My understanding is the Best of Car Talk podcasts will continue to be posted each week. It’s possible however the location to which they are posted may change.
I still have two “new” episodes to listen to. Last week the station did a fundraiser and the other station where I used to listen to the show has already dropped it. And in 2013 I fell and ended up in the hospital and didn’t think to ask anyone for a radio. I don’t think I even thought to listen to the show on Sunday (it’s so popular they air it both on Saturday and Sunday) even if I didn’t have a radio.
Today’s was not the last show. Ray said “We’ll be back next week. Bye bye.” But during the fundraiser they kept saying it would run through October.
It appears new “Best of Car Talk” shows will continue to be broadcast, at least on some NPR stations. For those of us not able to hear the broadcast version anymore, we’ll have the new podcasts to listen to instead. Seems like a good compromise.
Given the replacement programming the NPR stations are using, I don’t see those programs working that well. Hopefully NPR will come up with another weekend morning show that’s as compelling, interesting, and funny as Car Talk.
Sept 26, 2017
Best of Car Talk’ keeps running as stations rethink weekends
Though NPR initially said production would end [on Sept 30, 2017], Car Talk EP Doug Berman now says it will continue as is. “We just didn’t feel right about doing less than our best,” Berman said. “So we’re going to continue creating Best Of shows from the archives that are as fresh and fun-sounding as we can make them.”
It seems here in the San Francisco Bay area, the local NPR station is now broadcasting The New Yorker Radio Hour instead of The Best of Car Talk. I didn’t have a chance to listen, but it doesn’t sound like they are trying to replace Car Talk with similar programming. They’re going a different direction apparently. I guess the ratings will tell them if that’s correct thing to do or not. No worries, I’ll continue to listen to Car Talk’s weekly podcasts.
Good news, the puzzler is back. The summer hiatus is over, and the puzzler has started up again beginning with the two most recent Car Talk podcasts.
This was the last week on WFAE, and there was a new puzzler. I’m not clear on whether the show has ended on radio, but if it has, that was a strange choice to make. People who don’t know about the podcasts will wonder when they’ll ever hear the puzzler answer.
I forgot to come back in time to hear if Ray said, “We’ll be back next week,. Bye bye.” Several weeks ago he said, “We’ll be back next week, maybe.” That would have been appropriate this week.
I heard Ray say “we’ll be back next week” too, on the final of their “retirement” broadcasts, and the last Car Talk aired on my NPR station here. I expect what Ray meant the show will be back next week for those who listen in via the podcasts, and on those NPR stations that continue to air the show. I expect if enough listeners complain, your NPR station would start airing it again.