State Services for the Blind

Radio News

Radio Talking Book Radio News March 2007

Current Edition: January 2008

Previous News Editions: 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

SSB Funds in Governor’s Budget
Toward the end of January, Governor Tim Pawlenty released his budget requests to the legislature for the two-year budget period July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009. The Governor’s request included a one million dollar increase in SSB’s base budget beginning the first year of the biennial budget period. $900,000 of new state dollars would be put directly into the Communication Center to replace $900,000 of vocational rehabilitation dollars (federal/state dollars) currently used by the Center.

The $900,000 of vocational rehabilitation dollars currently in the Center would be shifted to SSB’s Workforce Development unit and would be used to assist blind persons seeking employment. The additional $100,000 is necessary to make certain SSB has enough funds to continue to match and draw down all the federal vocational rehabilitation funds available to us.

After the Governor has presented his budget, both the House and the Senate will hold budget hearings to look at all the requests. It is hoped that blind consumer groups, individual consumers, volunteers and our partners will support the Governor’s request and let their elected representatives be aware of their position.

Books Available Through Faribault
All books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Faribault. Their phone is 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 www.klas.com/mnbph. 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.

Chautauqua
Tuesday - Saturday 4 a.m.

Why Do I Love These People?
Nonfiction by Po Bronson, 2005.
Some people rise above their circumstances and build extraordinary relationships and lives, no matter how difficult their challenges.
Read by Carolyn Light Bell.
12 broadcasts. Began February 15.

Savage Summit
Nonfiction by Jennifer Jordan, 2005.
At China’s border with Pakistan is K2, the world’s most dangerous mountain. Though over ninety women have climbed Everest, only five have reached the top of K2.
Read by Susan Niefeld.
13 broadcasts. Begins March 7.

Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent
Nonfiction by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, 2006. When Darwin left for the Pacific coast of South America, he was a bumbling neophyte. By the end of his adventures, he was a philosophical and skilled naturalist.
Read by June Prange.
9 broadcasts. Begins Mar. 22.

Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.

Sons of Providence
Nonfiction by Charles Rappleye, 2006.
John and Moses Brown, who fought in the Revolution and founded Brown University, were divided over slavery. John ran slave galleys; Moses was a Quaker abolitionist.
Read by Charlie Boone.
18 broadcasts. Began February 19.

The Boys of Winter
Nonfiction by Wayne Coffey, 2005.
The 1980 Olympics’ ice rink seemed an unlikely place for a Cold War upset. But Herb Brooks had molded his Americans into a team that could do that. L -
Read by Art Nyhus.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 15.

Hanging Captain Gordon
Nonfiction by Ron Soodalter, 2006.
For more than forty years before Captain Gordon’s arrest, slave trading had been illegal, but the law hadn’t been enforced. By 1862, the tides had changed; an example was needed, and Gordon was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Read by Steve Waldhauser.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 28.

Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven
Fiction by Fannie Flagg, 2006.
When octogenarian Elner Shimfissle fell from the tree and ended up in the hospital, it started her off on an adventure she never dreamed of.
Read by Eleanor Berg.
11 broadcasts. Began February 15.

Dollar Daze
Fiction by Karin Gillespie, 2006.
Residents of Cayboo Creek, South Carolina, seem obsessed with romance, except for Mavis and Birdie. Then a high school heartthrob moves back to town and the two friends change their tune.
Read by Laura Rohlik.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

When Charlotte Comes Home
Fiction by Maureen Millea Smith, 2006.
Fred Holly is a senior in high school when Charlotte, his eleven-year-old sister, is diagnosed with kidney problems. As her condition worsens, the Hollys’ lives descend into sadness and others are pulled into the sadness with them.
Read by John Marsicano.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 19.

Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.

The Great Dan Patch and the Remarkable Mr. Savage
Nonfiction by Tim Brady, 2006.
Dan Patch was the most famous pacer horse in the nation, spending much of his career giving exhibitions and racing against the clock.
Read by Ray Christensen.
7 broadcasts. Begins March 1.

My Life in France
Nonfiction by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme, 2006. As a bride in France, Child began studying cooking as a way to pass her days and learn French. Later she threw herself into writing the cookbook that transformed American ideas of food.
Read by Barbara Struyk.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 12.

Party of the Century
Nonfiction by Deborah Davis, 2006.
Truman Capote rose to fame and fortune with In Cold Blood. Invitations to the ball he hosted were the most treasured pieces of paper in New York.
Read by Sherri Afryl.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 27.

Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.

Rash
Fiction by Pete Hautman, 2006.
In the late 21st century, Bo is unjustly accused of causing a rash at his high school. He is sentenced to work on the Canadian tundra at a pizza factory. V,L,S -
Read by John Marsicano.
6 broadcasts. Began February 27.

Measuring the World
Fiction by Daniel Kehlmann, 2006.
In the eighteenth century, two Germans set out to measure the world. One did it through exploration; the other stayed home.
Read by Eleanor Berg.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 7.

The Translation of Dr. Apelles
Fiction by David Treuer, 2006.
Dr. Apelles stumbles across an ancient manuscript in a Native American text that only he can translate. He realizes he’s made an unsettling discovery. L,S -
Read by Richard Klein.
12 broadcasts. Begins March 20.

PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.

The White Man’s Burden
Nonfiction by William Easterly, 2006.
Twin tragedies of global poverty are that so many seem fated to live miserable lives, and that, after 50 years and $2.3 trillion spent for its alleviation, there is little progress.
Read by Leila Poullada.
15 broadcasts. Began Feb. 26.

American Theocracy
Nonfiction by Kevin Phillips, 2006.
Global overreach, militant religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt have come to define America’s political and economic identity at the start of this century. It is a fatal combination.
Read by Audray Rees.
20 broadcasts. Begins March 19.

Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.

End of Story
Fiction by Peter Abrahams, 2006.
Ivy Seidel dreams of becoming a great novelist. Teaching writing at a prison, she meets and becomes too attached to Vance Harrow, brilliant, talented, rageful and brutal.
Read by Steve Rosenthal.
10 broadcasts. Began February 26.

The Book of Fate
Fiction by Brad Meltzer, 2006.
Ron Boyle was supposedly assassinated. But eight years later, he’s seen alive in Malaysia. What really happened? L -
Read by John Gunter.
16 broadcasts. Begins March 12.

Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.

Lost and Found
Fiction by Carolyn Parkhurst, 2006.
In a new reality show, teams race across the globe battling for a million-dollar prize. As they search for clues, they change their relationships with each other. L,S -
Read by Martha Wigmore and William Stout.
12 broadcasts. Began February 15.

Nature Girl
Fiction by Carl Hiaasen, 2006.
Honey Santana is going to make the world a better place by teaching a telemarketer and his mistress a lesson. But as she travels into Florida wilderness, she doesn’t know she’s being followed. L,S -
Read by Ray Christensen.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

Two Lives
Nonfiction by Vikram Seth, 2005.
Seth’s great-aunt and uncle were products of World War II: an Indian studying medicine in Berlin who fell in love with the daughter of his Jewish landlords.
Read by Diane Ladenson.
17 broadcasts. Begins March 20.

Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.

Cirkus
Fiction by Patti Frazee, 2006.
An uneasy balance in a circus sideshow is destroyed by Shanghai, the fire-breathing dwarf, who falls in love with one of a set of conjoined twins. L,S -
Read by Laura Rohlik.
13 broadcasts. Began February 14.

The Ruins
Fiction by Scott Smith, 2006.
Two young American couples find terror as they search for a young German man in the jungles of Mexico. V,L,S -
Read by Neil Bright.
18 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

The Keep
Fiction by Jennifer Egan, 2006.
Cousins, damaged by a childhood prank, reunite to renovate a castle. But they reenact the event from their youth with even more catastrophic results. L -
Read by John Schmidt.
8 broadcasts. Begins March 29.

Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight

The Return of the Player
Fiction by Michael Tolkin, 2006.
Griffin has a desperate plan: to convince Phil Ginsberg, Hollywood’s most frightening man, to become his partner. L,S -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
9 broadcasts. Began Feb. 27.

The Last Cato
Fiction by Mathilde Asensi, 2006.
Sister Ottavia is charged by the Vatican to retrieve relics of the true cross stolen from around the globe. The key to finding them is within Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Read by Laura Kovich.
20 broadcasts. Begins March 12.

After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.

A Spot of Bother
Fiction by Mark Haddon, 2006.
George Hall has retired, and he quietly begins to lose his mind as his family falls apart around him. L - Read by John Schmidt.
12 broadcasts. Began February 15.

The Lies of Locke Lamora
Fiction by Scott Lynch, 2006.
Locke Lamora is an orphan under the control of a priest named Chains, a con artist who leads and protects the orphans who give him power. V,L -
Read by Benjamin Warde.
21 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

Abbreviations: V - violence, L - rough language, S - sexual situations