The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, French: Accord régional sur la radiodiffusion en Amérique du Nord; Spanish: Convenio Regional Norteamericano de Radiodifusión) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were distributed among the signatories, with a special emphasis on high-powered clear channel allocations.

The initial NARBA bandplan, also known as the "Havana Treaty", was signed by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti on December 13, 1937, and took effect March 29, 1941. A series of modifications and adjustments followed, also under the NARBA name. NARBA's provisions were largely supplanted in 1983, with the adoption of the Regional Agreement for the Medium Frequency Broadcasting Service in Region 2 (Rio Agreement), which covered the entire Western hemisphere. However, the AM band assignments in North America largely reflect the standards first established by the NARBA agreements.

Organized AM (mediumwave) radio broadcasting began in the early 1920s, and the United States soon dominated the North American airwaves, with more than 500 stations by the end of 1922. Due to a change in the ionosphere after the sun sets, nighttime signals from AM band stations are reflected for distances extending for hundreds of kilometers. This is valuable in providing radio programming to sparsely settled areas using high-powered transmitters. However, it also leads to the need for international cooperation in station assignments, to avoid mutually interfering signals.

In an effort to rationalize assignments, a major reallocation went into force in the U.S. on November 11, 1928, following the standards set by the Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40. At that time, the AM band was defined as 96 frequencies, running in 10 kilocycle-per-second (kHz) steps from 550 to 1500 kHz, which were divided into what became known as "Local", "Regional", and "Clear Channel" frequencies. The only provision the FRC made addressing international concerns was that six frequencies — 690, 730, 840, 910, 960, and 1030 — were designated for exclusive Canadian use. On May 5, 1932, through an exchange of letters, the U.S. and Canada informally endorsed and expanded the 1928 standards, including recognition of Canadian use of 540 kHz. During the 1930s, Canada also began using 1510 kHz, while in 1934, the U.S. authorized two experimental high-fidelity stations on each of 1530 and 1550 kHz. By 1939, Cuban stations existed on frequencies as high as 1600 kHz.

As other countries, especially Mexico and Cuba, developed their own radio broadcasting services, the need arose to standardize engineering practices, reduce interference, and more fairly distribute clear channel assignments. Moreover, the development of better frequency control, and especially directional antennas, made it possible for additional stations to operate on the same or close by frequencies without significantly increasing interference. A key objective for the United States was that, in exchange for receiving clear channel assignments, Mexico would eliminate the high-powered English-language "border blaster" stations that had been directing their programming toward the U.S. and causing significant interference to U.S. and Canadian stations. However, an initial international meeting held in Mexico City in the summer of 1933 failed, primarily due to a lack of agreement over how many clear channel frequencies would be assigned to Mexico.

In 1937, a series of radio conferences, this time successful, was held in Havana, Cuba, and the initial NARBA agreement was signed on December 13, 1937, by representatives from the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The most significant change was the formal addition of 10 broadcasting frequencies, from 1510 to 1600 kHz, with the 106 available frequencies divided into Clear Channel (59 frequencies), Regional (41) and Local (6) designations. The official lower limit remained at 550 kHz, as it was not possible to add stations at the bottom of the broadcast band due to the need to protect 500 kHz — a maritime international distress frequency — from interference. (Although operation on 540 kHz was not covered by the Agreement, unofficially it became an additional Canadian clear channel frequency.)

Under the Agreement, most existing stations operating on 740 kHz or higher would have to change frequencies. Open frequencies were created throughout the band by "stretching out" the existing assignments, achieved by following a table which in most cases moved all the stations on a common frequency to a new, higher, dial position. This provided gaps of unassigned frequencies, most of which became clear channels allocated to Mexico and Canada. A majority of the frequency shifts were limited to between 10 and 30 kHz, which conserved the electrical height of a station's existing vertical radiator towers, an important factor for readjusting directional antenna parameters to accommodate the new frequency.

Individual stations were specified to be Class I, II, III, or IV, with the class determining the maximum power a station could use and its interference protection standards. In all of the participating countries, Class I and II stations were exclusively assigned to Clear Channel frequencies, while Class III was synonymous with a Regional frequency assignment. In the United States, Class IV stations were only assigned to Local frequencies, although in other countries they were assigned to both Local and Regional ones. A major change was the provision that some clear channels were allocated to be used simultaneously by two stations — those maintaining sole use of a frequency were classified as Class I-A, while stations sharing a clear channel were known as Class I-B. The Agreement assigned six Class I-A frequencies each to Mexico and Canada, and one to Cuba.