National Public Radio (NPR) is a public radio system in the United States. It acquires or produces news, cultural, and information programming and distributes it to hundreds of member stations in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Member radio stations produce many of the cultural programs presented nationally by NPR. The cultural programming includes live performances of classical and jazz music. Reporters from member stations regularly file stories heard on NPR’s newsmagazines.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private organization funded mainly by the federal government, created NPR to provide news programming and to link noncommercial radio stations across the United States. NPR was incorporated in 1970. Its first program transmission was live coverage of U.S. Senate hearings on the Vietnam War on April 19, 1971.
In 1977, NPR merged with the Association of Public Radio Stations and took on that organization’s former responsibilities. For example, it began providing member stations with training and program promotion, and representing the interests of public radio before Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. In 1979, it established the first nationwide, satellite-delivered radio distribution network. NPR’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. See also Corporation for Public Broadcasting
