Susan Stamberg, longtime host and special correspondent for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, “a world that totally enwraps you in Jewishness”. While not an observant Jew, Susan nonetheless feels sociologically and ethnically Jewish, and credits Jewish values, among other things, for her interest in learning, opinion, and discussion.

In her interview, Susan recounts her early years in the broadcast industry, from her on-air debut as a weather girl, to becoming the first female anchor of a national news broadcast at a time when a woman’s voice brought suspicion from affiliate station managers, who feared listeners would not take it seriously, and that it was not authoritative. Proving the doubters wrong, Susan has done over 30,000 interviews in the course of her illustrious career, winning many awards along the way.

Susan also talks about the satisfactions of her job, her ongoing sense of curiosity about the world, and the future of radio.

I am very sociologically Jewish

How much am I a product of my generation

I feel, as many women of my generation do, that I helped to invent feminism

When I first started anchoring…