newsmakers

newsmakers

Co-host of NPR’s ‘Car Talk’ dies at 77

BOSTON

Tom Magliozzi, one-half of the brother duo who hosted National Public Radio’s “Car Talk” where they bantered with callers and commiserated over their car problems, died Monday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, the news organization said. He was 77 years old.

“Car Talk” was NPR’s most popular entertainment program for years, reaching more than 4 million people a week on more than 600 radio stations across the country.

It continued to be a top-rated show even after the brothers stopped taping live shows in 2012 and the network began airing repurposed and archived material.

“Car Talk” Executive Producer Doug Berman, in a statement posted on NPR’s website, said Magliozzi’s “dominant, positive personality” will be missed.

“He and his brother changed public broadcasting forever,” he said. “Before ‘Car Talk,’ NPR was formal, polite, cautious — even stiff.”

Taylor Swift pulls music from Spotify

NEW YORK

The music-streaming service Spotify is no longer offering Taylor Swift songs at her request, setting up a battle between the industry’s most-popular artist and the leading purveyor of a new music-distribution system.

It means Spotify subscribers can no longer access “Shake It Off,” the service’s most-streamed song last week, or any other songs. People who want to hear Swift’s new album, “1989,” will have to buy it. Spotify, which pulled Swift’s songs Monday, said that “we hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone.”

Swift’s representatives did not immediately return a call to comment. Many musicians have complained that the rise of Spotify and other steaming services has made a big dent in their sales.

Associated Press