Created on 12 October 1991, ORB joined ARD on 27 November and formally took over from the former Rundfunk der DDR on 1 January 1992.

However, faced with the criticism that the designation ODR could be taken as implying that the new organization covered the whole of the former "East Germany", a more specific name was chosen in the autumn of 1991.

In 1995 the Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg in coalition with the Sender Freies Berlin started their Internet radio streaming service Info-Radio on Demand.

On 1 May 1992, the schedules were radically altered to account for the habits of the viewers, with the main local news being moved to 19:30 - a position it keeps on RBB's successor service.

ORB contributed to the series Polizeiruf 110 - a crime drama strand originally produced from 1971 by GDR television and taken up by Das Erste after reunification.