State Services for the Blind

Radio News

Radio Talking Book Radio News March 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

Communication Center awarded a Matching Grant
The Communication Center started in 1953 as the Hamm Family Recording Project for the Blind, with private money through the Hamm Foundation. Eventually, the name changed and it came under the umbrella of State Services for the Blind, but the public/private partnership aspect has remained intact.

Recently, as part of a push for funds to help celebrate next year’s 40th anniversary of the Minnesota Radio Talking Book, The Katherine B. Andersen Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation awarded a $100,000 matching grant to the Communication Center, starting November 2007 and running through 2011.

What does this mean for donors? The match applies 1:1 for new individual donors and to those present donors for any amount above the previous year’s donation. There is also an incentive for those who sign up for the Legacy Society, the term used for donors who include the Communication Center in their wills. A separate mailing will be arriving soon with more details of the Matching Grant.

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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Tales from the Torrid Zone
Nonfiction by Alexander Frater, 2007.
Frater was born in Iririki, part of the South Seas republic of Vanuatu. All his life, he has traveled in the tropics, and some of the travels have been extraordinary. L -
Read by John Mandeville.
19 broadcasts. Began February 27.

All the Money in the World
Nonfiction by Peter W. Bernstein & Annalyn Swan, 2007.
Who are the wealthiest Americans? Sometimes fortunes are made and saved; sometimes they are squandered.
Read by Ray Christensen.
12 broadcasts. Begins March 25.
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Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.
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The Shakespeare Riots
Nonfiction by Nigel Cliff, 2007.
May 10, 1849, one of New York’s bloodiest incidents began with a feud between two actors. The ensuing riot led to the arming of American police forces. L -
Read by Alvin Apple.
12 broadcasts. Began February 18.

The Real All Americans
Nonfiction by Sally Jenkins, 2007.
The most popular football team of 1911-1912 was at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Their success changed the way the game was played.
Read by Art Nyhus.
13 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

Taj Mahal
Nonfiction by Diana and Michael Preston, 2007.
Shah Jahan began work on the structure as a memorial to his wife, but it became one of the seven wonders of the world.
Read by Leila Poullada.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 24.
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Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.
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The Rest of Her Life
Fiction by Laura Moriarty, 2007.
Leigh’s relationship with Kara is already strained when Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy. The effects divide Leigh’s family and polarize the community. L -
Read by Jodi Furness.
11 broadcasts. Began February 19.

Summer Reading
Fiction by Hilma Wolitzer, 2007.
Retired English professor Angela Graves prefers books to the beach, and forms reading groups. The women who attend find help with problems in their lives.
Read by Karen Wertz.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

No! I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club
Fiction by Virginia Ironside, 2007.
Marie Sharp is content to have her past behind her. She disagrees that, at sixty, she should get more excitement in her life. She’s done all that. Read by Eleanor Berg.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 18.
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Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.
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The Short Bus
Nonfiction by Jonathan Mooney, 2007.
After being tagged for Special Ed, Mooney thought he’d lost his chance to be normal. Now, after graduation from Brown University, he’s been searching for others like himself. L -
Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 3.

Chasing Justice
Nonfiction by Kerry Max Cook, 2007.
Wrongfully convicted of murder, Cook was sentenced to death in 1978 and was on death row for two decades. In 1999, he was cleared of the crime by DNA evidence. V,L -
Read by Del Adamson.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 18.
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Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.
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The Sea Lady
Fiction by Margaret Drabble, 2007.
Humphrey and Kelman met as children. 30 years later, they are traveling separately to a ceremony where they know they will meet again, and they are both apprehensive.
Read by Mary Davies.
12 broadcasts. Began Feb. 18.

The Witch of Portobello
Fiction by Paulo Coelho, 2007.
When people speak of Athena, it is clear many did not know her. How do we find the courage to be true to ourselves if we are unsure of who we are?
Read by Richard Klein.
8 broadcasts. Begins March 5.

It’s Good to Be the King
Nonfiction by James Robert Parish, 2007.
From a poor Brooklyn family, Mel Brooks became the king of comedy. He has ridden an unsurpassed wave of show business success. L -
Read by Audray Rees.
13 broadcasts. Begins March 17.
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PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.
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The Conscience of a Liberal
Nonfiction by Paul Krugman, 2007.
The reforms of the 20th century have been unraveling since the 1970s with the Republican Party’s takeover by movement conservatism, a politics of deception to advance the interests of the wealthy.
Read by Fred Lyon.
11 broadcasts. Began February 25.

God Is Not Great
Nonfiction by Christopher Hitchens, 2007.
Hitchens says religion is a distortion of our origins, nature, and the cosmos. We damage our children and endanger our world by indoctrinating them.
Read by Charlie Boone.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 11.

Maxed Out
Nonfiction by James D. Scurlock, 2007.
Foreclosures are hitting record highs, and Americans are declaring bankruptcy at a huge rate. It’s a great time to be in banking!
Read by Susan Niefeld.
9 broadcasts. Begins March 26.
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Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.
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Heartsick
Fiction by Chelsea Cain, 2007.
Archie Sheridan is obsessed with a serial killer he was tracking. She’s now turned herself in, but he is not able to move on. V,L,S -
Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 3.

Invisible Prey
Fiction by John Sandford, 2007.
It seems two women are killed for drug money. But when Davenport puts together a pattern, the murderers are expecting him. L,S -
Read by Ray Christensen.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 18.
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Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.
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The Bloodstone Papers
Fiction by Glen Duncan, 2007.
Owen is writing of his parents’ lives to avoid problems in his own. They were Anglo-Indians, of the group of people who ran colonial India. L -
Read by Del Adamson.
14 broadcasts. Begins March 3.

Away
Fiction by Amy Bloom, 2007.
Lillian came to America alone after her family was destroyed in a Russian pogrom. Then she hears that her daughter might be alive. L -
Read by Judith Johannessen.
8 broadcasts. Begins March 24.
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Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.
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Obsession
Fiction by Jonathan Kellerman, 2007.
Alex Delaware is approached by a teen whose aunt made a death-bed confession of murder. Delaware follows a wild trail in L.A. when a current murder opens a tunnel to the past. L -
Read by Ray Christensen.
12 broadcasts. Began February 26.

Simple Genius
Fiction by David Baldacci, 2007.
Private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell take on an investigation into the murder of a scientist on CIA property. But Michelle is in a hospital while Sean’s life is put at risk. V,L -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
14 broadcasts. Begins March 13.
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Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight
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The River Wife
Fiction by Jonis Agee, 2007.
Annie Lark was rescued from certain death by Jacques Ducharme; she learned to love him and became his “river wife.” A century later, their descendent has married, and his new wife takes comfort in Annie’s journals. V,L,S -
Read by Leandra Peak.
17 broadcasts. Began February 18.

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician
Fiction by Daniel Wallace, 2007.
Magician Henry Walker disappeared from a Southern town after being confronted by three white teens. When his circus friends try to piece together what they know of his life, they find he had had some amazing adventures. L -
Read by John Marsicano.
8 Br. Begins March 12.

Blaze
Fiction by Richard Bachman, 2007.
Blaze is a slow thinker since he was a child and thrown down the stairs by his father. He escapes an abusive institution for boys, hooks up with a seasoned criminal, then is on his own to survive with more crime. V,L,S -
Read by Neil Bright.
11 broadcasts. Begins March 24.
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After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.
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Nightlife
Fiction by Thomas Perry, 2006.
When homicide detective Catherine Hobbes begins working on a murder case, there seems to be a blond woman on security tapes that may also be a victim. But as more murders happen, she realizes the blond is the murderer. L -
Read by John Gunter.
15 broadcasts. Began February 14.

Space Wars
Fiction by Michael J. Coumatos, William B. Scott, William J. Birnes, 2007.
World War III is a nuclear nightmare initiated by Iran. Battles are won and lost inside the circuits of orbital satellites and the computers that control them. And space planes fire rapid-burst lasers into the optics of enemy satellites. V,L -
Read by Peter Danbury.
16 broadcasts. Begins March 6.

Making Money
Fiction by Terry Pratchett, 2007.
Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has exceeded all expectations with how well the Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running. So it is disconcerting when Lord Vetinari asks him to try to organize and run the Royal Mint, which has run for centuries on hereditary employment.
Read by Kim Miller.
14 broadcasts. Begins March 31.

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