Reading Radio
At WRBH, stories leap from the unseen page and onto the airwaves
"Two pork chops with green bean almandine… Doreet-ohs! Tosteet-ohs! Cheet-ohs!” With his playfully placed pauses, Bruce Mohat calls forth poetry from the grocery ads he reads during his one-hour radio show Makin’ Groceries! which airs weekly on 88.3 WRBH. Based in New Orleans, this full-time FM reading radio service is the only one of its kind in the United States and one of only three such stations in the world.
In 1975, Dr Robert McClean, a New Orleans mathematician who was blind, started leasing airtime from WRNO as a first step to realizing his dream of making the world of print more easily accessible to the visually impaired by reading the local newspaper on air. In 1982, he purchased the 88.3 signal, and WRBH (Radio for the Blind and [print] Handicapped) has been reading to the New Orleans area ever since—going worldwide in 2000 when they began live streaming on the web. The station connects the visually impaired, non-readers, and the community at large to current events by giving voice to everything from local newspapers, to current self-help literature, to grocery story advertisements.
For over forty years, the non-profit radio station has been sustained by the support of volunteers, donations, and underwriting. In 2012, they began hosting what has become their signature annual fundraising event, a five-course meal with wine pairings—experienced blindfolded. This year, “A Blind Taste” will be held at La Petite Grocery on Magazine Street on September 11.
"WRBH is about community, with a New Orleans accent."
—Natalia Gonzalez, Executive Director of WRBH
New Orleans attorney Charles S. Smith—who discovered WRBH by chance in 2004 while working food delivery in college—started the event with La Petite Grocery’s Chef Justin Devillier. A champion of the radio station, Smith for several years hosted the popular Charlie’s Music Show—an interview and performance series—as part of WRBH’s original programming. He also currently serves the organization as the board president.
“It’s the people that make WRBH,” Smith said. “The production has a grassroots ethos—they sound like people you know, people you can imagine. Having a local read to you evokes a certain feeling.”
Since WRBH’s inception, technological improvements have increased the accessibility of the printed word for people who are visually impaired in our society. Audiobooks can be downloaded through public libraries and screen reading software transforms the printed word into audio or braille that can be read tactilely with a refreshable braille display. Still, revolutionary as these advancements are, there will always be more soul in a human voice reading to you, as opposed to AI or braille.
“My sister can smell the sweet olives when she’s listening in Austin,” related Natalia Gonzalez, who has been executive director at the station for over twenty years. “WRBH is about community—with a New Orleans accent.”
The community Gonzalez is referring to is made up of an eclectic mix of nearly 150 volunteers—including actors, lawyers, doctors, weather forecasters, a priest, and a former spy. Together, they contribute thousands of hours reading aloud from local and national newspapers, new fiction and non-fiction books, periodicals, children’s books, and event calendars. For twenty-five years, the organization has also been creating in-house shows such as the Writers’ Forum, where local writers discuss their process and read from their work. Altogether, they help fulfill WRBH’s mission to give voice to the printed word so that the blind and print impaired can access current information as readily as the sighted.
These services, of course, benefit people even beyond the print-impaired. Jane Trucksis found WRBH in 2006 while she was trying to tune into New Orleans music radio station WWOZ 90.7. “I wanted to set my alarm clock to wake up to WWOZ but was having trouble catching it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” she said. “Instead, I heard a woman’s voice reading a book by Joan Didion. So, I started waking up to The Year of Magical Thinking.”
Trucksis, a lover of books, eventually became a WRBH volunteer reader. She takes her work seriously, pre-reading and diacritically marking any difficult words (like the names found in Russian novels) before she records. She noted that WRBH provides a great way for listeners to stumble upon books, “They get turned onto books they might not read on their own. They hear things outside of their comfort zone. Like WWOZ introduces you to music you might never have thought to listen to, we do that for books.”
For the upcoming Blind Taste fundraiser, WRBH asks attendees to step out of their comfort zone and briefly experience what it is like to eat and socialize without relying on their vision. According to current Executive Chef at La Petite Grocery Joe Tiedmann, each dish is developed with especial attention to aromas and textures, and typically planned around the flavor profiles of early fall—think brown butter sauces, sage, herbs, and squashes. One year, the meal started with a French onion bisque to arouse a feeling of homeyness and warmth. “Caramelized onions smell nostalgic, welcoming, and evoke a feeling of security,” Tiedmann said.
“The production has a grassroots ethos—they sound like people you know, people you can imagine. Having a local read to you evokes a certain feeling.”
—Charles S. Smith
At the beginning of each course, as the kitchen is plating the food, co-emcee Smith shakes an afuche-cabasa. The gentle percussive rattle signals everyone to don their blindfolds as the chef enters to describe the food, and the wine tender offers the details regarding the wine pairing.
“It’s a little disconcerting; some folks struggle with it,” Smith recalled, referring to the awkwardness of figuring out how to eat and hold a conversation without the visual cues we tend to rely on. Nonetheless, he and co-emcee/board member Angela Hill strongly encourage people to wear their blindfolds during each course. The event is not only about raising funds and enjoying a sensually delicious meal, but also about building empathy and understanding.
In between each course, blindfolds are removed, and a brief auction of donated items ensues as part of the evening’s fundraising efforts.
To buy tickets to A Blind Taste, call the station at (504) 899-1144. Note that seats typically sell out early, though last-minute openings are sometimes available.
To volunteer, donate, or listen to WRBH’s streamed audio, visit wrbh.org where you can access a detailed schedule of programming and podcasts. The site is compatible with screen readers and offers a high-contrast setting and large print options. If you are in the New Orleans area, turn your FM dial to 88.3. No matter how you listen, be careful if it is noon time on a Friday or Saturday, Mohat’s Makin Groceries! can make you hungry with his jovial calling out of local plate lunch specials, “Crab stuffed mushrooms! Fried shrimp with hush puppies and fries! Shrimp tass-oh and pasta!”