A few weeks ago, you had on a caller from my hometown of Orlando, Florida. Tommy then stated that, unlike Springfield, there is only one town in the United States that is named Orlando. AU CON-TRAIRE, TRANSMISSION TUCKUS!!! I have found out that there are no fewer than four communities in the US of A called ‘Orlando’. The largest is of course, ‘The City Beautiful’ Orlando, Florida; home of Disney World, orange juice and really nasty fire ants. Two other small communities of the same name reside in West Virginia and Kentucky. However, you may be tempted to discount these two, as they are both unincorporated. BUT, you cannot ignore one tiny town right smack in the middle of our country, a town named Orlando, Oklahoma, population of just over 200 persons. Since you claim that your listening audience is so small, can you really afford to alienate even one small community by denying that they even exist?
Sincerely,
Kenneth Darden
Alexandria, Louisiana (which has no Orlandos–yet.)
Actually, Orlando isn’t so beautiful and is rather run down. Disney isn’t in Orlando but outside of it. Trying to find a hardware store there is a chore too. Not like Minnesota where there is a hardware store for every 20,000 people. People just don’t buy hardware in Orlando.
Bing, Orlando is beautiful, depending on what part you are in. Take a walk around Lake Eola and then tell me it is not. ‘The City Beautiful’ is the city’s motto, much as New York City’s is ‘The Big Apple’, even though they don’t grow many apples there. Whereas Disney is actually part of Kissimmee, it is also considered part of the greater metro Orlando area. And I found plenty of hardware stores all over Orlando. I used to work in one there–my grandfather’s.
And Mountainbike, it the boys have retired, why are their shows still making references to current events?
"...it the boys have retired, why are their shows still making references to current events?"
@Cydonia:
It’s because they have a couple of really smart engineers who can piece together old material with newly recorded bits such as what you mentioned, plus things like credits, and the show number. I’ve written here before noting that exact anomaly, suggesting that Ray, and maybe Tom as well, must stop in at the studio once in a while to record these few items to make the show sound current. But it’s not. Listen carefully to the show: all the calls are about cars which are at minimum 10 years old, and usually more. Long time listeners often recall a particular call, and sometimes those calls are discussed here.
Not only that, but NPR officially announced the retirement sometime last summer. Where? Among other places, on their hourly news reports, broadcast nationally. The last newly recorded Car Talk show was in October 2012. Sorry man, but it’s true.
The thing that surprises me most is that their voices do not sound any different between the old calls and those new items such as you mentioned. Usually, peoples’ voices change over time. Somehow, that doesn’t seem apparent for C&C. When I’ve heard old recorded bits from some of the familiar news staff on NPR, they sound distinctly different in pitch and cadence, but not Tom and Ray. I can’t figure that one out. Must be those smart engineers…
We have spent some time in the largest Orlando. One nice day I sat in the grass and eventually noticed that something was biting me on my hands and wrists. I got up and the problem was gone. I love Orlando FL and nearby Kissimmee. The other Orlandos might be exciting too but I have not seen them.
Pointless trivia I suppose, but Orlando, OK is not too far from me and I’ve been through there a number of times. The stripes on the highway are the main attraction.
I’ve sometimes wondered how many people take the Orlando exits on the Interstate, travel down 3 miles of narrow 2 lane, and become disgruntled when they find there’s nothing there but a few houses and some vacant buildings.