For Immediate Release Contact: Baechler Productions PO Box 19727 San Diego, CA 92159 http://goldenradio.net/ Email: press@xxxxxxxxxxxx BAECHLER PRODUCTIONS MAKES VINTAGE RADIO BOOKS AVAILABLE TO THE BLIND (SAN DIEGO, CA - November 29, 2005) - Baechler Productions, a leader in the transfer and restoration of high quality Vintage Radio shows available on DVD and audio CD announced today that in association with Bookshare.org, a leading provider of digitally accessible books for the disabled, funding has been donated for the purchase and scanning of nearly two dozen books related to Vintage Radio. If you are a member of Bookshare.org, you can already download several titles which have been processed, with more titles going online over the next several weeks. We regrettably are unable to make these books available to non-members. All titles can only be downloaded through the Bookshare.org web site. "We are happy to provide this service to the blind," Tony Baechler, Director of Baechler Productions, recently said. Tony himself is blind and understands firsthand how difficult it can be to find reference materials about Vintage Radio. Although he has been collecting Vintage Radio programs for many years, it was not until 2003 that a well-known reference book was made available on several cassettes. He further states, "There were a couple books available on tape but they were difficult to use and required lots of time to find what you were looking for. I couldn't just turn to the page I wanted as other sighted collectors could." Vintage Radio was described as, "theater of the mind," by the CBS Radio Network. It is ideally suited as entertainment for the blind since the pictures are drawn from your imagination. During the golden era of Vintage Radio, there were many types of programs including dramas, comedies, and news. It was not until the late 1990's that researchers began writing very comprehensive, detailed reference books. There had been encyclopedic works written before then but with many inaccuracies. It has now become very easy to collect these programs. For the sighted public, it is also simple to purchase and read the reference books. However, this is impossible for the blind or others who are unable to read print. That is why Baechler Productions was honored to donate the funds to purchase twenty-two books for scanning and uploading to Bookshare.org. There is a large range of titles included, from books of a nostalgic nature to very large encyclopedias. There are detailed looks at both well-known radio stars such as Jack Benny and Bing Crosby to thorough examinations of lesser known and nearly forgotten stars such as Paul Frees. In addition, there are several well-respected authors from the Vintage Radio community represented including Martin Grams, Jr. and Jim Harmon. Other featured celebrities include George Burns and Bob Hope. There are books which focus only on specific shows as well, such as "Have Gun, Will Travel" and "Suspense." Tony further observes, "It used to really bother me. I would have a great longing to read some of the new books just coming out. Everyone on the email lists would rave about the latest work by a respected author but I had no way to read it. If I was lucky, the author might post an excerpt online but that was it." "Jack Benny was active through sixty years and four eras of American entertainment," notes Laura Leff, President of the International Jack Benny Fan Club located online at http://jackbenny.org. Because of the timelessness and value of his humor, we have chosen many biographies about him, including one by his daughter, Joan and several by his writers. He was well-respected by his many friends, including George Burns, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and many others. It is now possible for the blind to get to know the real person of Jack Benny, not just his radio and television persona. Because of his enduring popularity, a petition has been started to have his picture on the new thirty-nine cent postage stamp expected to be released in January, 2006. The blind, thanks to the books now available, are not limited to only hearing his radio legacy. In 2002, an effort was made to bring back some of the famous Vintage Radio programs from the past in printed form. This was so successful and well-received that a second volume was published two years later. However, even though the medium of radio itself is great entertainment for the blind, the publisher would not make electronic copies available. We hope that publishers will consider giving error-free files to Bookshare.org in the future. Finally, the wait is over for those people who happen to be blind and like this type of entertainment since both volumes will shortly be available online. "One great thing about Bookshare.org is the security measures they put in place. I have no worries at all about books being stolen and showing up online. I just wish other authors and publishers would see the advantage in providing perfect, electronic copies rather than leaving the blind out or expecting volunteers to scan them." Baechler Productions would like to extend a special thanks to Carrie Karnos who gave many hours of her time to make this project possible. She prepared the books, scanned them, and fixed many errors caused by the text recognition process. Although Baechler Productions was able to provide the funding, we did not have the resources to physically scan and proofread the books. This project would not have happened without her dedication. For more information about the books being offered, contact: Anthony Baechler, press@xxxxxxxxxxxx, http://goldenradio.net/books.html About Baechler Productions Baechler Productions was established in 2003 to seek out, transfer, preserve and restore programs from radio's past, also known as Vintage Radio. They are interested in acquiring high quality, low generation programs on open reel and audio CD. Even though the mp3 format is now very popular, Baechler Productions never uses it for archival purposes because of how much of the original high frequencies are lost in the compression process. In 2004, Baechler Productions purchased the goldenaudio.net site for freely available, noncommercial online audio. In November 2005, goldenradio.net was launched, allowing the public to have access to the increasingly large library of restored, high quality programs processed by Baechler Productions. Although the site is currently in its preliminary form, the catalog will be growing and goldenradio.net expects to be accepting orders in early 2006. Some Vintage Radio shows can be pre-ordered via email, visit http://goldenradio.net/ for more information. # # # -- BlindNews mailing list Archived at: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind/ Address message to list by sending mail to: BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Access your subscription info at: http://blindprogramming.com/mailman/listinfo/blindnews_blindprogramming.com To unsubscribe via e-mail: send a message to BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in either the subject or body of the message To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank Email to bookshare-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the Subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.