Carl Kasell
Carl Kasell with a stuffed duck after a broadcast of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Born	(1934-04-02) April 2, 1934 (age 78) Goldsboro, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Residence	Washington, D.C.[1]
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Radio Newscaster
Employer	NPR
Spouse	Mary Ann Kasell

Carl Kasell (pronounced /ˈkæsəl/; born April 2, 1934) is an American radio personality, most widely known as a newscaster for National Public Radio and as the official judge and scorekeeper of the weekly news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.

Early life[link]

In an interview with Renée Montagne, just before his final broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition, Kasell reveals that he knew he would be in radio at a young age. He talks about how he hid behind the radio to fool passers-by into thinking they were listening to the radio when they in fact were hearing the young Kasell.^[2]

A native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, Kasell was a student of drama in high school, where one of his mentors was Andy Griffith, then a high school drama instructor. Although Griffith urged Kasell to pursue a career in theatre, Kasell took to radio more. During his time at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he helped launch local radio station WUNC with fellow student Charles Kuralt.

Career[link]

He worked as an announcer and DJ at a radio station in Goldsboro before moving to the Washington, DC area in 1965. He advanced to the position of news director at WAVA in Arlington, Virginia. As news director in Virginia, he hired Katie Couric as an intern one summer. He joined National Public Radio's staff as a news announcer for Weekend All Things Considered in 1975. He was the news announcer for NPR's Morning Edition from its inception in 1979 through 2009.

NPR launched its weekly news quiz Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in 1998, with Kasell as official judge and scorekeeper. The prize that Wait Wait... offers to its listener contestants is a recording of Kasell's voice for their personal telephone's answering machine or voice mail. Because this prize has been such a long standing tradition for the show, more than 2,000 people have Carl Kasell's voice on their home answering machine.^[2]

He is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame. In 1999, Kasell shared in the George Foster Peabody Award given to Morning Edition.

On November 23, 2009, NPR announced that Kasell would retire from newscasting at the end of 2009. Kasell's final newscast aired on December 30, 2009.^[3] Kasell continues to appear as the official scorer of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! He will also continue to work for NPR through visiting member stations and helping with fundraising.^[2]

During the August 7, 2010 broadcast of Wait Wait..., host Peter Sagal announced that Kasell had been voted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.^[4][5][6]

For many years, Kasell has been the announcer for the annual Kennedy Center Honors broadcast on CBS.

Awards[link]

• 1999 George Foster Peabody Award
• 2010 National Radio Hall of Fame

References[link]

External links[link]

• NPR biography
• NPR : Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me! : Messages by Carl Kasell

Peter Sagal
Peter Sagal at the 2008 Texas Book Festival
Born	(1965-01-31) January 31, 1965 (age 47) Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, United States
Occupation	Playwright, screenwriter, actor, and radio host
Spouse	Beth Albrecht Sagal

Peter Sagal (born January 31, 1965) is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and host of the National Public Radio game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. He is originally from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, although he currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois.^[1] Sagal attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also was a contestant on Jeopardy in April 1988, but finished second in his only game.^[2]

Sagal is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine's "True-Life Tales" column, beginning with a column entitled "He Goes Down Looking," which appeared in the August 6, 2006 issue. He was also a guest movie critic on the television show Ebert & Roeper in the December 2, 2006, episode. He has a column about running equipment in Runner's World and has also written for the Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and other publications. His book The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) was published in October 2007 by HarperCollins.^[3]

In April 2007, his play Denial received its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Playhouse on the Lower East Side.^[4] The play, which portrays a Jewish lawyer who represents a Holocaust denier, has also been recorded by the L.A. Theatre Works company.^[5] Sagal is also credited as co-writer of the movie Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.^[6]

Sagal is a marathon runner who completed the 2007 Boston Marathon. He ran a portion of the Chicago Marathon in 2011 without paying the registration fee.^[7][8]

Sagal is married to Beth Albrecht Sagal; they have three daughters.

References[link]

External links[link]

• PeterSagal.com
• Peter Sagal at the Internet Movie Database
• Peter Sagal's Weekly Column at AMCtv.com
• "He Goes Down Looking"
• New York Times Review of "Denial"
• Peter Sagal Interview on Fresh Air.
• An interview with Peter Sagal on The Marketplace of Ideas
• Tweet mentioning his birthday on 31 January 2012

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