“Turning print into sound 24/7 online.” The Talking Information Center (TIC) makes streaming audio available on the web at www.ticnetwork.com.

DATELINE: BOSTON, MA, DALTON, MA, FRAMINGHAM, MA, LOWELL, MA, MARSHFIELD, MA, MASHPEE, MA, SPRINGFIELD, MA, WORCESTER, MA, and WINDSOR, CT …
There are 150,000 persons in Massachusetts who are unable to read the printed word, due to low vision or blindness, or because of mobility impairments caused by advanced age, injury, birth defects, or disease. Among blind citizens, the American Foundation for the Blind estimates that there are 77,000 blind residents over the age of 75, and 30,000 over the age of 85.

The mission of the Talking Information Center is to provide these visually impaired and print-handicapped people with access to the printed word and to provide audience-specific information in the form of timely broadcast programming, including the reading of newspapers, magazines, books, and special consumer information.

This critical lifeline is now available online through the click of a button at www.ticnetwork.com where multiple audio streams allow listeners to access live programming and archived material 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Advance in Technology Broaden TIC Listeners’ Access
Through the efforts of over 550 volunteer readers statewide, TIC continues to broadcast the reading of printed material over an extensive network of commercial and noncommercial radio and cable outlets broadcasting to all of Massachusetts as well as southern New Hampshire and Connecticut, enabling listeners to tune in by using special radio receivers tuned to the sub-carrier of local FM radio stations.

Now, through the addition of the availability of streaming audio online at its website, www.ticnetwork.com, listeners who have internet access are able to hear programs live, or tune into archived programs that they may that they may have missed when they were originally broadcast.

To access these archived files, TIC advises listeners to download Winamp, a free MP3 player that is available at www.winamp.com.

In addition TIC notes that JAWS for Windows, the most popular screen reader available worldwide, works with listeners’ PCs to provide access to software applications and the Internet, enabling TIC listeners to hear current live program schedules and well as archived program schedules. With its internal software speech synthesizer and the computer's sound card, JAWS allows information from the screen to be read aloud, providing technology to access a wide variety of information.

About TIC
In 1977, Ed Perry, the founder of radio station WATD-FM in Marshfield, MA, donated his Subsidiary Carrier Authorization signal for use as the first radio reading service in New England. TIC began broadcasting in 1978 for four hours daily, Monday through Friday.

Currently, over 20,000 listeners in Massachusetts rely on the Talking Information Center (TIC), which broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to visually-impaired and print-handicapped listeners including those suffering from AIDS, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, paralysis or other physical illness that makes holding a publication or turning pages impossible. TIC provides listeners with special receivers that are small radios tuned only to the Talking Information Center.

The Talking Information Center (TIC), located in Marshfield, MA, is a non-profit reading service that broadcasts newspapers, magazines, books, and special consumer information covering specific subject areas such as obituaries, medical updates, jobs, stock market updates, sports, supermarket specials, voting guides, community newspapers, and television programs. In addition, TIC broadcasts book readings every evening as well as cultural programming including old-time radio drama, theater, and poetry.

TIC is the hub of the Massachusetts Reading Network, broadcasting to all of Massachusetts as well as southern New Hampshire and Connecticut. Operating similarly to other broadcast networks, TIC has affiliates throughout the state of Massachusetts that provide inserts of local news and information that is of interest to listeners in their area. TIC has also added a website, featuring a live audio stream, selected archived programs, and links to other service organizations, including all TIC affiliate stations.

TIC affiliates include: Audible Local Ledger (ALL), Mashpee, MA; Audio Journal, Worcester, MA; Berkshire Talking Chronicle (BTC), Dalton, MA; Connecticut Radio Information System (CRIS), Windsor, CT; Lowell Association For The Blind (LAB), Lowell, MA; MetroWest Radio Reading Service, Framingham, MA; and Radio Reading Service Goodwill, Springfield, MA.

The Talking Information Center is located at 130 Enterprise Drive, (P.O. Box 519), in Marshfield, MA 02050. For more information about TIC please visit www.ticnetwork.com, email general@ticnetwork.com, or call 800-696-9505, or 781-834-4400.