Eh, ever since one half of the Car Talk duo died, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me started being played in front of a live audience, there really hasn't been anything worth listening to on NPR.
"Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" has been playing in front of a live audience since 2005, except during COVID, and had been playing several shows a year before a live audience since 2000. They only were only exclusively not live for their first two years.
Oh. I assumed you misremembered when Wait Wait started live audiences, since you said that ever since one of the Car Talk guys died and Wait Wait started having live audiences NPR hasn't had anything worth listening to.
But that Car Talk guy died in 2014, 14 years after Wait Wait started recording some shows in front of live audience, and 9 years after they started recording almost always in front of a live audience.
Your comment doesn't really make sense if those two events aren't in the same general timeframe so I had assumed you probably didn't realize how early Wait Wait was having live audiences.
There's actually a bigger story to what you're saying. Public radio (NPR, APM, et al.) hasn't come up with new hit shows with longevity, while some are aging out. The format of Wait Wait is fine, but the references are 40 years too old. Terry Gross, while an amazing interviewer, is in her 70's. On KQED, Michael Krasny retired from forum, and his replacements aren't as good. As it currently exists, public radio in the US feels like a thing for coastal liberals between the ages of 50 and 70. It's trying here and there to find a new voice, but it hasn't.
