TORONTO – For two days next week, dozens of CBC Television and Radio personalities from across the country will lend their voices to VoicePrint, the specialty service that provides full-text audio broadcasts of the most popular newspapers and magazines to millions of vision impaired Canadians.
The two days of reading, which will happen May 31 and June 1, are part of VoicePrint’s Celebrity Reader Days, designed to build awareness for the national service and will be heard on VoicePrint July 4th to 7th.
CBC hosts, including George Stroumboulopoulos, Roger Abbott, Mark Kelley, Jeannie Lee, Terri Campbell and others, will donate their time to record readings of the day’s local and national news. The sessions will be recorded with VoicePrint’s portable digital audio system, which will be operated by one of its blind studio technicians.
The readings will be broadcast on VoicePrint’s “Cross Canada Newsstand” and will be available on CBC Newsworld’s SAP (Secondary Audio Program) service.
“VoicePrint is highly valued by so many Canadians. As Canada’s public broadcaster, we’re honoured once again to be a part of Celebrity Reader Days,” said Jane Chalmers, vice-president, CBC Radio, in the press release.
“The CBC has a longstanding relationship with VoicePrint that dates back to 1990, when CBC Newsworld began carrying the VoicePrint signal," added Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president, CBC Television, "We’re pleased to once again show our support for this important service.”
“We are terrifically pleased that CBC is helping us raise awareness of our 24/7 information lifeline. It is a great show of support from Canada’s public broadcaster to the cause of greater accessibility,” said Mike Hanson, VoicePrint managing director,
Among the CBC personalities that will take part in the Celebrity Reader Days are:
Toronto
Roger Abbott and Alan Park – Royal Canadian Air Farce
Brenda Irving and Scott Russell – CBC Sports
Mark Kelley – CBC News: The National
Jeannie Lee – CBC News: Business
George Stroumboulopoulos – CBC News: The Hour
Ottawa
Alan Neal – Ontario Today
Amanda Putz – Bandwidth, Host of Fuse
Halifax
Costas Halavrezos – Maritime Noon
Olga Milosevich – Radio Host
Winnipeg
Jaeny Baik – Shaken Not Stirred
Calgary
Doug Dirks – News at Six
Terri Campbell and Angela Knight – Daybreak Alberta
Katherine Duncan – Symphony Hall
Edmonton
Portia Clark and Andrea Lau – CBC News at Six
Jim MacQuarrie – CBC Newsworld
Vancouver
Gloria Macarenko – Canada Now
Victoria
Paul Vasey – On The Island
