Tom Magliozzi
Encyclopedia
Thomas Louis "Click Tappet" Magliozzi (born June 28, 1937) is an American radio talk show
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...

 host. He and his younger brother Ray Magliozzi
Ray Magliozzi
Raymond F. "Clack Tappet" Magliozzi is a co-host of NPR's winning weekly radio show, Car Talk. They are known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers"...

, also known collectively as Click and Clack, The Tappet
Tappet
A tappet is the noise made by a worn cam follower, however the term is widely used to represent the cam follower itself. In mechanical engineering it is a projection which imparts a linear motion to some other component within an assembly...

 Brothers
, are the hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk
Car Talk
Car Talk is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are automobiles and repair, and it often takes humorous turns...

.


Biography

Thomas Louis Magliozzi was born in East Cambridge, Massachusetts
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River on the East, the Somerville border on the North, Broadway and Main Street on the South, and the railroad tracks on the West...

, where he has lived—and plans to live—all of his life. He attended Gannett School, Wellington School
Wellington School
Wellington School may refer to:* Wellington School, Bebington* Wellington School, Shropshire, the former name of Wrekin College* Wellington School * Wellington School, Somerset* Wellington School, Midlothian, Scotland...

, Rindge Tech, now known as Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Cambridge Public Schools....

, and then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 (class of 1958). While at MIT, he participated in the Air Force ROTC, and subsequently he spent six months in the Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....

 in Fort Dix, New Jersey
Fort Dix, New Jersey
JB MDL Dix , better known as Fort Dix, is a United States Army base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command...

 (India Company, Fourth Training Regiment).

Upon graduation from MIT, where he earned a degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....

, he worked for Sylvania
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....

's Semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...

 Division in Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census. Woburn is located north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95.- History :...

 and then for the Foxboro Company while simultaneously earning his MBA from Northeastern University and teaching part-time at area universities. He eventually became sick of his commute (and job) and quit, spending the next year doing odd jobs such as painting for other tenants in his apartment building.

Tom's brother Ray left his job in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 in 1973 and came to Cambridge, at which point the two opened a do-it-yourself repair shop, named Hacker's Haven. The shop rented space and equipment to "hackers" trying to fix their own cars, but was not profitable. Nevertheless, the two had fun and were invited in 1977 to be part of a panel of automotive experts on Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

's NPR affiliate WBUR
WBUR
WBUR refers to two radio stations in Massachusetts, WBUR AM and FM, both owned by Boston University. WBUR is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, Massachusetts, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM, and the only one to focus exclusively on news and talk...

. Only Tom showed up, and took over the show. Meanwhile, the shop turned into a standard auto-repair shop named Good News Garage.

In addition to the radio show, Tom also worked a day or two per week at the Technology Consulting Group in Boston, run by a former MIT classmate, and still taught at local universities. Tom felt that college professors made lots of money without working, so he spent nine years working while getting his doctorate in Marketing from Boston University Graduate School of Management. After being a professor for eight years, he decided that he disliked teaching, and quit.

In January 1987, host Susan Stamberg
Susan Stamberg
Susan Stamberg is an American radio journalist who is currently a Special Correspondent for National Public Radio and guest host for Weekend Edition Saturday.Stamberg was born in Newark, New Jersey...

 of Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...

on NPR asked the two to contribute weekly to her program. Nine months later, Car Talk
Car Talk
Car Talk is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are automobiles and repair, and it often takes humorous turns...

premiered as an independent NPR program. Tom and his brother Ray continue to host the weekly Car Talk radio show. In 1992, Tom and Ray won a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

 for Car Talk—for "distinguished achievement and meritorious public service".

On June 4, 1999, Tom and Ray gave the commencement address at MIT.

In addition to the radio show, Tom writes for CarTalk.com, and runs his own consulting business. Tom also appeared in the Pixar film Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...

with his brother Ray. They played the Rust-eze owners who discovered Lightning McQueen and gave him his first big break. Tom appeared as a 1963 Dodge Dart
Dodge Dart
The Dodge Dart is an automobile built by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1960-1976 in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart was introduced as a lower-priced, shorter wheelbase, full-size Dodge in 1960 and 1961, became a...

 convertible. This was an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...

, as Tom owned a '63 Dart convertible for many years and often mentioned it on Car Talk. Tom and his brother also appeared once in the PBS Kids show Arthur
Arthur (TV series)
Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...

. Arthur had called them with a question about the family car, which would have been hauled away by the local mechanic without their help. The answer turns out to be a baby rattle, presumably that of Arthur's baby sister Kate, in the car's tailpipe.

Tom stars with Ray in the PBS animated series, Click & Clack's As The Wrench Turns, based on Car Talk.

Tom has at least one son and two daughters. Like his brother, Tom is colorblind.

External links

Official site of the radio show
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