|
Bedford Talking Newspaper (BDAN) Registered UK charity no. 802814 |
Click here to go back to the Index page
|
About B.D.A.N.
Revised: May 2010 Founded in 1978, Bedford and District Audio News (BDAN) is a registered UK charity. It records and distributes free weekly and quarterly audio cassettes of local press stories and features in English, for those who cannot see or have a visual impairment. The free service is run by unpaid volunteers and covers the Bedford and district area (roughly a 10-15 mile radius around the town) in eastern England, United Kingdom (UK). Bedford is about 60 miles north of London. Even though the news area is relatively small, the free distribution can be to any postal address in the UK. Click here to see a map of the Bedford area in relation to London This web link to Multimap.co.uk will open in a new window for your convenience. BDAN is not responsible for the content of other websites. 
Right: A team making final preparations to record Bedford's two free weekly newspapers to audio tape in 2005 
Left: Two BDAN listeners (and two volunteers to the right) enjoy tea and tasty cakes after the 2009 Annual General Meeting Around 250 listeners currently take the free tapes. Most live locally, but as mentioned, others reside further afield - keen to catch up with Bedford's news if they have moved away or have a connection to the town. Generously, Royal Mail does not charge for conveying the tapes, under the Articles For The Blind postal concession. As well as a weekly news cassette, a quarterly Magazine is also produced, featuring local and national items of interest, stories and a What's On guide to local events. BDAN also produces a newsletter sheet for volunteers and supporters - including information about social and fundraising events. The small charity is run by a committee that meets every quarter, and is elected at the spring Annual General Meeting (AGM) - to which listeners, volunteers and members of the public are most welcome.
Current Commitee Positions (as at AGM 2010) Chairman Vice Chairman Secretary Treasurer Publicity Webmaster Magazine [Tape] Technician Social SecretaryFundraisingListener Representatives (two positions) 
Above: The May 2010 Annual General Meeting Behind The Scenes of the Weekly News Tape With around 250 people receiving Bedford and District Audio News cassettes, 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 cassettes, 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 tape of news on time and in good condition.Last Week's Tapes Tuesday morning and the process of producing the weekly Audio News tape begins. Sacks of returned cassettes (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 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. 
PreparingReturned cassettes are rewound if necessary, and 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 tape are written, including listener birthdays and a welcome for any new listeners (Introductory tapes are sent separately). 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 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 and the Borough Council produced Bedford News are also collated by the Team Leader. 
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 tape machine. As the session is not recorded 'as live', he or she can easily stop and rewind the master cassette if there is a problem - for example, if a reader makes a mistake or if there is an interruption. However, the tape is not edited after recording. 
Unbiased ReadingIt is important that volunteers do not introduce any bias to articles, and reflect the piece as written. Letters to the Editor are sometimes read, with a note of differing opinions, as necessary. No censorship of articles takes place. Lengthy reports however, may be edited, if the key points can be extracted. 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. 
Left: A festive atmosphere in the BDAN studio for one the 2007 pre-Christmas tapes! 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 
When the recording is complete, the technician / recordist begins the duplication process.
First, the master tape (recorded in mono) is copied at high speed, with the half hour per side completed in just a few minutes.Two sub-masters are produced and, after checking, these are also used to duplicate copies. Bulk copying can now begin! Over the next 30-40 minutes the team check each cassette - the start of the first side and the end of the second - to make sure the quality is of a satisfactory standard. Tapes are fastened in pre-addressed wallets / pouches and put into mail bags. The Journey to Listeners By around 9pm, the whole process is usually complete, and the sacks of tapes 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 within one to three days, and as BDAN uses the two sets of wallets (yellow and black), listeners can keep their tape 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. 
Technician Jack Stevens adjusts the controls as Judy Knudsen, Roy Purser and Kathleen Dee read the weekly tape on 30th August 1991 Image courtesy Times and Citizen - photographer: Pete Felstead
Explore the BDAN site... Find out more about BDAN helpers - access the Meet Some Volunteers page via the Index Interested in getting involved - as a listener or volunteer? Or are you a former member of BDAN? - See the How To 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 How To Get Involved Looking for another Talking Newspaper? Try the BDAN Links page |
Return to the Index page by clicking here