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NPR’s Carl Kasell will be speaking at Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton on Saturday morning, Jan. 23, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
Kasell is the official judge and scorekeeper for NPR’s weekly news quiz show, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”
For 30 years, Kasell read newscasts for NPR’s daily newsmagazine “Morning Edition,” until his retirement last month.
Kasell was fascinated by radio at a young age, and recalls playing deejay with his grandmother’s wind-up Victrola in Goldsboro, N.C. He worked at a local radio station part-time during high school, and was an actor in local theater.His high-school drama teacher, Andy Griffith (yes, that one), encouraged him to pursue a career in the theater, but the radio passion won out.
At the University of North Carolina in the early ’50s, Kasell teamed up with classmate Charles Kuralt (yes, that one) to help launch a new radio station, WUNC, now one of the premiere public-radio stations.
In the ’60s he was news director for WAVA in Arlington, where he hired an intern named Katie Couric (yes…).
Carl’s voice has expanded beyond broadcast in recent years. Winners on “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” get Carl’s voice on their home answering machine. He has recorded hundreds of messages, some not very dignified (e.g. “What’s new, pussycat? Whoa-oh-oh-oh.”).
Carl is also known for his magic tricks, and he has promised to perform at least one at Blackfriars.
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