Susan Stamberg, trailblazer and NPR Founding Mom, retires : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3812x2144+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F05%2F01%2Fsusanstamberg_005_wide.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3812x2144+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F05%2F01%2Fsusanstamberg_005_wide.jpg" class="img" alt="The earliest photo of Susan Stamberg at a microphone, age 25. Later, as the host of All Things Considered, she was the first woman to be a full-time anchor of a U.S. national nightly news broadcast." fetchpriority="high"/> Susan Stamberg at a microphone, age 25. Later, because the host of All Issues Thought-about, she was the primary lady to be a full-time anchor of a U.S. nationwide nightly information broadcast. NPR cover caption

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NPR <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3812x2144+0+0/resize/2600/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F05%2F01%2Fsusanstamberg_005_wide.jpg" alt="The earliest photo of Susan Stamberg at a microphone, age 25. Later, as the host of All Things Considered, she was the first woman to be a full-time anchor of a U.S. national nightly news broadcast."/> Susan Stamberg at a microphone, age 25. Later, because the host of All Issues Thought-about, she was the primary lady to be a full-time anchor of a U.S. nationwide nightly information broadcast.

NPR Susan Stamberg as soon as started an interview with an orchestra conductor by asking a query she confessed she'd at all times wished to ask somebody in his line of labor: "Do not your arms get drained?"

Maestro Jorge Mester of the Louisville Orchestra informed her, " it is the obvious query and by no means will get requested." He stated his proper arm was somewhat heavy, however added that solely unemployed conductors' arms get drained. His stayed in good situation.

Listening to Susan Stamberg reminded us that always one of the best questions are quick, easy, and open-minded. She has been the grasp of that artwork.

This week, Susan Stamberg is placing down her microphone after greater than 50 years at NPR. She has received cabinets of main awards in broadcasting, and has a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame — particularly extraordinary for somebody who turned a star on the radio and never on a display screen.

And many people at NPR really feel that we're right here as we speak due to Susan Stamberg.

She gave persona to a fledgling community that was virtually an afterthought within the Public Broadcasting Act.

Information voices within the Seventies tended to be somber, accent-less, and virtually completely male. Susan Stamberg turned the primary lady ever to anchor a every day nationwide night information broadcast within the U.S., when she started to co-host All Issues Thought-about in 1972. She was critical because the information required. However she was additionally curious, relentless, and completely pleasant.

Susan's voice made People say: "They sound completely different, do not they?" Her voice has been sharp, typically saucy, and could possibly be silken — then let loose a bell-ringing snigger.

She turned, "What's NPR?" into "Have you ever heard NPR?"

In the present day, there are ladies in any respect ranks and duties in what we now name "media," working as correspondents, anchors, information administrators, CEOs and extra.

They've entered by means of a crack that Susan Stamberg helped break by means of broadcasting's dense male wall.

I heard Susan Stamberg's voice after I was a younger reporter in Chicago — and Linda Wertheimer's, and Nina Totenberg's and Cokie Roberts' and Noah Adams' and Bob Edwards' — and I believed: I wish to be a part of that merry band. They're telling necessary tales in another way.

Susan Stamberg retires this week, however the sound and work of the place she helped discovered continues in all who've adopted her voice to NPR. Susan has lifted us up for 50 years; and her arms haven't grown drained.