I’ll happily listen to rebroadcasts, but there has to be a disclaimer, and this website has to indicate the fact of the show’s ending. Even the FAQS page here gives no indication that the show stopped. This is bad. I wonder how many people are duped. As I wrote elsewhere, I had heard there might be retirement, but didn’t know it was final. If Praire Home Companion can identify rebroadcasts, why not “Car Talk?” It’s just dishonest. Then again, NPR is hardly “sponsorless” these days, is it. Damn.
At least the commercials are new.
I don’t see the problem. It’s been common knowledge for years that the show was ending and has now ended. Once you know where a pothole is…it’s your fault if you drive through it again.
Strictly speaking what you are hearing are not rebroadcasts. The show is now an edited version of older broadcasts, with some new material added. It works because Car Talk for the most part is not topical. Diagnosing a fuel injector problem on a 2001 Corolla is exactly the same in 2014 as it was in 2004.
Still not happy about the situation? hmmmm … Well, I suppose you could refuse to pay the “Car Talk” bill next month.
I figure it’s fairly obvious when all the calls are about 1980s and early 1990s cars. Nobody is going to think all of the callers are driving such old low mileage vehicles; one or two maybe, but when all of the calls are about cars that are that old, it’s pretty darn obvious.
I don’t see the problem at all. I still listen to it when I can. I was never a faithful listener. I usually had other things to do during their normal broadcast in our area. But I’d listen to when I could and continue to listen to it when I have the time. Since I never listened that much…the shows aren’t reruns to me. I still find it entertaining and sometimes informative.
It would be great if the producers could find 2 guys who work well together in this kind of format. Maybe even 3 guys (and they don’t need to be guys!!) Top Gear comes to mind as the same kind of interaction that is soooooo very entertaining.
@CapriRacer, I bet they did a focus group and discovered that they would lose more listeners that way. If it’s not that, it could be an ego thing.
I agree w/most of the other comments here, the current edited re-broadcasts of Car Talk work for me. I enjoy to listen to them each week (usually as a podcast) and only once in a while do I recognize something I’ve heard before.
If Car Talk wanted to do a “live” show once in a while that might be interesting, maybe one time a year? And they needed someone for Ray to team up with for that? hmmm … well, I guess they need to find somebody who’s has experience and is comfortable with a 4 million plus audience, has comedy experience, is a car nut, is familiar with the Boston area, and is recently out of a job … I wonder who could meet that description? … lol …
It wouldn’t be the same show without the brothers, some of those calls i remember and others not as much but still entertaining. On XM radio at least in the past you could listen to Car Talk most of the day during the week.
“It wouldn’t be the same show without the brothers…”
Tru dat.
But the show could be quite similar and entertaining without the brothers. I mean do we really, really have to have the list of advisors at the end of the show? Couldn’t Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe find other clients? And what about third halfs? I’m puzzled.
The jokes don’t have to continue. You could get all new recycled jokes!!
Do people still try to call in?
Do they still announce the phone number on the show? I think they do. I wonder if callers hear a message that they’re barking up the wrong tree.
The number is announced on the show, but when you call there is a recording informing people the show is from archival material, and directing them to the forum or the website.
If anyone wants to hear a local (Cincinnati,OH) car call-in show hosted by a mechanic, try:
and click on “Listen Live” near the top of the page. The show is on 4 to 7 p.m. most Saturdays. It has an 800 number, but almost all calls are local.
I must admit I was a bit surprised to hear references to Carl Kasell retiring in a previous show, thinking, “hold on, they retired…well, Ray’s been retired for years, but the show is done?!”
So, that must’ve been one of the “new bits” they dragged Ray and Tom back to the microphones to record.
Pity it wasn’t a comeback – I miss the new shows, and Ray laughing his butt off. Always made me smile.
It certainly would be easy to edit pieces of old shows together because every segment begins with the voice of the new caller and ends with the phone number and followed by “hello, you’re on Car Talk.”
Theres a car talk radio show? seriously I didnt know that I found this site by doing a google search while looking for advice for repairs I was doing.
There`s a car talk radio show?
Yes there is. Although the brothers retired a couple years ago…the show is still being aired, but they are mostly re-runs. And even though they are re-runs…it is still one of NPR’s top 5 radio shows.
Click on “OUR SHOW” at top left to hear it.