[Nfb-or] Fwd: Re: [IAAIS] News Release Re AIN/Golden Hours in Oregon

[David Andrews]

>
> >>> <mailto:hlusignan%40nbrscanada.com>hlusignan at nbrscanada.com 
> 4/21/2008 1:35 PM >>>
>Hi,
>
>The News Release is pasted below. It has been send to congress
>people,
>senators and 5 newspapers in Oregon plus Radio World, Current, the
>House
>Committee on on Energy & Commerce and the Subcommittee on
>Telecommunications & the Internet.
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (April 21, 2008)
>
>CONTACTS: Heather Lusignan
>Kim
>Walsh
>
>President First Vice
>President
>
>416-422-4222, ext 224 313-577-7684
>
><mailto:hlusignan%40nbrscanada.com>hlusignan at nbrscanada.com 
><mailto:kwalsh%40wdetfm.org>kwalsh at wdetfm.org
>
>Oregon Public Broadcasting Abandons Blind/Vision-impaired
>Oregonians!
>
>The Only Reading Service Broadcast for Blind, Vision-impaired and
>other
>Print-disabled Citizens Goes Dark -Allegedly a Victim of the
>Digital
>Television Transition
>
>At 12:01 am this morning, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)
>terminated
>the broadcast of its reading service, the Audio Information
>Network
>(AIN), formerly Golden Hours Radio - the only reading service in
>the
>state for people with limited or no access to print.
>
>OPB has operated and broadcast Golden Hours since 1975. Initially
>the
>reading service was distributed on the subcarrier of KOPB-FM,
>OPB's
>station in Portland, Oregon. In 1997 OPB moved the Golden Hours
>signal
>from its radio-based broadcast to the Secondary Audio Program (SAP)
>of
>its television station. And in September 2007, OPB launched its
>reading
>service on digital radio, one of the first public stations in the
>nation
>to do so.
>
>Surprisingly, and with little plausible justification, OPB
>discontinued
>all of its broadcasts for blind/vision-impaired people, and will
>discontinue housing the service April 30th. This will result in
>the
>lay-off of four employees and impact negatively on the many
>volunteers
>dedicated to reading current newspapers and other time-sensitive
>information vital to the day-to-day information needs of the
>Golden
>Hours audience.
>
>"It is heart rending that Oregon Public Broadcasting, the primary
>public radio and television broadcasting network in the state
>decided to
>terminate carriage of AIN/Golden Hours 9 months before the
>Congress-legislated DTV conversion", said Heather Lusignan, IAAIS
>president. "It is unconscionable, and unacceptable for a public
>entity
>to strand Oregon's blind/vision-impaired community without any
>regard to
>its news/information needs," she added.
>
>Reading services like AIN/Golden Hours are uniquely positioned to
>fill
>the information gap between printed or visual media and consumers
>who
>cannot access it. Serving millions of listeners nationwide, these
>services especially help older individuals who lose vision at the
>highest rates, miss reading the most and may not have the budget,
>ability or desire to use many of the newest devices. About
>250,000
>residents of Oregon are estimated to need the service. Many have
>no
>other means to access common printed information most people take
>for
>granted like newspapers, store circulars, voting guides and other
>items
>needed for community inclusion.
>
>In its March 13th News Release, OPB cited four major challenges to
>continuing the reading service, two of which relate directly to
>the
>digital television transition: the imminent demise of the
>secondary
>audio program (SAP), which is the primary means of delivering this
>service and, the lack of any feasible and effective methods of
>delivering the service following the end of analog television
>broadcasting next year. Other justifications included:
>difficulty
>identifying a user base, cost of producing audio programming and
>content
>redundancy given the number of options available for getting news.
>
>"OPB simply does not account for the fact that the population of
>Oregon
>is rapidly aging and the coming wave of baby boomers will need the
>reading service. People in their sixties and seventies begin to
>suffer
>age-related vision loss in record-breaking numbers. OPB seems to
>think
>that AM radio, web pages and television newscasts are a substitute
>for
>detailed, daily newspapers," said Lusignan.
>
>IAAIS wrote to OPB with a number of questions about the stated
>challenges/justifications and comments about the age 45+
>vision-impaired
>population in Oregon and the unique media needs of vision-impaired
>Americans that only reading services can fulfill. IAAIS offered
>OPB its
>assistance in developing a plan for the continuance of such an
>important
>facet of its local community offerings. OPB did not answer the
>questions, but did say they would promote the services of
>blindness
>organizations on their website and air public service
>announcements
>later in the year.
>
>It is the position of IAAIS that OPB's actions are ill-considered
>and
>not justifiable. The FCC strongly encourages public broadcasters
>to
>help and support these reading services for blind/vision-impaired
>people. If OPB can no longer house the service, it should, at the
>very
>least, continue to transmit the signals through the several means
>available. Based on our experience in multiple other reading
>services,
>the costs of providing this service in-house are only about one
>half of
>one percent of OPB's annual expenses. Costs for carriage of the
>signal
>are insignificant.
>
>Founded in 1977, the International Association of Audio
>Information
>Services (IAAIS) is a non-profit association of independently
>operated
>broadcast entities that provide reading services and specialized
>programming for people who cannot see, hold or comprehend standard
>printed matter in more than 100 radio markets throughout the US,
>Canada
>and abroad. IAAIS encourages and facilitates the establishment
>and
>maintenance of such programs. For more about IAAIS, visit the web
>site:
>www.iaais.org <<http://www.iaais.org/>http://www.iaais.org/> or call 
>1(800) 280-5325.
>
>## ##

David Andrews and white cane Harry.