With around 170-180 people receiving Bedford and District Audio News cassettes and USB sticks, the process of production and distribution must be organised effectively.

The service currently has around 60 volunteers, most giving just a few hours every five or six weeks. There are many tasks - from collecting sacks of returned wallets (containing cassettes and USB sticks), to sorting these and preparing for the next week's output. Then there is fundraising and committee work, and the task of reading and recording the news.

Volunteers all give their time to ensure that each and every listener receives his or her edition of news on time and in good condition.


Last Week's Edition

Tuesday morning and the process of producing the weekly Audio News begins. Sacks of returned cassettes and USB memory sticks from the previous week are collected from the Royal Mail sorting office in Bedford. These are taken to BDAN's small studio room close to the town centre. Alternating coloured wallets (with Velcro closures) are used every other week - yellow then black and so forth.

The process continues on a Wednesday and / or Thursday afternoon. Each audio tape (a standard 60 minute compact cassette - 90 minutes for the Magazine) is taken out of its pouch and wiped with a bulk electromagnet tape eraser. This process involves placing the tape face down and rotating it carefully. Erasing cassettes in this way cleans them for use and ensures optimum sound quality for the next recording. Sticks are automatically erased by the computer during copying later.


Preparing

Returned cassettes are rewound if necessary, and names checked against the database of current BDAN listeners. A further check is also made to see if a message or letter from the listener has been included. The new pouches are prepared with address labels, and are then are ready for use again. Meanwhile, notices to be read on the next Audio News edition are written, including listener birthdays and a welcome for any new listeners (Introductory tapes are sent separately).

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Right: Checking-in last week's tapes and USB memory sticks, keeping the register up-to-date and actioning any messages from listeners (such as a request for a pause in tapes / sticks if he / she plans to be away)

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Recording Night

Thursday afternoon or early evening and the week's Team Leader (a sort of chief reader) collects one or more copies of the Bedford edition of the Bedfordshire Times and Citizen newspaper (two enables a page to be cut without affecting items overleaf). There are six BDAN Team Leaders - responsible for contacting the scheduled readers and recordist, to ensure that they are able to attend the recording session. And if not, to arrange cover from a small selection of standby helpers.

Articles from the previous Bedfordshire on Sunday newspaper (Borough edition) are also collated.

Until January 2011, when publication ceased, articles from the monthly Borough Council newspaper Borough (previously Bedford) News were also included.

By about 6.30pm the week's team has assembled at the small basic first floor studio, and the news stories, sport, letters and other articles are divided between the readers (some Team Leaders pre-prepare batches of cuttings). Usually, there are three or four readers - including the Team Leader. The recordist / technician - sits opposite, monitoring the microphone sound levels and operating the mixer controls and computer.

BDAN records the news digitally - this involves the technican / recordist using a computer program to capture the hour's worth of audio before it is finalised and sent to cassette tape copiers at the end of recording. Cassette tapes are produced alongside USB memory sticks. For more information on the introduction of USB sticks, please see the History page of this website.

As the session is not recorded 'as live', the technician / recordist can easily stop proceedings if there is a problem - for example, if a reader makes a mistake or if there is an interruption. However, the recording is not usually edited afterwards.


Unbiased Reading

It is important that volunteers do not introduce any bias to articles, and reflect the piece as written. Letters to the (newspaper) Editor are sometimes read, with a note of differing opinions, as necessary. No censorship of articles takes place. Lengthy reports however, may be edited on paper, if the key points can be extracted. A story may even be reduced to a single paragraph if time is very short.

Items are selected by their importance and relevance, and to provide a balanced mix of the news. Several paragraphs from the the sport pages are often chosen, forming a short summary of the main points. A number of small related or unrelated news articles may also be read together.

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Left: A festive atmosphere in the BDAN studio for one the 2007 pre-Christmas tapes!

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Side One - after a brief musical introduction, the Team Leader reads the announcements, notices, listener birthdays, details of new listeners and the times of sunset and sunrise (lighting-up times). The news follows, usually beginning with the main front page story from the Times and Citizen or Bedfordshire on Sunday. Each volunteer then reads his or her articles in turn.

Side Two begins with a brief summary of obituaries, prepared ahead by the Team Leader, and marked in alphabetical order. For brevity, only name, age (if given) and place of recent abode (again, if known) are included on the tape. After the obituaries, general news reports resume.


Copying the Cassettes / USB Memory sticks

When the recording is complete, the technician / recordist begins the duplication process. Post production usually takes between 40-60 minutes.

The recording is finalised on computer and copied to tape and USB sticks at high speed, with the half hour per side completed in just a few minutes.

If needed, sub-master tapes are produced and, after checking, these are also used to duplicate copies.

The team checks each cassette - the start of the first side and the end of the second - to make sure the quality is of a satisfactory standard. USB sticks do not need to be checked, as the computer alerts the recordist to any problems. However, some spot-checking is undertaken, Tapes and sticks are fastened into pre-addressed wallets / pouches (yellow or black depending on the week) and put into mail bags.

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Left: An industrious post-recording scene - clockwise from middle person in black: copying tapes and memory sticks, spot-checking memory sticks, checking cassettes and on the left, putting tapes and sticks into listeners' wallets

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The Journey to Listeners

By around 9pm, the whole process is usually complete, and the sacks of tapes and sticks are taken to the Royal Mail sorting office to continue their journey, free of charge, as previously mentioned, thanks to the Articles For The Blind postal concession.

Most listeners will receive their cassettes and USB sticks within one to three days, and as BDAN uses the two sets of wallets (yellow and black), listeners can keep their tape / stick for several days before posting it back.

A spare copy of the week's programme is retained by BDAN, and is available should a replacement be required.

Usually, within 36 hours, a digital copy of the recording is uploaded to this website (available on the Listen page). The file can be streamed or saved using a computer or mobile phone with internet access. Each e-version of the programme is normally available for up to 12 weeks.

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Recordist, Jack Stevens, adjusts the controls with Judy Knudsen, Roy Purser (then Chairman) and Kathleen Dee pictured reading, on 30th August 1991

Image courtesy Bedfordshire Times and Citizen - photographer: Pete Felstead

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Explore the BDAN site...

Downloadable output - hear complete BDAN weekly news editions on the Listen page, and enjoy some special clips via Meet Volunteers

Interested in getting involved - as a listener or volunteer? Or are you a former member of BDAN? - See the Get Involved page

Interested in more about BDAN's past achievements? visit the History page

Looking to interview someone from BDAN, or book a speaker for your event? See Get Involved

Looking for another Talking Newspaper or local organisation? Try the BDAN Links page