Editor's note: Friday marks David Dye's last day as full-time host of World Cafe, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.
I am certainly the luckiest radio host I know. I have come to work each day to find out which of my heroes I am going to talk to next. Even as my last day hosting World Cafe rolls out, I am preparing to interview Aimee Mann and one of the greats, Ray Davies of The Kinks. As Talia Schlanger takes over World Cafe come Monday, that should let you know that I am not disappearing.
For 25 years this has been my world — always with the specter of the next show on the horizon. I won't miss that responsibility. My life is going to be different. I hope it's a little slower: more reading and baseball, less updating my Twitter feed. I look forward to putting on an album just because I want to hear it, not as show prep.
World Cafe will continue as a living, breathing entity — hopefully for 25 more years. The staff is more pumped than ever. Great things are in the wind. I'll be checking in with Ms. Schlanger once in a while. And I will be listening — and I hope you will be too. Radio is nothing without listeners completing the circle. You know, we can feel you out there! The artists and I thank you for 25 years.
—David Dye
P.S.: We turned the tables for my last on-air show as full-time host and had Ari Shapiro from NPR's All Things Considered interview me! Hear the complete conversation in the player above.
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