Many Canadians discover VOICEPRINT on their FM dial or TV remote
by accident and move on, but for hundreds of thousands of blind,
visually impaired and print disabled people it’s a stationary and
vital souce of information.
Paul Thiele, a client adviser for both the University of British
Columbia’s Crane Resource Centre and Disability Resource Centre,
is helping to raise awareness as well as improve the service and
extend its reach.
Licensed by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC), VOICEPRINT broadcasts newspaper and magazine articles and
other information materials read by highly trained volunteer readers
in English.
“We’ve just launched a fully streamed Internet site — www.shopdome.com/voiceprint
— to considerably expand the availability and appeal to a younger
audience worldwide,” says Thiele, who is chair of the board of directors
for VOICEPRINT.
“We also recently gained assured partial funding from a CRTC decision
to charge one cent per household on cable or satellite,” he adds.
The rest of the operating budget comes from donations, advertising
and corporate sponsorship.
Headquartered in Toronto, VOICEPRINT has satellite studios and
reader teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Ottawa and expects
to open in Halifax shortly. Thiele wants the same spot on the dial
across Canada and the Far North.
Although broadcasters are required to provide VOICEPRINT, it’s
at 101.5FM in Vancouver and a different spot on the dial everywhere
else. Thiele says, it would be ideal to find VOICEPRINT on the CBC
Newsworld signal.
“VOICEPRINT is growing, especially with our aging population,”
Thiele says. “It appeals to more and more people who want an audio
source for long periods of time, such as hospital patients and housewives.”
A subsidiary, AUDIOVISION, produces videos that feature vocal
descriptions of scenery, action and background in movies and are
available for broadcast, rental and purchase.
“I’ve come full circle,” says Thiele, active in radio since high
school and former president of the UBC student station. In the late
’60s he and his late wife Judith founded what is now the Crane Resource
Centre, which provides alternate format materials for persons who
are blind, visually impaired or print impaired.
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