The National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) was founded as the Association of College University Broadcasting Stations (ACUBS) on November 12, 1925.

In 1938, ACUBS persuaded the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 to reserve five radio channels for educational broadcasting.

In September 1934, the organization rewrote its constitution, and changed its name to the "National Association of Educational Broadcasters."

In 1945 the FCC reserved five of the 40 channels in new high-frequency band for Non-commercial educational

Non-commercial educational

The term non-commercial educational applies to a radio station or TV station that does not accept on air advertisements , as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission . NCE stations do not pay broadcast license fees for their non-profit uses of the radio spectrum...

 stations. There were initially planned to be AM

Amplitude modulation

Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...

 services; however, they eventually manifested as FM

Frequency modulation

In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

 ones.

NAEB merged with the Association of Education by Radio-Television in 1956. It reorganized in 1963 with new divisions Educational Television Stations

Educational Television Stations

Educational Television Stations was a division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters , created at the association's 1963 convention in the United States...

 and National Educational Radio

National Educational Radio

National Educational Radio was a division of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, operating between 1963 and 1973 in the United States of America....

. These divisions lasted until 1973, when they were dissolved and their roles taken over by Public Broadcasting Service

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 (PBS) and Association of Public Radio Stations

Association of Public Radio Stations

The Association of Public Radio Stations was a radio network in the United States from 1973 to 1977.It was formed on May 24, 1973, becoming the main public radio representative to federal agencies and Congress after National Educational Radio dissolved in June 1973. In 1977 it merged with National...

respectively.

Until it folded in 1981, NAEB was public broadcasting's primary voice, forum and program distributor.