Reading volunteers wanted

Press, 13 May 1986, Page 4

Reading volunteers wanted

More readers and sponsors are needed for the trial FM radio station for the blind which will start broadcasting in Christchurch on Monday.

Volunteers are needed to read excerpts from newspapers, books, and magazines over the air during the week the station will be broadcasting.

About 15 people had already agreed to be readers but the station would need another 10 to 15 “to be on the safe side,” said the national president of the New Zealand Association of the Blind and Partially Blind, Miss Mary Schnackenberg, yesterday.

The station will be run in conjunction with national conferences of the association and the Disabled Persons Assembly. It will broadcast from May 19 to May 25 on 91.5 FM, using the equipment of the Christchurch Polytechnic’s Radio 1.

Miss Schnackenberg said she was amazed by the response by Christchurch people to the station. “The media studies department at the Polytech has just been fantastic. Its facilities are much more sophisticated than we thought,” she said. Staff and pupils of the department will help staff

the station although much of the equipment will be used by Miss Schnackenberg and the vice-presi-dent, Mr Clive Lansink, both of whom are blind. The calibre of the people who had volunteered to act as readers was such that they needed no training. Newspapers had agreed to have their material read on the radio. Businesses had so far given $B5O in sponsorships. Between $2OOO and $2500 was needed to cover the costs of the station. Thirty-minute segments of air time could be sponsored by businesses for $5O. Most of the station’s

format will consist of readings from the print media and in-depth coverage of the two conferences. It is thought music will be played only for about six minutes each hour.

Because the standard of facilities at the Polytechnic was high, much of the material will be prerecorded.

Miss Schnackenberg said the radio station would focus on people who could not read and try to bring the print media to their attention. “We want to raise the consciousness of the blind population and others who take the print media for granted," she said.

Because most of the station’s publicity was through the print media, which could not reach ail blind people, Miss Schnackenberg urged people who knew about the station to tell others.

The station will broadcast between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., Mondays to Fridays and between noon x and 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It will be heard in the greater Christchurch area.

People who wanted to become readers for the station could reach Miss Schnackenberg at the Polytech until Thursday and from Monday.