National Federation of Community Broadcasters Program Service (ca. 1970-1985) | University of Illinois Archives

The Possible Tape Exchange grew from an informal network of American non-commercial community radio stations formed in the late 1960s.  At that time, Bill Thomas of Urbana, IL began publishing a newsletter to explore the notion of sharing programs among these stations through the dubbing and exchange of programs recorded to tape, titling it the "Possible Tape Exchange Newsletter".  Thomas eventually established such a library of programs collected from public radio stations. The library started in his homes in Urbana and Champaign, IL, and later moved to commercial space in downtown Champaign. According to Bill Thomas, the newsletter had been using the phrase "possible tape exchange" for long enough that it seemed natural (and amusing) to use it as the official title of the program exchange. This network of Possible Tape Exchange participants later evolved into the National Alternative Radio Konvention (NARK) and its descendant the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB).  The Possible Tape Exchange and NFCB Program Exchange served the NFCB member stations until approx. 1985, when the Exchange and Bill Thomas became part of the Pacifica Program Service.

Sources:

Bill Thomas, personal correspondence, January 28 & February 14, 2014.

"History", National Federation of Community Broadcasters, http://www.nfcb.org/history/