Bill Siemering is a radio visionary. Sixty years ago, Siemering was hired to transform WBFO from a student-run college radio club into a professional station. Because of the experiments in radio that he led at WBFO throughout the 1960s, Siemering was invited to serve on the first board of what would become National Public Radio. He was also invited to write the original mission statement of NPR—while he was still working in Buffalo. Siemering went on to help create NPR’s flagship program, All Things Considered and also what we know today as Fresh Air. Fifty years later, Siemering is still passionate about the power of radio, now doing much of his work in the developing world. 

For an interactive peek at Bill Siemering’s typewritten manuscript of the original Purposes of National Public Radio (1970), generally referred to as the “NPR mission statement,” scroll down to the bottom of this page.

To hear the entire 23-minute story “Thousands of Young People Risk Arrest in Demonstrations Against War” from the first broadcast of All Things Considered on 3 May 1971, visit the NPR Archives here.

To learn more about Developing Radio Partners, the NGO that Bill Siemering founded in 2004, visit their website.

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