Inside Susan Stamberg’s Fortune: What NPR Really Paid the Radio Legend

One of NPR's original trailblazers is gone. Susan Stamberg, a voice a lot of us grew up with on the radio, has died at 87. If you ever tuned in to All Things Considered, you know exactly what she brought to the medium: authority without stiffness, curiosity without ego, and an easy warmth that made hard news feel human.

Why Susan Stamberg mattered

Stamberg was one of NPR's founding mothers and the first woman in the U.S. to anchor a nightly national news program, taking the All Things Considered chair in 1972. She stayed on the air for decades, most recently stepping back in September. Along the way, she picked up a spot in the National Radio Hall of Fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her beats were broad by design — arts, news, culture, everyday life — and that breadth became part of NPR's DNA.

'Susan's voice was not only a cornerstone of NPR — it was a cornerstone of American life. 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.'

— Katherine Maher, NPR president and CEO

Quick money note because people always ask: there are stray internet claims she was worth $2.5 million. No credible sourcing on that, and given her career was almost entirely in public radio, take those numbers with a truckload of salt. What we do know: she made her living as a host and later as a special correspondent at NPR.

The origin story (with some great radio-geek detail)

Stamberg did not start out behind a mic. NPR initially hired her to literally cut tape with a razor blade. She got on the air at WAMU, the public station in D.C., doing weather. And this is delightfully old-school: you picked up the phone, dialed WE 6-1212, someone told you the forecast, and you read it — no in-studio windows, no computers, no meteorologists. Her first time on mic she forgot to make the call, blurted out the wrong temperature, and learned the two rules she lived by: prepare before you open the mic, and do not lie to your audience.

Before NPR, she spent two years working for the American ambassador to India. Once she landed at NPR, she moved from producer to All Things Considered co-host in 1972 — at a time when the 'authoritative news voice' was synonymous with deep-voiced men. She tried lowering her voice to match that mold until NPR's first program director, Bill Siemering, told her to do the obvious but radical thing: be herself.

The pushback was real. Jack Mitchell, the show's first producer, has talked about the internal complaints: she was a woman, she was Jewish, her last name was Stamberg, she had a clear New York accent, and some managers griped that she sounded 'too New York.' The NPR president even asked that she not be put on air because of those complaints. They did it anyway; he supported the decision afterward. Progress, not without friction.

Building NPR's voice

Stamberg found a key partner in fellow NPR pioneer Linda Wertheimer. They did not line up on everything — Wertheimer loved politics; Stamberg famously found it 'the most boring thing imaginable' — but the contrast gave the show texture. After 14 years on All Things Considered, Stamberg moved to host Weekend Edition Sunday, launched NPR's Sunday puzzle in 1987, and a couple of years later shifted to a special correspondent role, where she stayed a familiar presence for listeners.

Family, tributes, and the Hollywood connection

Her son, actor Josh Stamberg, summed up her work simply: she believed in journalism as a way to connect people through ideas and culture. Josh started out with bits and voice work before popping up on Spin City and making his film debut in The Photographer. He is done being 'that guy from that thing' — you have seen him.

• TV: regular on Drop Dead Diva; played S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward in Marvel's WandaVision; also appeared on Nashville, Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, Criminal Minds, NCIS, The Rookie, and Parenthood
• Film: Legion, J. Edgar, Saving Lincoln, Day Out of Days; plus the 2021 doc Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal

Stamberg is also survived by her granddaughters, Vivian and Lena, Josh's daughters with his ex-wife, actor Myndy Crist.

However you measure a media legacy — firsts, longevity, or how many people still hear your voice in their head — Susan Stamberg cleared the bar by a mile. Radio is more human today because she insisted it could be.