Rest in Peace, Carl Kasell. We will miss you.
Carl Kasell, who anchored NPR newscasts for more than 30 years and was a longtime fan favorite on its quiz show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, died Tuesday of Alzheimer’s complications in Potomac, MD. He was 84.
Kasell was a Goldsboro NC native who loved the radio as a young child, worked on the NPR station he co-founded with fellow student Charles Kuralt at UNC-CH, and returned to radio after his required stint in the army.
Kasell was the voice of NPR news for 30 years, beginning in 1975 part time before becoming the network's full-time morning newscaster in 1977, followed by the Peabody Award-winning "Morning Edition" program in 1979, before he joined "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" as judge and official scorekeeper of the news quiz show. He had a 50-year career in broadcasting.
Kasell retired from NPR's popular "Wait Wait ..." in 2014.
For three decades, Kasell wrote and read seven nine-minute newscasts each morning, his dulcet drawl becoming an NPR signature and an everyday ritual for millions of listeners. www.newsobserver.com/...
When you're not there to answer your phone, treat your friends, bill collectors and telemarketers to the dulcet tones of radio personality and the Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Official Judge and Scorekeeper, Carl Kasell! There's only one way, aside from being related to Carl, to have his voice on your answering machine, though. You have to submit to the rigorous weekly gauntlet that is the Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! News Quiz, and be on the show! www.npr.org/…
Some messages that Carl has put on answering machines of lucky winners can be found here: www.npr.org/…
Host Peter Sagal says no one could have guessed that Kasell would be so funny. "The greatest thing about Carl was anything we came up with, he was game," Sagal says. "When we were in Las Vegas, we had him come onstage in a showgirl's headdress. No matter what we asked him to do — silly voices, or weird stunts; we had him jump out of a cake once to make his entrance onstage — he did it [with] such joy and such dignity."
At the beginning, Wait Wait didn't have a budget for actual prizes, so the "prize" for listeners was to have Kasell record the outgoing message on their answering machines. He ended up recording more than 2,000 messages. www.npr.org/...
Kasell had a long full accomplished life. He earned both our trust, and later, our laughter. Well done, Carl.
'I've Enjoyed Every Minute Of It': Carl Kasell On His 60 Years In Radio
"I have enjoyed every minute of it," Kasell says. "I never consider what I do as work. It has been fun, it's been rewarding and very fulfilling. ... I love my work. It's been good to me." (from May 16, 2014)
Wow. That’s the way to go, Carl.