NPR’s Carl Kasell Talks To Brian Lehrer About His Retirement

As most NPR devotees most likely already know, long-time NPR news anchor and “quizmaster” on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, Carl Kasell is retiring. Fear not too much, however! Kasell is only stepping away from the exceedingly early morning (we’re not kidding, more on that later) news chair, but will remain on Wait Wait (and presumably your answering machines!). This morning Kasell talked to WNYC’s Brian Lehrer about his career (an easy measure of how much of an NPR junkie you are is how excited you just got over the pairing of these two). The audio is embedded below (because NPR makes my day just that easy!) but a few highlights in case you’re unable to listen.

Kasell is not retiring per se. He tells Lehrer he will still working full-time, and in addition to his Wait Wait responsibilities will be serving as a sort of ambassador for NPR, which is something that will involve a lot of traveling. May we take this moment to suggest Mr. Kasell get on Twitter. So what will the biggest change for Kasell be? Well for one he will no longer have to get up at 1am in the morning to prepare for a 5am newscast. Did we mention Kasell is 75. Um, yes. Not many people can follow that act, so to speak. Interview below, and if you want to let Kasell know how you feel about him WNYC is looking for your five-word-or-fewer description of his famous voice here.

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