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LAWRENCE -- Audio-Reader Network in Lawrence is expanding its news choices to offer three new publications, including the first Spanish newspaper services for the blind and print-disabled in Kansas and western Missouri.
For the first time in the history of Audio-Reader Network, a service of the University of Kansas, the blind and print-disabled can listen to news read in Spanish from Dos Mundos, an English-Spanish newspaper published in Kansas City, Mo.
"We are offering the bilingual news to serve the needs of the print-disabled better," said Janet Campbell, Audio-Reader director. Audio-Reader services are free.
Audio-Reader is adding the New York Times and Wrestling USA magazine. Students at the Kansas School for the Blind in Kansas City, Kan., requested the wrestling news. The new services began Feb. 25.
Dos Mundos is available through the Telephone Reader system. Anyone in the United States may access the Telephone Reader system by calling (800) 772-8898.
"We are testing the waters with Dos Mundos to determine how much interest there is among Audio-Reader listeners for news from Spanish-language editions," said Jeremy Dewey, telephone reader and outreach coordinator for Audio-Reader. "If we have a good response, we may expand to read other Spanish-language edition papers now available in Kansas."
Currently, a volunteer from the Kansas Geological Survey, Marla Adkins-Heljeson, and Audio-Reader development director Diana Frederick are reading Dos Mundos. "Others have expressed interest in reading Spanish news," Dewey said.
Tarek Al-Baghal, graduate teaching assistant in government and an Audio-Reader volunteer, will read Wrestling USA, a monthly magazine featuring amateur and collegiate wrestling, Dewey said.
More than 250 volunteers daily read the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Kansas City Star and TV Guide for blind and print-disabled listeners. These publications are available through the Telephone Reader system.
Two national and two state newspapers are available daily, statewide through special text-to-speech technology: USA Today, the New York Times, the Wichita Eagle and the Topeka Capital-Journal. Using a special program designed by Audio-Reader Engineer Steve Kincaid, computers search the newspaper Web sites for articles, which a synthesized voice then reads.
Telephone Reader allows blind and print-impaired people to use their telephones to listen to readings of newspapers and print materials. Some newspapers are read aloud by volunteers, and some are computer files, which a standard synthesized voice reads. With a touch-tone phone, a listener can call the system at any time, select the publication, listen to headlines and select individual stories.
Established in 1971, Audio-Reader was one of the first radio reading services in the world. Today, with the help of FM radio broadcasters, cable TV companies, microwave relay systems and the Kansas Lions Sight Foundation Satellite Network, reading by radio is available to thousands of people across Kansas and western Missouri, with some programming available via satellite through other radio reading services across the United States.
The broadcast schedule and more information about Audio-Reader are available on the Web at www.ku.edu/~arnet or by calling (800) 772-8898.
Several regional newspapers are available through Audio-Reader in three simultaneous broadcasts. The western Kansas signal is heard from Manhattan west and to satellite listeners. The eastern Kansas signal is heard from Manhattan east on the KANU signal. Pittsburg/Joplin-area listeners hear the signal that originates at KRPS radio on the Pittsburg State University campus.
Broadcast closed-circuit from KANU and KCUR public radio in eastern Kansas:
* Atchison Daily Globe
* Emporia Gazette
* Holton Recorder
* Iola Register
* Leavenworth Times
* Manhattan Mercury
* Olathe Daily News
* Ottawa Herald
* Baldwin Ledger (Friday)
* Bonner Springs/Edwardsville Chieftain (Thursday)
* Eudora News
* Johnson County Sun (Monday and Thursday)
* Kansas State Globe (Thursday)
* Louisburg Herald (Friday)
* Marysville Advocate (Friday)
* Miami County Republic (Tuesday & Thursday)
* Osage County Chronicle (Friday)
* Pittsburg Morning Sun
* Tonganoxie Mirror (Thursday)
* Valley Falls Vindicator (Thursday)
* Wamego Smoke Signal
Broadcast closed-circuit from KRPS in Pittsburg:
* Bartlesville (Okla.) Examiner
* Carthage (Mo.) Press
* Chanute Tribune
* Columbus Daily Advocate
* Fort Scott Tribune
* Girard Press
* Iola Register
* Joplin (Mo.) Globe
* Lamar (Mo.) Democrat
* Miami News-Record
* Parsons Sun
* Pittsburg Morning Sun
* Webb City (Mo.) Sentinel
* Wilson County Citizen
Broadcast closed-circuit from KANZ (Garden City), KZNA (Hill City), KCKS (Concordia) and cable systems in Salina and Manhattan for central and western Kansas:
* Abilene Reflector-Chronicle
* Clay Center Dispatch
* Concordia Blade-Empire
* Dodge City Daily Globe
* Emporia Gazette
* Garden City Telegram
* Great Bend Tribune
* Manhattan Mercury
* Hays Daily News
* Junction City Daily Union
* Salina Journal
* Southwest Daily Times
* Stockton Sentinel
* Barber County Index (Thursday)
* Harvey County Independent (Friday)
* Ulysses News (Thursday)
Broadcast closed-circuit statewide and KXCV (Maryville, Mo.):
* Albany (Mo.) Ledger
* Fairfax (Mo.) Forum
* Independence (Mo.) Examiner
* Lee's Summit (Mo.) Journal
* Maryville (Mo.) Forum
* Savannah (Mo.) Reporter
* St. Joseph (Mo.) News Press
* St. Joseph (Mo.) Telegraph
* Tarkio (Mo.) Avalanche
* Lawrence Journal-World
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