Reading & Radio Resource

Reading and Radio Resource, a private nonprofit founded in 1969, serves children and adults who cannot read regular print due to a visual, physical, or learning disabilities. The agency serves more than 70,000 students in the state of Texas who qualify for Special Education, English Language Learners, and Section 504 (students with a learning difference not severe enough to require special education) services.

Adults can order or request the recording of books for pleasure reading and those that might aid education, employment, and career development. R&RR also helps readers lead more independent lives by recording such things as business correspondence, public transportation schedules, organizational newsletters and annual reports.

“Our agency brings the world of words to our listeners and helps prevent the isolation that sometimes accompanies reading limitations,” R&RR executive director Betty Hersey said in an email interview. “We have six full-time staff members and over 300 volunteers who work between 14,000-16,000 hours each year to make sure our listeners receive what they need.”

Volunteer audition to be readers; others are trained to edit newspapers, edit digital recordings, duplicate recordings, and or work the front desk.

What Reading & Radio Resource Offers

R&RR staff, volunteers, and donors help print-impaired readers by:

• Producing and distributing high-quality recordings of textbooks, enrichment literature, and vocational and motivational materials to schools, libraries, service agencies, and individuals for free, or for the lowest possible cost
• Broadcasting informational programs, community updates, and readings of newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and books over a local radio channel 365 days a year
• Partnering with the other non-profit agencies, businesses, healthcare providers, teachers, and families to identify and serve as many listeners as possible
• Exploring new technologies and media to better serve customers.

Recorded Books Program

R&RR services are grouped into two programs: the Recorded Books Program and the NTRB (North Texas Radio for the Blind) Radio Reading Service.

The Recorded Books Program avails children and adults of a catalog of over 3,700 titles and records reader-requested books on standard two-track cassettes or CDs (MP3 format), which the listener may keep. To request a recording of specific materials, please contact the Recorded Books Manager at 214-871-7668, or e-mail Recorded Books Program.

Any child, in grades one through twelve, who qualifies for Special Education or Section 504 services, in either public, private, or home-school setting may receive all state-adopted textbooks, supplemental classroom materials, and outside reading in an audio format. Teachers can have books shipped directly to them and may duplicate them for other print-impaired students.

Listeners can order books by phone, mail, or e-mail. No enrollment is necessary; books become the property of the listener.

NTRB (North Texas Radio for the Blind)

R&RR runs a radio station that reads local and national newspapers and magazines, unabridged novels, self-help segments, interviews, exercise programming including yoga, and old radio shows on Sunday nights. The station broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on a sub-frequency of local NPR station (KERA 90.1 FM) to a potential audience of 40,000 print impaired readers within its 70-mile range.

Special agency supplied receivers are provided free to qualified readers (i.e. certified print disabled) to decode the signal.

For more information on Reading & Radio Resource, call (214.871.7668) or write to:

Reading & Radio Service

2007 Randall

Dallas, TX 75201-1500