It was founded as the Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations (ACUBS) in 1925[1] as a result of Fourth National Radio Conference, held by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
[3] The original constitution for the organization read: ACUBS held its first annual conference July 1 and 2, 1930 in Columbus, Ohio joining with the Institution of Education by Radio.
"[1] In 1938, NAEB persuaded the Federal Communications Commission to reserve five radio channels for educational broadcasting.
"[5] The APRS merged with National Public Radio (NPR) in 1977, which allowed NPR to provide "leadership of a full-fledged membership organization providing member stations with training, program promotion and management, and representing the interests of public radio stations before Congress, the FCC and other regulatory organizations.
[6] Until it folded in 1981, NAEB was public broadcasting's primary voice, forum and program distributor.