From the archives: Host Carl Kasell reflects on his life from NC to NPR

Carl Kasell was The News & Observer Tar Heel of the Week Jan. 3, 2010. He died April 17, 2018, at the age of 84 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. Here is that story.

In case you were wondering: Yes, Carl Kasell is looking forward to sleeping in on a regular basis. And even after 30 years of rising at 1:30 a.m. every day to do National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" newscast, he thinks he can.

"I've slept through a mild earthquake in Italy," he says by phone from his office at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "And also a very tight hockey game where people were screaming their heads off. So the next time I'm up early enough to see the sun rise, I want it to be because I'm coming home from a party."

Kasell, 75, has retired from his daily newscasting duties, having signed off for the last time on Wednesday, and it's hard to imagine "Morning Edition" without him. For the past three decades, the Goldsboro native has written and read seven nine-minute newscasts each morning, his dulcet drawl becoming an NPR signature and an everyday ritual for millions of listeners.

"People like Carl Kasell become part of the diurnal passage of our days in very significant ways," says Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. "They transcend the work they do to the point that their presence becomes important to us - especially if they're there a long time. He's a lot like Johnny Carson used to be."

But if Kasell has retired from his everyday gig, he's not going away completely. He is now NPR's "roving ambassador," in which capacity he'll visit stations across the country to preside over special events and fundraisers.

Still keeping score

Kasell will also continue his role as scorekeeper on the public-radio quiz show "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!," a job that includes supplying the prizes — recording voicemail announcements for the winners' telephone answering machines. Over the years, Kasell has had some odd requests.

"I've been asked to sing 'Oklahoma,' 'I'm Your Boogie Man,' 'What's New, Pussycat?' " he says. "Or they'll ask for a limerick, or a short newscast: 'This is Carl Kasell. John and Jane are not home at the moment, and we do not know where they are. When we find out, we'll let you know. Meantime, leave a message at the tone.' "

The beginning of Kasell's radio career goes back nearly 60 years, to high school. His first on-air stint was reading high school news on weekends on an AM station in Goldsboro. He also performed in drama productions in high school, where Andy Griffith was one of his teachers.

After high school, Kasell went to UNC-Chapel Hill. He and Charles Kuralt, a fellow UNC student, both worked at the university's then-new radio station, WUNC-FM. And he picked up some paying work at WCHL-AM.

"If not for radio, I'd probably be working at the local supermarket doing who knows what," he says. "But after I got that first break at 16, I was not going to do anything else. I had my mind set on radio one way or another."

After a stint in the Army, Kasell got back into radio and moved up to stations in Alexandria, Va. He went to NPR in 1975 and became the "Morning Edition" anchor four years later.

30 Days of Silence

There was a crisis about that time when Kasell had a polyp removed from his vocal cords. The worst part of the treatment was that he couldn't speak at all for a month, communicating with his wife and son by writing on a pad.

"It scared the daylights out of me," Kasell admits. But he recovered, voice intact.

Over the years, Kasell has given news of events such as the Berlin Wall falling and the 2001 terrorist attacks. He has also met two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. But you could say three if you count Barack Obama, who appeared on "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" shortly after he was elected U.S. senator in 2004.

"Boy, was he charming and funny," Kasell says of Obama. "We didn't tell the audience he was there, just introduced him as 'the junior senator from Illinois,' and they just erupted. He wasn't running for president yet, but there was talk.

Obama's Quip

At the end, [host] Peter Sagal tried to get him to make the announcement: 'Would you like to make any announcements? The nation's listening, it would be a great platform.' 'OK., Peter,' he said. 'I've got to go home and do the dishes.' And he was gone."

At this point, Kasell does not see the day when he'll walk away from radio completely. Between the NPR ambassadorship and "Wait Wait," he has plenty to keep him busy.

"I'll keep doing this until I get tired of it, and I don't know when that will be," he says. "I just saw Danny Schorr in here working. He's in his 90s and still coming to work to do his commentaries on 'All Things Considered,' and he's still sharp as a tack. I told him he's an inspiration to us kids. Yeah, 76 is the new 75."

Carl Kasell

Born: April 2, 1934, in Goldsboro

Family: Wife, Mary Ann; son, Joe

Education: B.A. in English, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1956

Career: WGBR-AM (Goldsboro), 1950-1952 and 1958-1965; WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill), 1952-1956; WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill), 1954-1956; Army (specialist third class), 1956-1958; WPIK-AM (Alexandria, Va.), 1965-1967; WAVA-FM (Alexandria, Va.), 1967-1977; National Public Radio, 1975-present.

Awards: Public Radio Regional Organization Award, 1991; Leo C. Lee Friend of Public Radio News Award, 1996; Peabody Award, 1999 and 2008; Development Exchange Inc's President's Award for lifetime contributions, 2002; North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, 2004.

In his spare time: Magic, UNC Tar Heels basketball.

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 4:28 PM with the headline "From the archives: Host Carl Kasell reflects on his life from NC to NPR."