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Directory – St Albans Talking Newspaper

Name
St Albans Talking Newspaper
Town/City
Wheathampstead
Contact Name
Rob Pearman
Telephone
07885321629
Publication Frequency
Weekly, Quarterly
Distribution Methods
USB Stick, Website, BWBF Bumblebee, BWBF TN App, Amazon Alexa, Other
Summary

Our distribution area includes the City of St Albans, the town of Harpenden and several villages and smaller communities including Colney Heath, Flamstead, Kimpton, London Colney, Markyate, Redbourn, Sandridge and Wheathampstead. We produce four weekly programmes each month, drawing on news stories, readers letters and other items in our two local newspapers (Herts Advertiser and St Albans & Harpenden Review) as well as on Hertfordshire Life magazine and other publications (by agreement of the publishers). These items are recorded in our own sound studio by volunteer readers. The programmes include other material of interest such as interviews, arts & music previews, audio book reviews etc. Our programmes vary from one to two hours in length. We also produce a Quarterly Magazine in the same audio format, which combines a mix of 'the best of the past' (eg interview, talking book discussion, item from InfoSound, item from London Beyond Sight). Our programmes are sent to our listeners each week by Royal Mail's free 'Articles for the Blind'. They are on memory sticks for playback through specialist players, which we provide free-of-charge, though some listeners playback through their own computer. Each weekly programme and several archives of other recordings are uploaded to our website where they can be listened to or downloaded. We record and edit on Thursday (local paper publishing day), copy and mail out on Friday, and our listeners almost invariably receive their copy on Saturday. Our recorded material (eg interviews, talking book discussions) is also used in a one-hour weekly programme on local community radio (Radio Verulam - 92.6FM) which we host and produce each Wednesday evening, and which provides us with a regular opportunity to promote and explain what we do and what a Talking Newspaper is. Our website - funded by a grant from the Harpenden Lions Club - provides all other information about our service, which is currently being enjoyed by over 110 local listeners. One of our team is available to speak to meetings of local organisations (at no charge) about our service to the visually impaired. Our volunteer cohort of just over 100 local people also includes fund raisers and others who assist at key events. We provide our studio to the local Mothers Union for their quarterly recording service for their visually impaired members.

Publications
  • Hertfordshire Life Magazine Publication frequency: Monthly - Regular magazine covering the whole of Hertfordshire County, with many interesting longer articles and features.  The published has given SADTN permission to use any articles.
  • Herts Advertiser Publication frequency: Weekly - Local newspaper covering St Albans & District, with two editions providing some variations in content (St Albans City and Harpenden Town editions).  Publication: Thursday. Owner: Archant
  • St Albans & Harpenden Review Publication frequency: Weekly - A second local newspaper which provides occasional news stories which we use.
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