Susan Stamberg, pioneering broadcaster at NPR, dies at 87
Source: Washington Post
Susan Stamberg, a founding mother of NPR who joined the network when it was founded and helped blaze a trail for women in journalism by becoming the first female anchor of a national nightly news program in the United States, died Oct. 16. She was 87 and had retired in September.
Her death was announced by NPR, which did not say where or how she died.
When Ms. Stamberg arrived at NPR, just as the network was going on air in 1971, she was tasked with cutting audiotape with a razor blade. She went on to become a producer and then an anchor, serving as a host of its flagship news program, All Things Considered, from 1972 to 1986.
Susans voice was not only a cornerstone of NPR it was a cornerstone of American life, Katherine Maher, NPRs president and chief executive, said in a statement. She showed that journalism could be both rigorous and deeply personal. She inspired countless journalists to believe they could explore life and truth, and lead with both authority and warmth.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/10/16/susan-stamberg-dead-npr/


I listened to her for most of her NPR career.

Botany
(75,632 posts)2
cups raw cranberries
1
small onion
1⁄2
cup sugar
3⁄4
cup sour cream
2
tablespoons horseradish
SHOP RECIPE
DIRECTIONS
Grind the cranberries and onion together.
Add remaining ingredients and mix.
Put in a plastic container and freeze.
An hour before serving, move the container from the freezer to the refrigerator compartment to thaw.
The relish will be thick, creamy, and shocking pink.
hoosierspud
(190 posts)But I love it.
hlthe2b
(111,799 posts)She always told the story and gave the recipe, creating something the color of Pepto Bismol, but apparently quite good! I always meant to try it, but i know this is the actual recipe:
https://www.food.com/recipe/mama-stambergs-cranberry-relish-recipe-104798
Much love, Susan. You were a real trailblazer and those of us who still love NPR have you to thank for quite a bit.
erronis
(21,685 posts)GJGCA
(142 posts)riversedge
(78,456 posts)She took a job at WAMU, the public radio station. She made her on-air debut when the weather girl (as the job was then called) got sick.
"It was very sophisticated," Stamberg told an interviewer for the Jewish Women's Archive in 2011. "You picked up the phone and dialed WE 6-1212. And they told you what the weather was and you wrote it down. We didn't have meteorologists, there were no computers, and there were no windows in the studio."
Yet when it came time for Stamberg to speak in front of the microphone for the first time, she realized she had forgotten to make that call. So she said the first thing that came to mind: It was 98 degrees.
LisaM
(29,385 posts)A whole generation of influential people is vanishing right in front of our eyes.
WestMichRad
(2,732 posts)
Listened to her on NPR many an evening. Really missed her when she left ATC.
But her family cranberry relish recipe was awful, IMHO!

QueerDuck
(315 posts)I fear that Diane Rehm will be next.
Just Jerome
(373 posts)try the relish recipe, though I enjoyed the whimsical controversy it evoked, as well as everything Susan presented to us.