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Tom and Ray Magliozzi

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Oliver Crow (talk | contribs) at 00:57, 5 November 2014 (Simplified wording of first para, as Ray is still in the land of the living, per Valfontis' comment on the talk page.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Magliozzi" redirects here. For the fictional Mafia family, see Magliozzi Crime Family.
Tom Magliozzi
Born
Thomas Louis Magliozzi

(1937-06-28)June 28, 1937
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
DiedNovember 3, 2014(2014-11-03) (aged 77)
Belmont, Massachusetts
Cause of deathcomplications as a result of Alzheimer's disease
EducationEconomics Policy and Engineering, BS
Management: MBA, PhD
Alma materMIT (1958)
Northeastern University
Boston University
Occupation(s)Radio show host, mechanic
Years active1977–2012
Known forco-host of Car Talk
ChildrenLydia, Alex, Anna[1]
RelativesRay, brother; Lucille, sister
Websitewww.cartalk.com
Ray Magliozzi
Born (1949-03-30) March 30, 1949 (age 75)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
EducationBS, Humanities
Alma materMIT (1972)
Occupation(s)Radio show host, mechanic
Years active1977–2012
Known forco-host of Car Talk
SpouseMonique
ChildrenLouie, Andrew
RelativesTom, brother; Lucille, sister
Websitewww.cartalk.com

Thomas Louis Magliozzi (June 28, 1937 – November 3, 2014) and his brother Raymond F. Magliozzi (born March 30, 1949) were the co-hosts of NPR's weekly radio show, Car Talk, where they were known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers". Their show was honored with a Peabody Award in 1992.

Early life

Tom Magliozzi was born in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he attended Gannett School, Wellington School, Rindge Tech, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, he participated in Air Force ROTC, and subsequently he spent six months in the Army Reserve.

Ray Magliozzi was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts; he also graduated from MIT. In 1999, the brothers returned to MIT to jointly deliver the commencement speech to that year's graduates.[2]

Career

Tom earned a degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He subsequently worked for Sylvania's Semiconductor Division in Woburn, Massachusetts, and then for the Foxboro Company, while earning his MBA from Northeastern University[3] and teaching part-time at local universities. Eventually tiring of his commute and job, he quit, spending the next year doing odd jobs such as painting for other tenants in his apartment building.[4]

Ray taught science[5] in Bennington, Vermont, for a few years, before returning to Cambridge in 1973, when he and Tom opened a do-it-yourself repair shop named Hacker's Haven.[6] The shop rented space and equipment to hackers trying to fix their own cars but was not profitable. Nevertheless, the two enjoyed the experience and were invited in 1977 to be part of a panel of automotive experts on Boston's National Public Radio affiliate WBUR-FM. Subsequently, the brothers converted the shop into a standard auto-repair shop named Good News Garage.[7][8]

In addition to the local radio show, Tom worked a day or two per week at the Technology Consulting Group, run by a former MIT classmate, in Boston, and he still taught at local universities. Tom's professed belief that college professors make lots of money without working drove him to spend nine years working while getting his doctorate in Marketing from Boston University School of Management.[3][failed verification] After being a professor for eight years, he decided that he disliked teaching, and quit.[4]

Car Talk

Main article: Car Talk

In January 1987, host Susan Stamberg of Weekend Edition on NPR asked the two to contribute weekly to her program. Nine months later, Car Talk premiered as an independent NPR program. In 1992, Tom and Ray won a Peabody Award for Car Talk — for "distinguished achievement and meritorious public service".[9][10]

Tom and Ray continued to work in their garage while they produced Car Talk. On June 8, 2012, it was announced that Car Talk would stop producing new episodes in September 2012, though NPR will continue airing reruns of the show.[11]

After Tom's death, the show's long time producer Doug (the "Subway Fugitive") Berman said that Tom, "...and his brother changed public broadcasting forever." “Before Car Talk, NPR was formal, polite, cautious….even stiff. By being entirely themselves, without pretense, Tom and Ray single-handedly changed that, and showed that real people are far more interesting than canned radio announcers." "Every interesting show that has come after them owes them a debt of gratitude."[12] “The guys are culturally right up there with Mark Twain and the Marx Brothers,” Berman said. “They will stand the test of time. People will still be enjoying them years from now. They’re that good.”[13]

Other work

In addition to the radio show, Tom wrote for CarTalk.com and ran his own consulting business.

Tom and Ray both appeared in the Pixar film Cars (2006). They played the owners of Rust-eze, who discovered Lightning McQueen and gave him his first big break. Tom appeared as a 1963 Dodge Dart convertible, a reference to a 1963 Dart convertible he owned for many years and often mentioned on Car Talk. Ray appeared as a 1964 Dodge A100 van. In the film, they each admonished: "Don't drive like my brother", the catchphrase from the close of their radio show.[14]

The Magliozzi brothers also appeared in a seventh season episode of the PBS Kids show Arthur, called "Pick a Car, Any Car", which originally aired on November 25, 2002. Arthur calls them with a question about the family car, which would have been hauled away by the local mechanic without their help. The answer turns out to be a baby rattle, presumably that of Arthur's baby sister Kate, in the car's tailpipe.[15]

In 2008, the brothers starred in their own PBS animated series, Click and Clack's As the Wrench Turns, playing fictionalized versions of themselves.[16]

Tom's death

On November 3, 2014, Tom died in Belmont, Massachusetts,[17] due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 77.[18]

References

  1. ^ http://www.cartalk.com/blogs/staff-blog/tom-magliozzi-1937-2014
  2. ^ "Transcript of the Magliozzis commencement address". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  3. ^ a b Bates (1999), MIT Tech Talk.
  4. ^ a b Tom's Car Talk Bio
  5. ^ Ray's Car Talk Bio
  6. ^ Magliozzi, Tom&Ray. "About Us". Good News Garage. In 1973, Tom and Ray ...started a do-it-yourself shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts called Hacker's Haven. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |deadurl= (help)
  7. ^ "Good News Garage". Yelp. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |deadurl= (help)
  8. ^ Lumsden, Carolyn (July 11, 1986). "'Click and Clack': frick and frack gearheads". Daily Breeze. p. E19.
  9. ^ "Car Talk 1992". Peabody Awards. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  10. ^ "The History of Car Talk". Car Talk. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  11. ^ Bauder, David (8 June 2012). "'Car Talk' Ending: NPR Show's Duo Will Retire In October". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  12. ^ NPR's 'Car Talk' co-host Tom Magliozzi dies at 77, Associated Press, Philip Marcelo, November 4, 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  13. ^ [1], Associated Press, June 8, 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  14. ^ IMDb.com
  15. ^ "Pick a Car, Any Car". YouTube.
  16. ^ Jenson, Elizabeth (June 29, 2008). "Welcome to Toontown, Radio Guys". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  17. ^ http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-tom-magliozzi-20141104-story.html
  18. ^ Neary, Lynn (2014-11-03). "Tom Magliozzi, Popular Co-Host Of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies At 77". NPR.org. National Public Radio.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Car Talk.
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