The Car Talk Secret

How do the Car Talk Guys Make It On The Radio?  

Let's cut to the chase.  This is the age of special effects and the LED screens--make that 3-D. So much so that the Disney Magic of Snow White flopped on its  DVD debut.  But along come Ray and Tommy Magliozzi, the Tappet Brothers known  as Click and Clack--and what happens for this radio show?  3.3 million loyal listeners across 660 stations.  There are nuts like me who actually buy their classic hits cds for long distance trips.

Of course, they are fantastic diagnostics.  They play "stump the chumps" and go back to previous callers to see how their advice went.  Most of the time--these guys are in the ball park.  Then again, the music is zany, country tunes with car lyrics. The puzzler can really be a head-scratcher.  But let's face it--who listens to the radio just to get information (just google it) let alone to get puzzles and hear music? 

 

If you are a part of the loyal listeners--you already know the answer.   Personal connection.  That's the key.  These guys connect with people who call the show.  That particular connection then extends to a universal connection with the general audience.   Don't we all want a person on the line?

 Every week the radio show ends the same way…“That’s it, you have wasted another hour….and don’t drive like my brother,” says Tom Magliozzi, and followed by a resounding refrain by brother Ray, “and don’t drive like my brother.”  

We could all stand to waste an hour by our culture's standards. Connect.  Laugh. Don't take the world so seriously. Remember you are a person!  Television just does not connect in the same way for me. The secret to this show is the call in and the connection which we can identify with.  In a world of things, the Car Talk guys connect with people.  

Albert Camus was reputed to have said.............

"Our most desperate need is to be heard as a soul."