Carl Kasell retiring from NPR’s ‘Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!’

Carl Kasell, the official judge and scorekeeper of NPR’s news quiz show “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” is retiring from the show after a long career at the public radio nonprofit.

The veteran newsman, 79, will record his final broadcast for the show this spring.

“Wait Wait,” produced in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, is now in its 16th year on the air and has an audience of more than 3.8 million listeners a week.

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“And whose autograph do they line up for after each show?” asked Sagal in a statement. “Carl’s. The 50-year-old computer programmers are in my line telling me C-plus-plus jokes, and the 20-something women are beside themselves posing for pictures with Carl.”

Kasell will continue to record custom voice mail greetings for the show’s winners and continue to occasionally appear on the program.

Kasell was recruited for the comedic game show in 1998. He was the newscaster for NPR’s “Morning Edition” for 30 years, starting in 1979 and ending in 2009.

Kasell joined NPR in 1975 as a part-time newscaster for “Weekend All Things Considered” after he worked as a morning DJ and newscaster in Goldsboro, N.C.

“I can honestly say I am the luckiest man around to be able to have worked at a job I love for so many years,” Kasell said in a statement. “It’s truly been a joy for me.”

In Los Angeles, “Wait Wait” airs on KPCC-FM (89.3) on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m.

[For the record: This post has been updated to reflect that Kasell will continue to record custom voice mail greetings for the show’s winners and continue to occasionally appear on the program.]

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ryan.faughnder@latimes.com

Twitter: @rfaughnder