The BEA is an international academic organization originating and operating mainly out of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The BEA is devoted to multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 research and teaching, and retains the historical purpose to prepare college students interested in telecommunications and electronic mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 for careers in radio and television. The BEA slogan is, “Educating for Tomorrow’s Media.”

Members

The BEA consist of associate, institutional, individual, and student members. Associate members include; radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 stations, academic research organizations, telephone and cable companies, publishers, high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

s, and PR

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 organizations, media manufacturers, and law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

s. Institutional members include colleges and universities with electronic media

Electronic media

Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical energy for the end-user to access the content. This is in contrast to static media , which today are most often created electronically, but don't require electronics to be accessed by the end-user in the printed form...

 programs. Individual members consist of professors and educators interested in multimedia pursuits. Student members consist of undergraduate and graduate students interested in multimedia.

UAPRE

A broadcasting association in the United States, BEA underwent several name changes in the developmental years of the association. Initially organized in 1948, the small University Association for Professional Radio Education (UAPRE) almost ceased to exist because of a lack of organization leading to a lack of specific activities and goals.

APBE

The group reorganized in 1956 as the Association for Professional Broadcasting Education (APBE). At this point, the organization’s purpose was to combine broadcasters and educators through an affiliation with the National Association of Broadcasters

National Association of Broadcasters

The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...

 (NAB). In doing so, the APBE was working towards the goal of good career and liberal arts

Liberal arts

The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

 education in broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

. APBE began publishing Journal of Broadcasting, the quarterly scholarly journal, in the winter of 1956. In 1974, APBE changed its name to the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).