WHAT IS WYPL?
W Y P L is a radio reading service for the visually and print
impaired located at 3030 Poplar Ave. in the Memphis Shelby County
Public Library and Information Center.
Broadcasts are intended primarily for the print impaired and air
on FM 89.3 from 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Volunteer hours
are from 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday and from 8:00 till
noon on weekends.
Our goal is to present news and information otherwise not readily
available to our visually impaired audience in as timely a
fashion as possible. To accomplish this, W Y P L presents daily
readings from newspapers, including The Commercial Appeal and
weekly publications such as Time, Newsweek, and The Memphis
Business Journal. Also recorded are magazine programs consisting
of articles on science, nature, medicine, women's concerns, the
entertainment industry, and special programming on matters of
interest to the visually impaired and physically challenged.
WHO DOES ALL THIS READING?
Our 140+ skilled
and dedicated volunteers are the lifeblood of the radio reading
service.
Since volunteers work as part of a team to meet production
schedules and do "live" programming, dependability is
essential. A time commitment of 1-2 hours per week on a regular
basis is required.
After the potential volunteer has passed an audition
demonstrating proficiency in reading the appropriate subject
matter and having an acceptable vocal quality, every effort will
be made to schedule applicants into a time slot based on the
station's needs.
Volunteers at WYPL basically do two kinds of reading: Newspapers,
which are "live", two hour productions read by teams of
three volunteers, and magazines and neighborhood newspapers,
which are pre-recorded by individual volunteers for 59 minutes,
generally WYPL records a limited number of books. Book readers must have 6
months WYPL radio reading experience and exemplary attendance.
The Audition Committee will use the following criteria in reviewing your tape.
- Is the diction
clear and distinct and free from hesitations?
- Does the
reader make the material come to life? Does the reader
express shades of meaning and emphasis in the voice?
- Is the
reader's pace or rate of delivery appropriate to the
material being read?
- Does the
reader have the well developed vocabulary to do
"cold readings" with little or no outside
preparation?
- Does the
reader have appropriate volume for recording?
WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT VOLUNTEERS PRACTICE READING THE NEWSPAPER ALOUD
BEFORE TAKING THEIR AUDITION
The characteristics
listed below are some of the reasons why applicants may not be
offered volunteer positions:
- The reader's
words are slurred or garbled.
- The reader has
a limited vocabulary.
- The voice
lacks expression or is dry and lifeless.
- The reading is
too slow and monotonous.
If you have been selected as a volunteer, but no openings are
available for you to begin reading, we will place your name on a
"waiting list" for at least two months. If no openings
occur during that time space, you may request to have your name
kept on the list either by calling the station (415-2752) or
writing the Coordinator of WYPL Volunteers, 3030 Poplar Ave.,
Memphis, TN 38111.
Now that you have reviewed these reading characteristics, you are
ready to fill out the application and take the audition test.
Good luck!!!
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