Hampton Roads Voice brings news to visually impaired

By Gary Ruegsegger Correspondent

Imagine not being able to read local news stories, see the editorials or flip through grocery ads.

Thousands of local residents don’t have to imagine. It’s their reality.

According to the Virginia Department for the Blind, more than 154,000 Hampton Roads residents are blind or visually impaired.

“Until you’ve been there, it’s hard to understand what it’s like,” said Christopher Heath, a resident of Chesapeake’s Norfolk Highlands neighborhood.

Heath, a former Virginian-Pilot newspaper carrier, lost his vision to glaucoma and has been legally blind since 1997. However, his impairment hasn’t stopped him from getting to enjoy one of his favorite hobbies, perusing the newspaper, thanks to WHRO’s Hampton Roads Voice for the Print Handicapped.

The local public television and radio station’s program brings the local newspaper back to the kitchen table for many disabled individuals. Listeners receive the closed circuit signal via a specially modified radio. Live broadcasts are also streamed over the Internet.

The free service began in January 1981 in a makeshift studio trailer under the direction of the late Peter Pine with eight volunteer readers. Today, it broadcasts from a state-of-the-art studio named in Pine’s honor. Readers number over 90.

WHRO currently has 1,000 of the closed circuit receivers in use. The number of Internet listeners is unknown.

Each morning from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., volunteers read The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press, focusing on regional stories, obituaries, commentaries and grocery store ads.

When readers are not on the air live, syndicated programming from the Virginia Voice or the In Touch network are broadcast.

“All the readers give their time freely,” said Heath, an avid listener.

“You just can’t say enough about their dedication, generosity and courtesy.”

Several years ago, Jay Dooling, 55, a Roland Park resident, signed up her aunt, Nannette Beavers.

A 1948 graduate of Granby High and a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, Beavers died in August. She was a voracious reader.

“She remembered everything she ever read,” said Dooling.

“The broadcasts picked up her spirits and brightened her days.”

The program’s volunteer readers are as diverse a group as the listeners. Most feel they get just as much, or maybe even more, from the service.

Bobbie Fisher, 64, a resident of downtown Norfolk, has been a reader for 26 years.

“We give people a feeling of independence and a flavor of community life you can only get in the local section of the newspaper,” said Fisher. “People want and need to know what happened, who died and where you can get pork chops on the cheap.”

Arlene Singer, 70, a Churchland resident, rides the bus from Portsmouth, and her sister, Sharlene Caroll, drives from Suffolk to read.

Last year, Singer donated more than 150 hours of broadcast time.

“We’re identical twins, and our voices are identical. We tell people we’re 140 years old,” Singer said with a chuckle.

Gary Ruegsegger, 497-3755