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Much as the Bylines Network brings otherwise unseen stories to local and national attention, the Talking News network is dedicated to bringing locally centered news to registered blind and partially sighted people. Across Yorkshire there are 22 separate groups of volunteers – all part of the national Talking Newspaper Federation which, as a whole, delivers news and magazine articles to over 25,000 listeners across the UK. A full list of the Yorkshire groups can be found here.
Wharfedale Talking News
I talked to Wharfedale Talking News (WTN),which has listeners in Otley, Ilkley and surrounding areas in Wharfedale and parts of Aireborough. A rota of their volunteers ensures that the WTN is recorded every week and posted free of charge (many thanks to the Royal Mail here) to eligible listeners – eligibility for the free postal delivery is determined by possession of a Certificate of Vision Impairment, or by being registered visually impaired by their local authority.
The efficiency of the production process means that listeners get their audible version of The Wharfedale Observer and Ilkley Gazette just a couple of days after the paper copy hits the streets. The full recording is then made available to all, free of charge, via the WTN and British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) websites (links below). Many more people can then benefit from the recordings.
The volunteers
All Talking News groups offer a variety of volunteer roles – to suit the interests and availability of each volunteer. There are a number of readers at each recording session – to ensure that the listeners have the news and articles read by a variety of voices. The pieces to be read are selected in advance, and cut to size if necessary, by an editor / producer – who also help with the reading, and coordinate the recording session.
A technician at each session sets up the mixer, mics and laptop, cues in the readers, and prepares the final recordings for dispatch. Other volunteers record selected items at home and share them online with the technician. In the background to all of this, the returned postal wallets need to be collected from the Post Office and made ready for the next edition.
Technology does not stand still
WTN was launched in 1984, with a grant from the RNIB. Initially, cassette tapes were recorded in a cold, draughty room, and then copied using a machine which produced just two tapes at a time. A slow process!
Over the next 40 years the accommodation has, thankfully, warmed up, and technology has moved from cassettes to CDs, and then to USB memory sticks – with vastly improved copying machines. Uploading the finished recording onto both local and national websites has been the final development.
Parallel improvements in laptop technology and software meant that during Covid the work continued uninterrupted – with readers recording the whole edition at home and then sharing the results with a technician who prepared the USB sticks and dispatched them. It was all Covid-safe, and the listeners still received every edition.
What gets into a Talking News edition?
Every week (except Christmas) the WTN volunteers gather to edit, read and record the weekly talking news from that week’s local printed newspapers, the Wharfedale Observer and the Ilkley Gazette, as well as TV listings for audio-described programmes (the Wharfedale team make the latter available to Talking News teams across the whole of the UK). Also included in the final recording are externally produced articles on subjects that directly affect those living with sight loss – from the Talking News Federation, and radio listings taken from the Radio Times.
The monthly ‘magazine’ recording contains a cornucopia of articles, anecdotes, news, poetry and jokes, featuring content from publications such as Country Living, Dalesman, Saga, Yorkshire Life, and now, a recent addition, Yorkshire Bylines. The Otley Action for Older People newsletter is also recorded.
Otley Matters, the council-produced information paper, is read by local councillors every three months.
Finally…
All TNs are largely funded through contributions made by individuals and organisations. These donations are used to pay for equipment such as audio players for listeners, USB memory sticks, wallets for posting out the sticks, and the technical equipment needed for the creation and duplication of the recordings.
If you know someone who is registered blind or partially sighted and who would like to receive these recordings in the post, please do contact your local TN. In most cases an MP3 player, required to play the memory sticks, can be provided free of charge for those who do not have one of their own. People who can benefit from the service, but who are not registered blind, can access the recordings on the WTN website, or the BWBF app.
Most Talking News groups are continually on the lookout for more volunteers – the Wharfedale TN would certainly welcome an approach from an additional technician or two. So – why not contact your local Talking Newspaper (see the list in the link above) and offer your services? Spread the word.
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