NPR ‘founding mother’ Susan Stamberg will retire

Susan Stamberg, one of NPR’s most recognized voices, will retire later this year, NPR announced Tuesday.

Stamberg joined NPR in 1971 and began co-hosting All Things Considered the next year. Along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts, she’s considered one of NPR’s “founding mothers.”

Stamberg “has decided it is time to hang up the microphone and retire,” Edith Chapin, NPR’s editor in chief and acting CCO, told staff in a note. 

Her last day will be Sept. 1, Chapin said.

“The impact of Susan’s work will be lasting,” Chapin wrote. “Throughout NPR’s history, through thousands of interviews and stories, she set the standard for so much of what we do. She has been a quiet and consistent force for good at NPR as well as a tireless advocate for Member stations around the country.”

As ATC’s host, Stamberg was the first woman to host a national evening news program. She hosted the show for 14 years and later hosted Weekend Edition Sunday. Most recently, she has served as a “special correspondent,” largely covering the arts. She is also known for sharing her mother-in-law’s cranberry relish recipe every year around Thanksgiving. 

Prior to joining NPR, she was a producer, PD and GM at WAMU in Washington, D.C.

In the announcement to staff, Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday and Up First, added that Stamberg “is the voice of NPR: quizzical, curious, respectful, and engaging, as she goes from sober assessments of important events into a full-out, ear-ringing belly-laugh, while taking listeners along, like friends on a journey.”

Stamberg has won numerous journalism awards in her time at NPR. She is also in the Broadcast Hall of Fame and the Radio Hall of Fame, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“Susan has been our franchise,” Simon added. “Everyone who has ever worked for NPR and its member stations has Susan to thank for making those three letters mean something special to millions of Americans. She is one of the great figures in American broadcast history, and we have her to thank for the work we so proudly continue today.”