There is a radio service out there that few people are aware of – there are a number of communities that have a service where the local newspaper is read to the blind.\u00a0\u00a0 In most cases, this is transmitted using a subcarrier of an existing FM station, which means you need a special receiver that can only hear the reading service.<\/p>\n
I was going through the list of new radio licenses and found where a Low Power FM (LPFM) station in Massachusetts was upgraded to a full FM station.\u00a0\u00a0 The service streams so you can listen to the service.<\/p>\n
My father was blind and had one of these receivers.\u00a0\u00a0 While a well meaning idea, it’s fundamentally flawed.\u00a0\u00a0 When a sighted person reads a newspaper, you don’t read every article from beginning to end in order.\u00a0\u00a0 You read headlines, and “fast forward” to the next story.\u00a0\u00a0 If you start to read a story and lose interest, you skip to the next thing you’re interested in.\u00a0\u00a0 You don’t spend 18 hours every day just to read the morning paper.<\/p>\n
As you listen, it’s also interesting to see how well trained the readers are (or not).\u00a0 When reading a news story, it is a challenge to read the story and not inject your own opinion about what you’re reading just by the inflections and emphasis in your voice.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/ticnetwork.org\/<\/p>\n
To listen:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/tic1.b2netsolutions.com:8000\/listen.pls<\/a><\/p>\n Over time, these services have tried to broaden their potential listenership to include not only the blind but anyone who can’t read a newspaper (like people who never learned to read)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a radio service out there that few people are aware of – there are a number of communities that have a service where the local newspaper is read to the blind.\u00a0\u00a0 In most cases, this is transmitted using … Continue reading