Goodbye Car Talk, Hello Wait Wait Don't Tell Me - October 23, 2009
See the new weekly program schedule
Read all about the new schedule - Quarternotes newsletter
Fueled by a need to economize and direct resources to local initiatives, Montana Public Radio is dropping Car Talk from its schedule. At $21,500 per year for a one-hour show each week, Car Talk is eight times the average cost of other national shows the station buys. By comparison, the evening news program All Things Considered provides 12 hours of news a week and costs only $35,000 per year. “It’s really a matter of being good stewards of the money listeners give us to run the station,” says Program Director, Michael Marsolek. He adds, “Car Talk is so expensive, I can’t justify keeping it in the budget.” Fans can still get their weekly fix by listening on-demand at the show’s website cartalk.com, and there is also a weekly podcast available.
Humor and wit still have a home on Montana Public Radio with the addition of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, which will air Sundays at 11:30 a.m. Wait Wait is an NPR news quiz show. The host is award-winning playwright Peter Sagal, and the offical judge and scorekeeper is NPR’s Carl Kassell. Sagal quizzes panelists and listeners to see just how closely they paid attention to the week’s news. A favorite segment features Carl Kasell reciting quotes from the week’s newsmakers as contestants try to guess whom he is impersonating. The producer says, “This is the only show where you’ll get to hear NPR’s most senior newscaster impersonate celebrities.”
Wait Wait is not the only new show added to Montana Public Radio’s schedule. In all the station added five new programs, deleted five others and moved some programs to new broadcast times.
Shows added are:
1. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me – humorous news quiz - Sundays 11:30 a.m. (replaces Car Talk)
2. Talk of the Nation – Science Friday – science news and discussion - Fridays 1:00 p.m.
3. Marketplace Morning Report – live financial news - Weekdays, 5:51 and 7:51 a.m.
4. Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival - Sunday 8:00 a.m. (replaces Saint Paul Sunday)
5. Echoes - a modern soundscape of music from many traditions - Sunday 11:00 p.m.
Deleted shows include: Bookworm; Car Talk; Listeners Bookstall; Saint Paul Sunday; and Star Date.
See the new weekly program schedule
Read all about it the new schedule - Quarternotes newsletter
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