General

Last week's blog post was about John Kennedy Toole and the nonfiction book currently airing on WRBH called BUTTERFLY IN THE TYPEWRITER, written by Cory McLauchlin and read (with great respect and grace) by Peter Spera.  In that post, I commented on how many people in New Orleans and beyond feel connected in some way to the book or to the story or the life of Mr. Toole.  Some of […]

I'm sure this has happened to everyone at one time or another--you're in the airport, or visiting another city, and when you strike up a conversation with a stranger and mention being from New Orleans they immediately say, "Oh, do you know insert name here?" and you not only know them, they live down the street, or your brother dated them, or they are your second cousin once removed, or […]

I'm going to hypnotize you now.Don't worry, I'm not going to make you focus on a spinning image or force you to stare at my pendulum-like pocket watch while I murmur "You're getting veeeerrryyyy sleepy" over and over.  No, this is going to be a wonderfully pleasant and enjoyable experience, with no potential side effects like embarrassing yourself in front of others when I say the secret word (unless that […]

Before we wrap up the story of the evolution of the Grocery Ads, a short quiz for the diehard fans of the show:Question One:  Who is Chloe?Question Two: What is Marie's favorite meal?Question Three: What is Marie's signature dish? (Hint--she was deeply saddened that the stockpiled batch in the freezer was lost during Hurricane Isaac.)If you know the answers (or want to take a few guesses) please post your responses […]

I was listening to the new nonfiction book this morning, The Fight for Home: How (Parts) of New Orleans Came Back written by Daniel Wolff (and read with great feeling by Cameron Gamble) and as I became more engaged with the story, I found myself feeling slightly anxious and melancholy as the hour passed.  A beautifully written book will do that.  A reader like Cameron, who can evoke the raw […]

    Original Grocery Ads reader Sam Kranzthor  always had a healthy curiosity about life and how things worked.  Sam was always telling the staff about new hobbies and ideas that sparked his interest--he and wife Kathy took tango lessons, he volunteered as an electrician and handyman at JazzFest, he loved to travel and particularly enjoyed visiting exotic locales where different cultures and traditions could be incorporated into his own life.  […]

The simple answer to that question is: they read. But it isn't really that black and white. To best explain what a volunteer does here, one first needs to understand a bit about WRBH.  Our mission is to broadcast audio recordings of printed material that isn't easily available, if at all, to the the vision impaired community.  Naturally, the breadth of said printed material is quite wide... politics, business, sports, […]

Of all of our programming, the show that probably gets the most attention would have to be the Grocery Ads.  It's a simple concept:  since we are a reading radio service for the blind, and since just about everybody has to buy groceries, we provide a detailed reading of the specials and prices on groceries so that our listeners can make informed choices about what they might be hungry for […]

My friend Nancy Barlow ( a former reader at WRBH) says her nieces and nephews used to affectionately call riding around town with her "being in Aunt Nan's car jail".  In Nancy's car, the passengers didn't get to pick their own music to listen to, and fiddling with the tuner was strictly off limits--they were forced to listen to whatever Nancy's favorite CD or radio station was at the time, […]