Nevada Public Radio - Radio Reading Service

Radio Reading Service
The Nevada Public Radio - Radio Reading Service is a 24-hour-a-day broadcast service providing readings from a wide range of local and national newspapers, magazines and books for print-impaired residents of southern Nevada.
Anyone unable to read standard printed material due to vision loss, physical impairment or a learning disability is eligible to borrow for free a special receiver needed to hear the service.
The mission of the reading service is simple - to provide timely news and information, as well as novels and short stories, for people who can't read for themselves. Most print-impaired people want to stay in touch with current events or their favorite authors but find that doing so is difficult or impossible without help. Our daily readings from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and weekday readings from the Las Vegas Sun and broadcasts of other local publications offer listeners the chance to become more fully aware of community events, politics and news, and this often leads to a fuller involvement in the community and increased independence.
Jay Bartos Readings of national and international magazines and newspapers are provided via satellite by reading services from New York and Minnesota. Publications read include the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Prevention, The Economist, TV Guide and the National Enquirer. Best-selling or critically acclaimed books are a listener favorite, and we also offer a variety of readings and informational programs from National Public Radio and other public radio sources. This mix of programs is intended to give our listeners some of the choices sighted readers have and most of this material is available to local print-impaired people only though the reading service.
Radio Reading Service volunteers Our readers come from all walks of life. Before taking their auditions, most have rarely, if ever, read aloud to adults. With training and hard work they are able to convey the nuances of even the most complex article, knowing that in most cases the listeners will have just one chance to hear it and understand it.

Sponsored by the Paul E. and Helen S. Meyer Foundation, the Nevada Public Radio - Radio Reading Service is broadcast on a subcarrier frequency of KNPR-FM (Nevada Public Radio) and can be heard by using a specially-tuned receiver, which simply needs to be plugged in and turned on to operate. Receivers are loaned by the Radio Reading Service FREE of charge, although we do request a $30 annual donation from listeners who can afford it. Fill out an application on line, or call 258-9895. And in the Las Vegas area, the Radio Reading Service is available on COX cable channel 61.

Jeff Hayes (Wells Fargo) and Pat Chapin (Nevada Public Radio)

Radio Reading Service Extends Programming

In 2002 Nevada Public Radio expanded its Radio Reading Service to previously unserved northern Nevada with the receipt of a $47,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce and a $12,500 grant from Wells Fargo.

Public radio stations KUNR - Reno, KNCC - Elko, KWPR - Lund/Ely and KTPH - Tonopah now provide coverage to 90% of Nevada's population. Prospective clients of the expanded service may fill out an application on line, or call 1-866-895-5677.

"Many older folks lose their vision late in life and really miss reading the daily newspaper. The Radio Reading Service provides timely, local information unavailable through any other source. We are excited to have been chosen to receive this grant so we can expand our local service statewide," said Nevada Public Radio General Manager Lamar Marchese.

With grant assistance from the Department of Commerce's Public Telecommunications Facilities Program and a local match from Wells Fargo, Nevada Public Radio has purchased and installed satellite downlinks and other equipment in Reno, Elko, Tonopah and Lund/Ely to receive and distribute the signal from its point of origin in Las Vegas.

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