don't drive like my sister"..."and don't drive like ''my'' sister." Click and Clack used this signature phrase in a cameo for the Pixar film ''Cars'', in which Tom and Ray voiced anthropomorphized vehicles with personalities similar to their own on-air personae.^[3]

Hosts

''Car Talk'' hosts, brothers Ray and Tom Magliozzi are long-time car mechanics. Ray Magliozzi has a degree in general science from MIT, while Tom has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from MIT, an MBA, and a DBA from the Boston University Graduate School of Management.
The duo, usually led by Ray, are known for rants on the evils of the internal combustion engine, people who talk on cell phones while driving, Peugeots, women named Donna who always seem to drive Camaros, the clever use of the English language, and practically anything else, including themselves. They have a laid-back humorous approach to cars, car repair, cup holders, pets, lawyers, car repair mechanics, SUVs, and most everything else. They often cast a critical, jaundiced insider's eye toward the auto industry. Tom and Ray are committed to the values of defensive driving and environmentalism. In the late 1990s they pioneered an effort to rid the world of French pronunciations of words, intentionally pronouncing many words phonetically such as "Chev-ro-let" for Chevrolet.
The Magliozzis operate the "Good News Garage" in Cambridge, Massachusetts just a few blocks north of the MIT campus. Their offices are located nearby at the corner of JFK St. and Brattle St. in Harvard Square, marked as "Dewey, Cheetham and Howe", the imaginary law firm they reference on-air.
The two were commencement speakers at MIT in 1999.
In 2006, the Magliozzis voiced Rusty and Dusty Rust-Eze (previous names were Clink and Clunk), a 1963 Dodge Dart V1.0 and a 1963 Dodge A100 van respectively, in the film ''Cars''. Tommy notoriously once owned a green Dodge Dart, known as the "Dartre".^[4]

Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe

'Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe' is another business name for "Tappet Brothers Associates," the corporation established to manage the business end of the ''Car Talk'' syndicated radio show. Initially a joke, the company soon took on reality as ''Car Talk'' expanded from a single station, WBUR in Boston, to an NPR-syndicated national show.
The DC&H corporate offices are located on a third-floor office, directly above the corner of Brattle and JFK Streets, in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The office is clearly visible from the square and, like the show, is a perennial source of amusement to the denizens of Cambridge.

Animated Television Show

On July 11, 2007, PBS announced that it had greenlit an animated adaption of ''Car Talk'', to air on prime-time in the summer of 2008.^[5]. The show will be based on the adventures of the fictional "Click and Clack" brothers' garage at "Car Park Plaza".

Website "Mechanics Files"

The Car Talk website provides listings of mechanics searchable by geographical area. The mechanics are accompanied by reviews by supposed customers. However, none of the listings shows negative reviews received, and every single mechanic is listed as having almost perfect "scores." Website users have complained that the website never posts their negative reviews, and no amount of negative scores are sufficient to reduce mechanics' scores.

References

1. BJ Leiderman, NPR Biography
2. Car Talk Credits
3. . Retrieved on 25 June 2007
4. 1963 Dodge Dart test notes
5. PBS Greenlights 'Car Talk' Television Series

External links

★ ''Car Talk'' Official website

★ ''Car Talk'' Podcasting Page

★ ''Car Talk'' History

★ Google Maps' location of the Good News Garage

★ Transcript of the Magliozzis' commencement address at MIT, 1999