 NWDR was a founder member of the consortium of public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany, the ARD.On 1 January 1956, NWDR was succeeded by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).Broadcasting in what was to become NWDR's post-war transmission area was initiated in the early 1920s