Reading the newspaper has always been the focus for Minds Eye since we went on the air back in 1973 as the Radio Talking Book. From the outset, the goal of the organization was to give our listeners access to the full range of information available in local newspapers—not just news but editorials, sports stories, obituaries, advice columns and celebrity gossip.

Up until recently, the newspapers we read were St. Louis and Belleville papers, which did not cover much information about some of the other counties, which we serve. Major stories might be covered but not the local politics and community events. Last September, when we expanded our program schedule, we decided to try to correct that problem and added a number of programs with newspapers from outlying counties.

Previously, our readers did not have access to those papers, but by using the internet, we now get stories from many of those papers. We currently do programs specifically for these counties: Jefferson, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, and Franklin in Missouri and Bond, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Randolph, Monroe, and Washington counties in Illinois.

Most of these programs run on Saturday and Sunday, but the Madison County News, which is taken from the Alton Telegraph and the Edwardsville Intelligencer, airs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:00 p.m. The volunteer readers cover local news, obituaries, political news, sports, and community events from those counties.

What do our listeners think about these programs? Jill K. from Staunton says she is “right by the radio” on Sunday evening to hear the Macoupin and Jersey County News.

Virginia F. from Collinsville says she likes hearing the Madison County News because she wants to know what is going on in the county where she lives.

Since Minds Eye now covers a 75-mile radius around, St. Louis, there is room for many more county news programs to be added. As more listeners in these outlying areas sign up to listen, we will be adding even more of these to the schedule in the future.

Beep...Beep...Beep..Beepball

The 2009 Minds Eye Beepball Tournament showed everyone that sight is a mere luxury when playing sports – intense athletes play baseball blindfolded! Intense it was! All of the Beepball teams arrived prepared, pumped up, and positioned to play their hardest. The Ultimate Beepball Championship game, played on June 14, was a wonderful example of the community coming together to not only support the final teams, but to support Minds Eye listeners. The Minds Eye Beepball Tournament raised money that will ensure Minds Eye can reach hundreds more listeners and broadcast hundreds of additional hours of programming. Special thanks to the tournament teams for putting all of their effort into each game: Allsup, Edward Jones, Firing Squad, Friends of Minds Eye, and Lighthouse for the Blind. Allsup, Lighthouse for the Blind, Greensfelder, Hemker and Gale, P.C., Dr. Henry Allhoff, Kathleen Elder, Robert and Karen McDonald, Clarkson Eyecare, and Patricia Donnely sponsored the 2009 Minds Eye Beepball Tournament.