A public display of affection . . .

Carl Kasell called my cell on Friday and left a message saying that  he was safely installed at his hotel, Staunton's Frederick House.

And, he added, a fine hotel it is.

I, of course, saved the message. And not because Carl Kasell's voice is famous. I saved the message because when I listen to that voice, I feel a rush of affection.

For me, the whole tone of the next day's doings seemed an exercise in mutual affection.We WMRA folks thought we were there to enjoy Carl Kasell; Carl Kasell seemed to think he was there to enjoy us.

Photographer Steven Johnson was there as the official WMRA photographer. I could blather on for paragraph after paragraph about the fun we had on Saturday, but I think I'll let Steve's pictures do most of the talking, instead.

Mingling in the upstairs lobby, before taking the stage at Blackfrairs. Note that Carl is wearing a name tag, because, until he opened his mouth, no one knew who he was.

On stage at Blackfriars

Thanking an audience volunteer, after she'd assisted him with one of several magic tricks he performed.

The public, displaying affection. Morning Edition host Bob Leweke and his wife, Tracey Brown, are second row, right.

Taking a question

The end. Or, maybe, the beginning. The audience stood both times.

American Shakespeare Center's Director of Marketing, Erik Curren, and his wife, Lindsay, are third and fourth from the right. (And we couldn't have done this without Erik's help and the hospitality and help of the entire ASC crew. Bravo!)

It is a rare and lovely experience to finally met someone who's professionalism you've long admired; whose voice has guided you through decades of cataclysmic events; and to find out that he is also a very, very, very nice, unpretentious and warm person.

Thanks for coming, Carl. Thanks for coming, every one of you who was there on Saturday. Thanks to Frederick House, The Staunton Grocery, The Dining Room, and Blackfriars Playhouse. It was a grand party.

How will we know it's really time to get up now?

This was sent out to NPR stations yesterday.

After 30 years of waking up at 1:05 a.m. to anchor the top of the hour newscast during Morning Edition, Carl Kasell has decided the time has come to sleep in. He will leave his newscast post at the end of this year... but happily for all of us he isn't going far. Carl will continue to be the Official Judge and Scorekeeper for Wait Wait.. Don't Tell Me!, the show that turned him from a newsman into a rock star! Carl will also continue his travels to stations around the country on NPR's behalf.

Carl has raised more than a generation of listeners with his calm and authoritative newscast and has been the first voice many people heard each day. He also has been a teacher and role model for NPR newscasters... not only because of his skill and experience, but also because of his kindness, integrity, and professionalism.

Carl has walked into the newscast booth tens of thousands of times during his tenure. He was there the day that Iranian students took over the American Embassy in 1979... he was there when the Berlin wall fell in 1989 and he was there again when two jetliners slammed into the World Trade Towers in 2001. And he’s been there every week since.

Carl first walked through the doors of NPR in 1975 as a part-time newscaster ... and was on the air in November 1979 at the inception of Morning Edition. In 1995, he hosted Early Morning Edition, which eventually led to Morning Edition’s early start time of 5 a.m. eastern. Carl is a proud member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame and a recipient of several major broadcast awards, including a Peabody which he shares with Morning Edition and another he shares with Wait Wait.

Please join us in congratulating Carl for his tremendous service. His last newscast will be on Wednesday, December 30^th

Carl. Kasell was born on April 2, 1934.  I lifted these further tidbits from Wikipedia.

       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 at an early age as well. During his time at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill he helped launch local radio station WUNC with fellow student Charles Kuralt.
      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.

I've only one personal thing to add: Carl Kasell, only semi-retiring at 75, is my role model!

You go, guy!