Radio Reading Service
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A radio reading service or reading service for the blind is a service of many universities, community groups and public radio stations, where a narrator reads books, newspapers and magazines aloud for the benefit of the blind and vision-impaired. It is most often carried on a subcarrier, with radio receivers permanently tuned to a given station in the area. Some reading services use alternative methods for reaching their audiences, including broadcasting over SAP, streaming Internet radio, and cable TV.
The International Association of Audio Information Services (IAAIS) serves as the primary member organization for radio reading services, and has member services in Canada, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States.
The first radio reading service in the United States was the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network, started in 1969 by Stan Potter and Bob Watson. In 1971, Petey Cerf founded Audio-Reader, the second reading service in the nation, in Lawrence, Kansas. In the late 1970s, Audio-Reader director Rosie Hurwitz and Stan Potter served as the first two presidents of the Association of Radio Reading Services, which came to be known as the National Association of Radio Reading Services, and, finally, IAAIS.
- In the U.S.A., most National Public Radio stations carry a local or regional reading service, and many are branded under the Radio Talking Book Network name.
- In Australia, the members of the RPH Network uses the format exclusively, while other stations rebroadcast network material and record their own.
In television, the equivalent is videodescription, a narration track on the optional second audio program.
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