THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409130178
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
As a child, Paul Watlington loved to sit up late at night, listening to his favorite radio announcers read stories of adventure and mystery.
In those days, all Watlington thought about was becoming a radio announcer. In college, he managed to find a part-time job as a program announcer for a commercial radio station, but by then, he knew his true calling was the ministry.
Today, Watlington happily serves as pastor at Park Place Baptist Church. But for the last 10 years, he's lived out his childhood fantasy, and at the same time found a way to serve others.
Every Friday, from 9 to 11 a.m., he's a volunteer reader on the WHRV Radio-sponsored Hampton Roads Voice for the Print Handicapped.
``It's a great way to help blind people who aren't able to read the newspaper,'' said Watlington, who is one of the service's original readers. ``And I just love being on the radio.''
Since 1985, dozens of area residents like Watlington have volunteered to read local and national newspapers across the public radio station's sub-carrier frequency to people who have visual impairments. To receive the signal, listeners must have specifically tuned radios that are distributed by the station.
Based on the number of radios distributed, probably about 500 people in the area currently receive the service, estimated Peter Pine, coordinator of the Voice. Although one is planned, a listenership survey hasn't been done since the station began local programming in 1985, he said.
In the early '80s, the area's public radio station, then WHRO-FM, began offering nationally produced programming for the visually impaired on its sub-station frequency. Novels, short stories and poems were read. But after a few years, a listeners advisory committee suggested a change.
``These people are not short on reading material because they can get just about any novel you can think of from the library,'' explained Pine, a former real estate agent and actor. ``But what they cannot get is their morning newspaper. It's very important to them. That's what they want, someone to read them their daily newspaper.''
So from a makeshift studio located in a trailer parked in the station's back lot, Pine and a handful of volunteers began reading The Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star, the Peninsula's Daily Press, the New York Times Sunday Magazine and the Wall Street Journal to listeners.
At first, volunteers read the paper each morning from 9 to 11 a.m. Later, they added an hour of programming from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. to cover the evening edition of the Ledger-Star.
Eventually, readers expanded morning programming to early afternoon at 1 p.m., Monday through Saturday; and from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sundays. Evening sessions were discontinued. That schedule continues today.
And the service did eventually move out of that trailer. When WHRO expanded its television and radio facility in 1991, the Voice relocated into its own studios, thanks to about $20,000 in contributions from the state and the Lions Club of District 24-D.
Those same entities continue to make the service a reality. The Voice's annual operating budget of $30,000 comes from state funds, United Way contributions and donations from individual Lions clubs and other groups, said Donna Hudgins, communications director for the public radio stations.
But it's really the volunteers in the community who come in each week to read through the sports pages, comics, city council meetings and other daily news that make the Voice possible, notes Pine.
``There are people who come in to read week after week, year after year,'' he said. ``They're really dedicated to making sure our listeners get to hear the daily news. They know how important it is to them.''
It's also nice if they get to fulfill a childhood dream. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by BILL TIERNAN
Voice coordinator Peter Pine says 500 people receive the service.
Rev. Paul Watlington is a volunteer reader for Voice. ``It's a great
way to help blind people who aren't able to read the newspaper,'' he
says.
by CNB