National Educational Radio Network  The National Educational Radio Network (NERN) was a means of distributing radio programs in the United States between 1961 and 1970. With funding from the Ford Foundation, the network began broadcasting on six radio stations on April 3, 1961. A forerunner was formed in 1925 as the Association of College and University Broadcasting Stations, then renamed the National Association of Educational Broadcasters in 1934. In 1951 a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation enabled the network to become the "(NAEB) Tape Network", based at the University of Illinois. NAEB Tape Network became part of the National Educational Radio Network in 1963. As a result of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 NERN became part of National Public Radio in 1970.