STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

AUDIO VISION is the only radio reading service supplying this population with daily newspaper readings and more. Most of our listeners are seniors who once enjoyed reading daily newspapers. We believe it is the right of all people to have access to their local newspapers for local and community news and events, to be informed on a weekly basis what foods and other items are on sale in their area, and to have access to entertainment and national and world news events from newspapers and weekly and monthly magazines.

The number of visually handicapped people in Southern California, according to statistics provided by the Braille Institute of America, Los Angeles, is over 190,000. These statistics do not include the print handicapped: quadriplegic, dyslexic, and learning disabled who also qualify for the AUDIO VISION service.

Currently, AUDIO VISION is on the air 24-hours-a-day. From 8:00 A.M. to Noon, we provide a local broadcast of readings of three newspapers (The San Bernardino Sun, Los Angeles Times, and the Riverside Press Enterprise). At noon we present a one hour reading of a book. Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening we provide one hour segments of numerous magazines and other monthly and weekly printed publications. On Thursday afternoons the grocery ads are read.

We also produce an interview program, which has subjects pertinent to the blind population, and run public service announcements from other organizations for the blind such as the Braille Institute, the Social Security Administration, Agencies For The Blind, and The Foundation Fighting blindness. This is all done via volunteers within the community.

We provide the In Touch Network for our evening broadcast from 11:00 P.M. to 8 A.M. and from Noon to 8:00 A.M. on the weekends. In Touch is a 24 hour a day radio reading service in New York: They read the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other material.

AUDIO VISION Radio reading Service For The Blind, Inc. broadcasts via the 67 KHZ sub-frequency of 91.9 KVCR FM, a public radio station operated by the San Bernardino Community College District. We are broadcasting to the blind and print handicapped people within a large portion of Southern California. Our service area takes in parts of San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties. Cities forming the boundaries are Banning on the East, Santa Monica on the West, Palos Verdes/Long Beach on the South, and Big Bear on the North.

AUDIO VISION is the only radio reading service for the blind servicing this area. We are the only means for blind and print handicapped people in this portion of Southern California to have access to local newspapers. Television and radio news coverage does not include local news events for separate communities. We read the print media, giving more detailed descriptions of current state, national, and world news events.