Abbie Sedgeman
Staff Writer
NPR’s Carl Kasell announced his retirement on Tuesday, after 50 years of radio broadcasting.
Kasell has been the Official Judge and Scorekeeper of NPR’s popular show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! since the game’s beginning in 1998, and has gathered quite a following with 3.8 million listeners, according to NPR. But this will not be the end of his role. Kasell will be the Scorekeeper Emeritus, and will continue to record his infamous voicemail messages for the winners.
Peter Sagal, who worked alongside Kasell on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, tweeted out on Tuesday afternoon: “It’s a real sad day for all of us at ‘Wait Wait’ and for me. But Carl deserves a chance to lay down the mic and enjoy himself.”
Sagal also assured everyone that Kasell will get the farewell party he deserves.
“We want him to be celebrated every place we go for the next few months. Carl is the popular person on our show. He is the heart and star of it …. He is probably the single most beloved person on NPR. He was everybody’s favorite grandfather, uncle, or, going back some, brother by another name.”
Prior to the game show, Kasell was the Newscaster for NPR’s Morning Edition, for thirty years between 1979 and 2009. Kasell had the opportunity to report some of the world’s biggest news within these three decades, from the fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 to 9/11.
Kasell has enjoyed all thirty years at NPR, but some parts were more fun than others.”My favorite time at NPR has been Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! It was loads of fun and gave me a chance to meet and talk in person to the audiences that I felt I had known for so many years on the air. I can honestly say I am the luckiest man around to be able to have worked at a job I love for so many years. It’s truly been a joy for me.”
We here at PopWrapped wish Carl Kasell a happy retirement.
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