Accustomed to Her Voice

Like millions of others who have made National Public Radio’s news magazine “All Things Considered” a nightly habit, we’re going to miss the program’s co-host--or, as they insist on saying in that line of journalism, co-anchor--Susan Stamberg. We’ve grown accustomed to her voice.

We’ve also grown accustomed to her style, which includes an occasional outburst of hearty laughter when something said in an interview strikes her as worth laughing about. Broadcasting puritans might see this wholly human reaction as perhaps a touch unprofessional. If so, it’s the only thing that anyone might accuse Stamberg of being unprofessional about. She is a thoroughgoing pro, driven by an informed curiosity, well-backgrounded, informal in manner but sharp in her questioning. She is clearly a person who reads, and who thinks, and who wonders and cares about the world around her. Those qualities used to be taken for granted in broadcast news. In an age that has come to be dominated by talking hairdos, they have become all too rare.

Stamberg has been with “All Things Considered” since it began 15 years ago. She’s not leaving NPR. She’ll do occasional bits on the nightly broadcasts, and early next year will launch a Sunday show. But Stamberg says that she has had enough of the daily pressures of shepherding a 90-minute news program. “All Things Considered” is now solidly established and highly respected. Susan Stamberg did a lot to make it that way, and that’s a pretty good legacy to leave behind.