Telephone Reader Volunteer Resources


Telephone Reader is a dial-in newspaper and magazine service for individuals who are blind or print-disabled. Everyday Audio-Reader volunteers call in on their mobile or landline phone to record articles from the Kansas City Star, Topeka Capital-Journal and dozens of other publications. These recordings become digital files available through the telephone to our listeners. Because the content is categorized, listeners can navigate directly to any article in any publication, can skip articles, can move forward or backward in an article, speed up or slow down the reading, and change the volume.


Most of our assignments are sections of daily newspapers, which need to be recorded from 5-10 AM weekdays and 5-11 AM on weekends.

Telephone Reader Guidelines

Read your open ONLY at the beginning of your first article in each section. We have heard from many listeners that a repeated message at the beginning of all articles is very tedious to listen to.

Do not give section/page/heading/story location information for each article. Listeners find it EXTREMELY annoying.

Never read advertisements unless they are specifically assigned by staff.

Describe accompanying photos, graphs or charts after reading the article and begin with the caption.

Do not editorialize, comment on what you read, mock the writer or the content. Do not indicate with your tone of voice whether you agree or disagree with the author. Do not use character voices or unnatural dialects. You are the eyes, not the brain of our listeners.

Avoid long pauses and audible breaths as you begin an article. Take a deep breath and THEN press 1 to start your recording.

Read in a relaxed, engaged manner. If you enjoy your reading, your listeners will enjoy it, too.

Do not read too QUICKLY. Our listeners want to hear what you are reading. Do not read too SLOWLY, either. You have a lot of content to read. Read at a comfortable pace, but keep it moving.

If a noise or long pause occurs while you are recording, re-record that section. But do not try to be perfect. If you mispronounce something, you can correct it “on air” and keep going. You only need to go back and correct long pauses, really annoying errors, or loud noises.

In stories with quotations, do NOT read the quotation marks.

After your last article in a section record a final article that states “this was the final article in the ____ section of the (paper name).”

Listening to Telephone Reader

Audio-Reader recommends that volunteers dial in and listen to portions of their first few recordings. To listen for six minutes on a demonstration basis, call 785-864-7474, or 913-897-8787 and enter the demonstration code 5887.

Once you are connected follow the menu options to find the assignment you read.

When listening to an article, you can do the following:

Press 1 to return to the beginning of the article
Press 2 to skip to the next article
Press 6 to hear the last article in the category
Press 0 to exit the category
Press * to exit the publication
Press # to exit Telephone Reader

Telephone Reader Volunteer Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  I plugged in my landline equipment and pressed the ‘On-off’ button on the front.  Why don’t I hear a dial tone?

A:  These headsets draw power from the telephone line. The first time (or anytime you unplug the headset for a period of time) you plug in the headset, it takes a minute to charge. When you first plug it in, you need to leave the headset to charge for about two minutes before pressing the ‘On-off’ button. 


Q:  I dialed in from home but I cannot get connected -- the system just keeps ringing OR doesn’t ring at all. What should I do?

A:  Wait 10 minutes and try again. We have a limited number of lines available. In the mornings there may be more volunteers calling in to record than there are lines. After waiting 10 minutes and you still can’t connect call Audio-Reader at 785-864-4600, there may be a problem with the system.


Q:  I was recording from home and suddenly lost my connection to the system. What happened?

A:  Your call was dropped, this is especially common with mobile phones. If this happens, wait 10 minutes and try to reconnect. Enter the four-digit number of the article you were reading and press 2 to append to the end of the article. That will put your pointer where you stopped reading. Press 4 to resume reading at that point and finish the article.

Q:  I am no longer interested in reading for Telephone Reader. What do I do with my headset? 

A: Please return your headset to Audio-Reader. You can drop it off or mail it to: Audio Reader, 1120 West 11th Street, Lawrence, KS  66044

Set Up

  1. Plug in the keypad and wait at least one minute for it to charge, OR open the keypad view on your mobile phone.
  2. Read the Instruction Sheet for your assignment. This sheet tells you where to begin, what to read, what not to read, which publication and message numbers to use, etc.
  3. Scan your assigned reading material to decide which article to begin with, look for odd headlines, difficult pronunciations, pictures to describe, etc. 
  4. Dial any of the following TR access numbers. If you get a busy signal or cannot get through, try again in a few minutes. There are a limited number of lines for volunteers and listeners to share.
    • Kansas City Metro area 913 897 8787
    • Topeka area 785 887 8025
    • Lawrence area 785 864 7474
    • Springfield area 417 719 1125
    • Anywhere 800 335 1221
  5. When the system answers, you can enter 8462 right away (no need to listen to the entire message) to indicate that you are a reader.
  6. Enter the Real System ID number for home readers: 1144
  7. Enter the Security Code for home readers: 1144

Recording

  1. Enter the PUBLICATION NUMBER listed on your instruction sheet (a one or two-digit number).
  2. The publication number will be repeated back to you, press any key (except #) to begin the recording process. 
  3. Enter the four-digit message number on your instruction sheet.
  4. The message number will be repeated back to you, press 1, wait for the beep to begin reading.
  5. When you have finished recording your message/article press 4 to PAUSE the system. 
  6. You have two choices to continue recording:
    • For additional articles within this section of the paper, press 7. The system will move to the next consecutive message number and repeat it to you, press 1 to record it. Do this for each article within the section.
    • For articles in a different section of the paper, press 6. Enter the four-digit message number for the section you want to read. 
  7. Continue with step 6 until you complete your assignment. When finished just hang up!

Correcting Mistakes

Press 4 to PAUSE the system as soon as you make the mistake.
Press 2 to REWIND your recording by 10 seconds for each push.
Press 3 to PLAYBACK your recording.
Press 4 to PAUSE the system where you want to start recording again.
Press 4 again to CONTINUE RECORDING.

Tutorial: Recording with Telephone Reader

Former Coordinator of Volunteers, Jennifer Nigro, gives a tutorial on how to use Audio-Reader's Telephone Reader system.