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NPR’s legendary “founding mother,” Susan Stamberg, has passed away at 87. A pioneering journalist who broke barriers in the age of a male-dominated industry, Stamberg became the first woman to co-host a national nightly news program on All Things Considered in 1972. She was known and loved for her warmth, curiosity, and conversational interviewing style that brought humanity and depth to arts and culture reporting.
“Few figures have informed the sensibility of NPR more than Stamber,” the broadcasting organization wrote in tribute to her. “Colleagues considered her a mentor, a matchmaker, a founding mother—always tough, and always true to herself.” Having just retired in September 2025, Stamberg devoted most of her life to elevating stories about the human experience. Through her conversations with composers, musicians, novelists, and artists, she made creativity feel deeply human and accessible, giving art and culture the same weight as politics and economics.
During the 1970s, women struggled to carve out space in broadcast journalism, and were often pushed to the sidelines. Stamberg and fellow “founding mother” Linda Wertheimer fought for an office and got one; however, they had to share it with the photocopiers. “Susan and I disagreed about politics,” Wertheimer recalled. “That is to say: I thought it was fantastically interesting. All I wanted to do was cover politics. She thought it was the most boring thing imaginable. She couldn’t think why anyone would want to do that.”
Among Stamberg’s most beloved contributions to NPR was her annual Thanksgiving ritual: Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish. The segment, which began in the early 1970s, featured her famously quirky pink recipe and became a holiday tradition for generations of listeners. She even introduced it to on-air guests like the White House chefs, the former editor of Gourmet magazine, and the rapper Coolio.
Stamberg got her start in broadcasting at Washington’s public radio station WAMU, where she worked as the station’s so-called “weather girl.” But in true Stamberg fashion, her reports were anything but ordinary. To keep things interesting, she began slipping in snippets of weather-themed poetry, drawing on her background in English literature.
Once Stamberg joined NPR, her talent was impossible to miss, and by 1972, she was anchoring All Things Considered. Over her 14 years behind the mic, she guided listeners through everything from Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War to the everyday stories of art, music, and life that defined NPR’s voice. She became known for asking unexpected questions, her sense of fun, and never being afraid to show emotion on air.
When recalling an early conversation she had with Bill Siemering, NPR’s first program director, Stamberg revealed what gave her the courage to be different. “He said two magical words to me very early on,” she said. “He said, ‘Be yourself.’ And what he meant was, we want to hear from—we want to hear voices on our air that we’d hear across our dinner tables at night or at the local grocery store. And we want our announcers and our anchor people to sound that way, too.”
Stamberg later went on to host Weekend Edition Sunday, the radio equivalent of a Sunday newspaper, complete with NPR’s famous Sunday Puzzle. “You get your news and culture and sports and everything,” NPR puzzle master Will Shortz recalled. “We all know what’s the most important part of the Sunday paper. And it’s the puzzle.”
Following her husband’s passing in 2007, Stamberg gravitated to NPR West to be closer to her son Josh who was building his acting career in California. Ever curious about the people behind the spotlight, she spent each Oscar season uncovering Hollywood’s unsung heroes. One memorable 2015 segment focused on “loopers”—the voice artists who add background sounds and dialogue to finished films and TV shows.
Stamberg championed public media, the arts, and education throughout her life, often lending her voice to NPR fundraisers and cultural causes. She mentored generations of journalists—especially women—and used her platform to elevate the arts as an essential part of public life. “A true humanitarian, she believed in the power of great journalism,” Stamberg’s son Josh said in a statement. “Her life’s work was connection, through ideas and culture.”
Check out some more tributes to Stamberg below.
NPR’s legendary “founding mother,” Susan Stamberg, has passed away at 87.
View this post on Instagram
A pioneering journalist who broke barriers in the age of a male-dominated industry, Stamberg became the first woman to co-host a national nightly news program on All Things Considered in 1972.
View this post on Instagram
She was known and loved for her warmth, curious, and conversational interviewing style that brought humanity and depth to arts and culture reporting.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Source: NPR ‘founding mother’ Susan Stamberg has died
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