Susan Stamberg

I was so formal.

And in those early days when there weren't a whole lot of women on the air, in fact, none doing news, I was the first to anchor a nightly national news program.

1972 was all things considered.

We were imitating men.

So I was lowering my voice to sound as authoritative as I could.

And I hear in those tapes my getting looser and more relaxed with it.

I hear in more recent work speeding up to a point where it's almost too fast sometimes.

I've got to start slowing myself down again.

I hear those changes in music.

in voice, voice per se, but also, you know, a growth of confidence, which I hope happens to you.

I used to feel that radio, you keep doing it till you get it right.

You know, you practice it every day and someday it'll kick in.

And I hope that that happens too over the years.

Yes, I sat in.

I have to say, Terry, there's a lot of first women and feminist stuff in this book because I'm a believer in it.

But men gave me breaks every inch of the way.

He wasn't the first host of All Things Considered.

That was a man named Robert Conley.

But he was the second one, I think.

Mike Waters was doing the program.