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Radio Reading Service for Blind to Lose Space at University of Kentucky Library

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 21:01 CDT

Jul. 20--In 1,600 square feet in the University of Kentucky's King Library, the region's only radio reading service is doing the work some people's eyes and hands can't -- reading the daily news.

But space is tight on campus, and the non-profit received a letter last week giving it three months to vacate its office on the third floor.

After 15 years of rent-free, utility-cost-free work, Central Kentucky Radio Eye doesn't know where to go.

"If we had to pay rent and utilities, we could not stay in business," said Margaret Chase, the service's volunteer executive director. "The university has provided us with this wonderful in-kind support. I had no indication this was coming."

In a statement, UK said it would work with Radio Eye to find a suitable space, but "exceptional" growth in enrollment, research and academic programs means it can't stay in its current office.

"We recognize that CKRE provides an invaluable community service, and we will make every reasonable effort to assure that this service continues without disruption," the statement said. Spokesman Jay Blanton said UK will look for space on and off campus to fit the organization.

Still, Chase said, even the cost of a move could hurt the non-profit, which broadcasts readings to about 1,500 Central Kentuckians with disabilities, mostly visual impairments.

Since it was founded by UK Professor Al Crabb in 1990, the service has used WUKY-91.3 FM's signal to broadcast volunteer readings of the Herald-Leader, The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Time, Ebony and other publications to specialized radios 24 hours a day. Two hours of programming also are available on the Lexington Public Library's cable television channel 20.

With its $35,000 annual budget -- made up of fund-raising dollars and pledges from some listeners -- the organization survives on donations and the work of 130 volunteers, Chase said.

There is one part-time paid employee, a station manager. The sound booths are converted meat lockers. The coffee is donated, and the candy bowl is filled by volunteers. The summer wish list includes Manila envelopes and a cordless phone with an answering machine. Even the newspapers and magazines are donated by listeners or publishers.

Kim Walsh, of the International Association of Audio Information Services and Detroit Radio Information Service, said radio reading services are a prime tool for continuing education and outreach -- major missions for universities.

Some services fear financial cuts from public broadcasters or university sponsors, but few have space issues, she said.

"They get a big bang for their buck," Walsh said of university sponsors. "I'd be surprised that a university wouldn't recognize the potential of a service like that. I hope it's not some kind of trend."

Tom Godell, who is general manager of WUKY, a Radio Eye board member and a member of the committee studying campus library space, says the reading service couldn't stay in the King Library forever, but more time and warning would ease the pain of moving.

Radio Eye volunteers had planned to install $25,000 in new equipment last weekend but postponed the change until a new space is found. The new technology could open the service up to Web-savvy students and larger audiences in such places as Louisville.

"We were talking about making the service statewide," Godell said. "We've got to find a partner who wants the reading service and can make a long-term commitment."

For now, Chase said she is worried about the audience already listening on radios scattered throughout WUKY's listening area. The nearest service, in Cincinnati, reaches parts of Northern Kentucky but Radio Eye is the only one based in Kentucky.

Listener Dixon Barr, 73, relies on Radio Eye, magnifying devices, TV news and a wife with strong eyes and a good heart to keep him going in a darker world, he says. What's a little office space, he said, when there's so much good will in return?

"This world of mine has changed, and I have to take every offering I can," Barr said. "It makes me sick to think this thing might be limited or discontinued. It's a godsend."

Barr first noticed his vision failing in the late 1990s, when even the bright lights of Sunday church services looked dim.

"I read all my life," said Barr, who worked as a minister and at Eastern Kentucky University. "You had to use your eyes in order to use your mind. This switched me from one medium to another, where the hearing is just as important as the seeing."

CENTRAL KENTUCKY-RADIO EYE: www.uky.edu/Libraries/CKRE

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

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