The National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations began its life in 1985 as the Broadcast Executive Directors Association or “BEDA.” Even before the formality of incorporation, the Executive Directors of the State Broadcasters Associations had a long history of collaboration and interaction going back to the 1930s with the formation of the first State Broadcasters Associations. I was the BEDA president from March 1999 to March 2000.
Georgia’s broadcasters were the first to formally organize themselves into a State Broadcasters Association on February 1, 1934, followed two months later by Nebraska. In April of 1935, the Washington State Association of Broadcasters was formed and we still have the original copies of the incorporation documents and minutes of the first meetings of the Board of Directors. The Florida Association of Broadcasters and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association were also formed in 1935. In the next dozen years another 24 State Broadcasters Associations were formed. NASBA now counts 49 State Broadcasters Associations (Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D. C. are a single Association) and Puerto Rico as its membership.
BEDA began meeting informally prior to the National Association of Broadcasters (“NAB”) State Leadership Conference each year and those ad hoc get-togethers quickly blossomed into more formal two-day meetings to exchange best practices ideas and develop skills to better lead our Associations. The initial By-Laws stated that the mission of BEDA as a professional society was the enhancement of “internal educational opportunities for [its] members” and that the “purpose of the organization is to develop a closer unity among broadcast state executive directors, national, regional and state broadcast groups; to exchange ideas for mutual enlightenment and professional growth’ and to strengthen state broadcast associations.”
In 2004, BEDA changed its name to the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (“NASBA”). As more and more of the State Broadcaster Association Executive Directors were named President & CEO by their respective Boards of Directors, it became clear that the focus of the organization should be expanded. NASBA retains BEDA’s mission of peer-to-peer networking and mutual assistance, but it has also grown its activities to reflect the broader scope of the tasks of the State Association leaders.
–Mark Allen, Esq., CEO Washington State Association of Broadcasters
(360) 705-0774
www.wsab.org
