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Susan Stamberg Revisits All Things Considered
She'll Host March 11-15 After More Than 15 Years Away

ATC hosts Susan Stamberg and Mike Waters

Susan Stamberg then and now: Above, with early-'70s co-host Mike Waters; and below, today, in the All Things Considered studio.

Photo: David Banks, NPR

March 8, 2002 -- When Susan Stamberg joins Robert Siegel to host All Things Considered the week of March 11, she'll be returning to the program that was her home for more than 14 years.

Stamberg, now a special correspondent for Morning Edition, became an ATC host in early 1972, during the program's first year on the air. She was the first woman to anchor a national daily news program. And she served as host for the nightly news magazine until summer 1986, when she left and launched NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday.

On All Things Considered March 11-15, Stamberg will fill in for co-host Noah Adams, who's on a one-year leave to write a book on the Wright Brothers.

In the three decades since she first occupied the ATC host's chair, Stamberg says much about her work and the world has changed -- but much has stayed the same. Here, in her own words, is a then-and-now comparison.

Susan Stamberg, NPR and ATC: Then and Now

THEN:	NOW:
90-minute All Things Considered program started at 5pm ET.	Two-hour All Things Considered program starts at 4pm ET.
NPR programming heard on fewer than 100 stations.	NPR programming heard on 640 stations.
Number of employees at NPR: About 92	Number of employees at NPR: About 750
"Host had to do pretty much everything on the program including foreign news, because there were virtually no reporters."	ATC now broadcasts reports from scores of reporters, and NPR News has 17 national and 11 foreign bureaus.
Major topics in the news: "The Vietnam War, the Nixon administration, and tensions in the Middle East."	Major topics in the news: "The war in Afghanistan -- and tensions in the Middle East."
Major couple in the news: "Sonny and Cher."	Major couple in the news: "George and Laura."
To work, she wore "pantyhose, high heels, a suit -- and a big grin."	To work, she wears "chic French bowling shoes, slacks, a turtleneck, gray hair -- and a big grin."
Stamberg's son Josh was two years old, and she was one of two working mothers on the NPR News staff.	Stamberg's son Josh is 32, an actor whose movie credits include Kate and Leopold and The Time Machine.
Her dream ATC guest was "anybody we could get -- if the guy selling Cokes on the corner would talk to us, we were thrilled."	Her dream ATC guest would be reclusive novelist J.D. Salinger ("I understand he keeps calling, but I'm always on the other line.")

Other NPR Coverage:

Hear Stamberg's farewell to ATC listeners, from the program Sept 8, 1986.

Browse NPR Online's tribute to Stamberg from April 2001, on her 30th anniversary with NPR News.

Browse a collection of Stamberg's annual Thanksgiving presentations of the recipe for "Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish."

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