The Incredible Story Behind The Radio Show “Car Talk”
Car Talk is a Peabody Award-winning radio show that was broadcast weekly on NPR stations across America. As you can probably tell by the name, the subject matter usually flowed between automobiles and automotive repair which sounds like it could be dry content, but it was anything but that.
It was hosted by Tom and Ray Magliozzi who were known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers". The show was extremely popular because of the chemistry and humor that the two legendary radio personalities were able to bring week in and week out.
They Were Master Mechanics
Ray was more of a car repair expert and the brothers were soon asked to host their own radio show on WBUR which they continued to do every week.
By 1986, NPR decided to distribute their show nationally, and they were off to the races. By 1992, Car Talk ended up winning a Peabody Award because they "provide useful information about preserving and protecting our cars. The real core of this program is what it tells us about human mechanics, the insight and laughter provided by the brothers."
They Went Out On Top
They continued to be a huge hit for decades after. By 2007, the program, which had only been available digitally as a paid subscription became a free podcast distributed by NPR.
In 2012, it had 3.3 million listeners each week on about 660 stations which ended up being the last year that the brothers decided to continue the show. Ever since then, the show has been taking the best material from 25 years of broadcasting and repurposing it.
They Were Smart Cookies
The show was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2014, and it was all thanks to the brothers. Ray and Tommy were longtime auto mechanics. Ray had a bachelor of science degree in humanities from MIT, while Tom had a bachelor of science degree in economics from MIT.
The two of them were known for their crazy rants on all things automotive. There was nothing that was off limits to them.
Oh, The Evils
They would go back and forth on the evils of people talking on cell phones while driving, the horror that was the internal combustion engine, and women named Donna who all drive Camaros.
They both had a very relaxed sense of humor that was not only contagious with each other but the listeners as well. They gave their listeners an insider eye into the auto industry that no one else was offering in America.
They Walked The Walk
What made them so popular was their unwavering commitment to environmentalism and defensive driving. They would consistently bash anyone in the auto industry who they thought was being irresponsible with their actions or rhetoric to the environment or unsafe driving practices.
The Magliozzis operated a do-it-yourself garage together in the 1970s which ended up transitioning into more of a conventional repair shop in the 1980s. This gave them the "walked the walk" and didn't just "talk the talk" credibility on the radio.
Never Do "Actual Work"
After Car Talk started taking off, Ray was the only brother who decided to continue helping out the family business. Tom would often go on the radio and boast about how he never has to go and do "actual work" anymore, he can just sit in a studio and complain about people doing actual work.
The offices were located near their shop in Boston, and also near an imaginary law firm to which they constantly referred to on-air.
There Were Many Spin-Offs
While that might be hard to believe, you should know that there were many adaptations of Car Talk due to its success.
It was the inspiration for the short-lived The George Wendt Show, which aired on CBS in the 1994-1995 season. In 2007, PBS announced that it had green-lit an animated adaptation of Car Talk to air on prime-time in 2008. The show, titled Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns was going to be a fictional spin-off of the brothers.
They Made Their Way To Theatre
It was going to be based on "Click and Clack" who were brothers that hung out in a garage called Car Talk Plaza. They ended up milking ten episodes out before having to cancel it.
Then, Car Talk: The Musical!!! was written and directed by Wesley Savick and composed by Michael Wartofsky. The adaptation was presented by Suffolk University and opened in March 2011 at the Modern Theatre in Boston. The play wasn't officially endorsed by the Magliozzis, but they participated in the production lending their voice to certain characters.
Pixar Ended Up Picking Up Some Of Their Lines
At the end of the show, Ray warned the audience, "don't drive like my brother!" to which Tom would reply, "And don't drive like MY brother!" The original tag line was "don't drive like a knucklehead!"
These tag lines were so popular that Pixar ended up picking up similar ones that could be heard in the movie Cars, in which Tom and Ray voiced anthropomorphized vehicles with personalities similar to their own on-air personae. That's pretty sweet.
They Had Some BIG Name Fans
The brothers also had an official Animal-Vehicle Biologist and Wildlife Guru named Kieran Lindsey. She answered questions like "how do I remove a snake from my car?" and offered advice on how living in cities and suburbs could reconnect with wildlife.
They also featured celebrities as "callers" which appeared quite often. People like Ashley Judd, Morely Safer, Martha Stewart, and Jay Leno. Leno was a massive fan of the show and was honored to be featured on it.
They Even Went On The Tonight Show
In 1988, they appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Leno was the guest host. That's when they met and found out that Jay was, in fact, a big grease monkey too.
By 1989 the two brothers launched a twice a week newspaper column called Click and Clack Talk Cars. They were seen in more than 200 newspapers across the world, including the Riyadh Times in Saudi Arabia which always confused Tom and Ray.
An Out Of Orbit Request
They've had some wild moments on air that made their show so unpredictable and fascinating. The brothers once received a call asking advice on winterizing an electric car. When they asked what kind of car, the caller said it was a "kit car", yes, a $400 million "kit car". It ended up being a joke call from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory concerning the preparation of the Mars rover for the oncoming Maritan winter. Pretty crazy stuff.
The days of people actually fixing their own cars are over so it's up in the air if it was a "right time, right place" kind of thing. If you asked their fan base, I'm sure they would tell you that the structure of the show, mixed with the personality and humor of the brothers and the sprinkle of the automotive talk was what kept their viewership.
Tom passed away in 2014, but Ray still wanders around garage thinking of the best puzzler quizzes he can think of.
