Carl Kasell, NPR newsman and Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! straight man, is dead at 84

Carl Kasell is dead at 84
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Carl Kasell, the longtime NPR morning newscaster who found a second career at the NPR comedic news quiz Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!, died on Tuesday. He was 84, and his wife, Mary Ann Foster, gave the cause as complications of Alzheimer's disease, which Kassel discovered he had in 2012.

Kasell was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1934, and he was interested in radio from a young age. His drama teacher at Goldsboro High School, future TV star Andy Griffith, urged him to pursue theater, but Kasell worked part time at a radio station during high school, then helped start the college station at the University of North Carolina. After he returned from World War II, Kasell dropped disc-jockeying for the world of news radio at WAVA-FM in Arlington, Virginia, where he gave Katie Couric her first broadcasting job. He started part-time at NPR in 1975, joined full-time in 1977, and he read the news on All Things Considered and Morning Edition until he retired in 2009.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.