NPR Icon Carl Kasell Dies

Carl Kasell, the beloved NPR newscaster and judge and scorekeeper of the comedy news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! died yesterday at age 84 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease. Kasell began his radio career at age 16 on a late-night music show (although he had wanted to be a radio broadcaster since he was a child), worked at his college radio station and later a news station in Virginia, then joined NPR in 1975. In 1979 he became  the new announcer for a new show: Morning Edition. He retired from that position three decades later, in 2009. He served as judge and scorekeeper on Wait Wait from its beginning in 1998 through 2014, offering his voice on a winner's answering machine or voicemail as a prize.

Remember Kasell's illustrious career with archival video from WTTW. In 2010, Eddie Arruza of Chicago Tonight conducted an extended interview with radio icon about his career: 

And in 2006, Jay Shefsky went behind the scenes of Wait Wait: