The distinctive voice that guided millions of listeners through cultural conversations for decades has fallen silent. Susan Stamberg, the trailblazing NPR journalist who broke barriers as the first woman to anchor a nightly news program in the United States, passed away at age 87.
NPR announced the death of what it called its “founding mother” on October 16, remembering Stamberg as “a mentor, a matchmaker, a founding mother — always tough, and always true to herself.”
Her son, actor Josh Stamberg of “WandaVision,” captured her legacy in a statement: “A true humanitarian, she believed in the power of great journalism. Her life’s work was connection, through ideas and culture.”
Stamberg’s journey to becoming one of public radio’s most recognizable voices began humbly. Born Susan Levitt in Newark, New Jersey, she started at WAMU in Washington, D.C., where she worked as a producer and even served brief stints as a “weather girl” before joining NPR. Her initial duties involved the decidedly unglamorous task of cutting audiotape with a single-sided razor blade before the network’s broadcast debut.
Her rise to co-host of “All Things Considered” from 1972 to 1986 represented a remarkable breakthrough at a time when opportunities for female broadcast journalists were scarce—particularly for a Jewish woman with a pronounced New York accent that initially made NPR leadership nervous.
Former colleague Jack Mitchell recalled management’s concerns about how Stamberg’s voice would resonate with Midwest stations. “They, for instance, said, ‘too New York,'” Mitchell told NPR. “The president of NPR asked that I not put her in there because of complaints from managers. We did it anyway, and he was very supportive afterwards.”
Stamberg defied expectations by bringing a unique cultural focus to broadcasting at a time when political reporting dominated. Fellow NPR “founding mother” Linda Wertheimer noted that Stamberg found politics to be “the most boring thing imaginable.” Instead, she cultivated what the network described as “a legacy both as an unabashed truth teller and a spinner of stories.”
Throughout her celebrated career, which included hosting “Weekend Edition Sunday” from 1987 to 1989 and serving as a special correspondent, Stamberg conducted memorable interviews with figures ranging from children’s television icon Fred Rogers to director Elia Kazan, whom she confronted about his controversial 1952 testimony during the Red Scare.
Perhaps one of her most enduring legacies beyond journalism was her annual Thanksgiving tradition of sharing her mother-in-law’s cranberry relish recipe—a ritual that became beloved by listeners and even reached White House chefs and rapper Coolio.
The recipe, which Stamberg described as having “a tangy taste that cuts through and perks up the turkey and gravy,” features cranberries ground with onion, mixed with sour cream, sugar, and horseradish, resulting in what she cheerfully acknowledged was a “shocking pink (OK, Pepto-Bismol pink)” condiment.
Stamberg retired from NPR just last September, leaving behind a transformed media landscape where her pioneering presence helped pave the way for generations of female journalists. As the network noted, “She saw cultural journalism as a respite from news, but also brought a seriousness of purpose to it. She believed listeners’ relationship with culture, high and low, defined how they experienced the world around them.”
