APB Celebrates 60 Years of Business in the Lecture Industry
02 Jan 2025
In 1965, Robert P. Walker changed the course of the lecture industry forever when he founded American Program Bureau (APB) and created a way for people to see the most exciting and popular personalities, hear cutting-edge ideas and experience the leaders, activists and innovators of the day—live, unedited and unfiltered by mass media. In 2025, the company will celebrate 60 years of being a pioneer in the speaking industry and continue Walker’s mission to make important voices heard around the world.
“The voices of many Civil Rights leaders and activists didn’t have a way to get their message out,” Walker said of founding the company. “They needed to be heard, and I wanted to find a way to make it happen.”
Walker founded American Program Bureau on the basic premise that a flourishing public forum was vital to the nation’s discourse. With Civil Rights battles raging, he ventured out to college campuses, bringing students the people they wanted to hear, including newsmakers and activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Adam Clayton Powell.
Tuned into the social turmoil of the decade, Walker introduced the voices of Jane Fonda, Abbie Hoffman, Betty Friedan, Andy Warhol and Ralph Nader to engage in the debates of the day. Where once thought leaders spoke out on the fringe or struggled to find the most viable means for getting their message out, Walker virtually created the avenue for them to be heard. He single-handedly developed the college and university marketplace by providing a platform for these speakers to speak during a time when no one else would listen to them.
In 1968, The New York Times Magazine featured Walker in a 10-page article as "a young impresario," highlighting his unorthodox style and uncanny sense of knowing how to successfully match client, speaker and program. Soon, legends such as Presidents Ronald Reagan and Francois Mitterrand, as well as former Prime Minister Sir Harold Wilson and others throughout the world, became part of the APB roster family. And, in 1970, Newsweek dubbed Walker the "King of the Talkies." With him at the helm, The Guinness Book of World Records listed APB as the largest lecture agency in the world from 1970-1980.
From the Civil Rights movement and Watergate to the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements and everything in between, APB has led the conversation on national and global issues. Representing some of the world’s most iconic figures, APB has been privileged to work with luminaries like the late Mikhail Gorbachev, President Mary Robinson, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Dan Rather and many others whose impact continues to shape the world.
APB continues to provide the most innovative programs for diversity, college, non-profit, education and healthcare markets, as well as for major corporations and associations—both in the U.S. and internationally, while still under Walker’s stewardship. Known for having coined the term “infotainment,” Walker prides himself on the culture of innovation and creativity that APB was founded on, which still drives the company today.