State Services for the Blind

Radio News

Radio Talking Book Radio News January 2008

Current Edition: June 2008

Previous News Editions: January 2008, February 2008, March 2008, April 2008, May 2008

January 2007, February 2007, March 2007, April 2007, May 2007, June 2007, July 2007, August 2007, September 2007, October 2007, November 2007, December 2007

January 2006, February 2006, March 2006, April 2006, May 2006, June 2006, July 2006, August 2006, September 2006, October 2006, November 2006, December 2006

AFB Launching New Campaign

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has just launched a new campaign--the RX Label Enable Campaign to ensure that people with vision loss have ready access to the vital information available to all consumers via prescription labeling and related documentation enabling them to take medications safely, effectively, and independently. To achieve this goal, AFB is reaching out to all stakeholders including consumers experiencing vision loss, policymakers, federal regulators, doctors, the pharmaceutical industry, retailers, assistive technology providers, and public and private insurers to promote solutions, build consensus and take action.

AFB is asking individuals who have had trouble reading prescription or over-the-counter medication information to tell AFB their stories by answering a short survey, available using the link on the Senior Site Home Page--Call to Action: Are you having trouble identifying your medications? ( www.afb.org/seniorsite ) For more information about the campaign,  go to: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=3&TopicID=329

Books Available Through Faribault
All books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota  Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault. Their phone is 1-800-722-0550 and hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it at the main website, http://education.state.mn.us and clicking on the link, or go to http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Learning_Support/MN_Braille_Talking_Book_Library/index.html. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of books by contacting your own state's Network Library for the National Library Service.  
 
Review old issues of Radio News on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/radionews .

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Chautauqua
Tuesday - Saturday 4 a.m.
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The Not So Big Life
Nonfiction by Sarah Susanka, 2007.
Most people have lives cluttered with obligations, which limits our ability to find time to do what we want. But it is possible to stop the fast-forward motion.
Read by June Prange.  
11 broadcasts. Begins January 1.
   
How Doctors Think
Nonfiction by Jerome Groopman, MD, 2007.
Eighteen seconds after a patient starts describing symptoms, most doctors have made up their minds. Unfortunately, sometimes they are wrong.
Read by John Hagman.
10 broadcasts. Begins January 16.
 
Uncertainty
Nonfiction by David Lindley, 2007.
In the birth of the Uncertainty Principle, Niels Bohr was caught between Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein. He was Heisenberg’s mentor and Einstein’s friend.
Read by Kim Miller.
8 broadcasts. Begins January 30.
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Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.
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Land of Lincoln
Nonfiction by Andrew Ferguson, 2007.
Ferguson searches for signs of Lincoln across the U.S. He finds a man whose spirit, mythology, and philosophy continue to shape our national identity in serious and surprising ways.
Read by Donald Meisel.
13 broadcasts. Began December 26.    
 
Leviathan
Nonfiction by Eric Jay Dolin, 2007.
Though the golden age of U.S. whaling was in the mid 1800s, whaling began in the colonial era and lasted 300 years. Much of our culture, economy, and spirit was rendered from the body of whales. Read by Leila Poullada.
15 broadcasts. Begins January 14.
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Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.
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Body Surfing
Fiction by Anita Shreve, 2007.
Sydney takes a job as tutor to help her recover emotionally. She meets the older brothers of her pupil and both brothers fall in love with her.
Read by Sherri Afryl.
8 broadcasts. Begins January 3.
     
Here If You Need Me
Nonfiction by Kate Braestrup, 2007.
In despair after her husband’s death, Kate pursued his dream and became a minister. As a chaplain, she found her own faith and happiness.
Read by Carol Lewis.
6 broadcasts. Begins January 15.
   
Lost & Found
Fiction by Jacqueline Sheehan, 2007.
When Rocky’s husband died, she became an Animal Control Warden. There, a wounded dog came into her life to help her heal.
Read by Judith Johannessen.
8 broadcasts. Begins January 24.
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Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.
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After Diana
Nonfiction by Christopher Andersen, 2007.
The British monarchy changed permanently when Diana became part of it. The story of Diana, Princess of Wales, has all the elements of a true dynastic saga.
Read by Sue McDonald.
10 broadcasts. Begins January 1.
  
Brothers
Nonfiction by David Talbot, 2007.
The story of the Kennedys is an epic one of a family struggling against the establishment in Washington. John F. Kennedy’s assassination was only one chapter of the story. L -
Read by Barbara Struyk.
21 broadcasts. Begins January 15.
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Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.
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Truck
Nonfiction by Michael Perry, 2006.
Michael’s aims were to grow his own food, live peaceably with his neighbors, and sort out his love life. But the year involved many detours.
Read by Al Apple.
12 broadcasts. Began December 24.
 
Nineteen Minutes
Fiction by Jodi Picoult, 2007.
Sterling, New Hampshire, is shattered by an act of violence. The judge’s teenaged daughter may be the best witness but she doesn’t remember what happened. L -
Read by Pamela Schmid.
19 broadcasts. Begins January 10.
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PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.
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There Goes My Everything
Nonfiction by Jason Sokol, 2007.
Events of the civil rights movement brought out prejudice in some southern whites but made radicals of others. There was resistance, embrace, questioning. L -
Read by John Marsicano.
18 broadcasts. Began December 17.
 
The Assault on Reason
Nonfiction by Al Gore, 2007.
The politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment hostile to reason.
Read by Charlie Boone.
12 broadcasts. Begins January 14.
  
The Father of All Things
Nonfiction by Tom Bissell, 2007.
When Saigon fell, former Marine officer John Bissell was glued to the news, racked with anguish as his country abandoned a cause for which so many of his friends had died. L -
Read by Art Nyhus.
18 broadcasts. Begins January 30.
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Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.
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Christine Falls
Fiction by Benjamin Black, 2007.
Quirke and Malachy are brothers-in-law and rivals. Quirke’s discovery of Malachy tampering with a corpse leads him to look at family history. L,S -
Read by Neil Bright.
13 broadcasts. Began December 17.
 
When Darkness Falls
Fiction by James Grippando, 2007.
Falcon, Jack’s defense client, is homeless but comes up with cash for bail. Then he takes Jack’s friend hostage. Falcon’s agenda is larger than anyone knows. L -
Read by Ray Christensen.
10 broadcasts. Begins January 7.

Alibi Man
Fiction by Tami Hoag, 2007.
Elena left society to become a cop. When a mistake ends her career, she begins training horses. But the discovery of a dead friend leads her back to solving crimes and her former friends may be involved. V,L -
Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.
10 broadcasts. Begins January 21.
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Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.
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Consequences
Fiction by Penelope Lively, 2007.
Matt and Lorna’s falling in love starts a story that winds through three generations. Their granddaughter will eventually seek out information about them. L -
Read by Judy Woodward.
10 broadcasts. Begins January 1.
 
Then We Came to the End
Fiction by Joshua Ferris, 2007.
Business is bad for this ad agency, but everyone pretends there is work. Meanwhile, tempers flare, furniture disappears, and employees get paranoid. V,L -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
15 broadcasts. Begins January 15.
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Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.
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Those Who Save Us
Fiction by Jenna Blum, 2004.
Trudy teaches German history in Minneapolis, but her own history is as complicated as anything she teaches. Though Jewish, a Nazi officer may be her father.
Read by Fred Lyon.
18 broadcasts. Begins January 1.
 
The View from Mount Joy
Fiction by Lorna Landvik, 2007.
Teenaged Joe moves to Minneapolis and falls under the spell of sexy Kristi. Years later, he can’t believe he is just a grocer, when he wanted a more exciting life. Kristi’s life, though, is still wild. But who has risked more? L,S -
Read by Del Adamson.
11 broadcasts.  Begins January 25.
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Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight
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The Raw Shark Texts
Fiction by Steven Hall, 2007.
When Eric Sanderson awakens with no memory of who or where he is, he calls the doctor listed on a note, and finds he has acute memory loss. He’s been in this doctor’s care for two years since the death of his great love. Or has he? L -
Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.
12 broadcasts. Begins January 1.
 
Pontoon
Fiction by Garrison Keillor, 2007.
In Lake Wobegon, the expectation is that everyone will have a predictable life, but the reality is quite different. At the center of the action is the expected wedding of the Detmer girl who is going to marry her boyfriend on a pontoon boat. L -
Read by Peter Danbury.
8 broadcasts. Begins January 17.

The Ministry of Special Cases
Fiction by Nathan Englander, 2007.
Kaddish makes a meager living defacing gravestones of Jewish whores and pimps whose respectable children want to erase their immigrant parents’ names. But he really learns about erasing identities when his son is arrested and no one will acknowledge the son’s existence. L,S -
Read by Chuck Torrey.
15 broadcasts. Begins January 29.
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After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.
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Michael Tolliver Lives
Fiction by Armistead Maupin, 2007.
Michael is 55, has survived the plague that took so many friends and lovers, has a younger lover, and needs to attend to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida. L -
Read by John Schmidt.
7 broadcasts. Began December 26.
   
The Fortress of Glass
Fiction by David Drake, 2007.
The ghost of the greatest ruler of the Isles, King Carus, inhabits Crown Prince Garric. But as Garric and his comrades travel the Isles to confirm his succession, magical forces scatter them. They must fight their way back to the same time and place.
Read by Bert Gardner.
16 broadcasts. Begins January 7.
   
The Alchemist’s Apprentice
Fiction by Dave Duncan, 2007.
When Nostradamus is arrested because of the death of the prince’s friend, he charges his apprentice with clearing his name. But Alfeo finds magic and prophecies very challenging. He feels he fits the role of swordsman more readily.
Read by William Stout.
12 broadcasts. Begins January 29.
  
Abbreviations: V  - violence, L - offensive language, S - sexual situations