Radio for Blind and Visually Impaired Listeners

Published 24 September 2026

Radio has always been the medium that works without sight, and some stations exist specifically for people who are blind, partially sighted or unable to read print: they read the day's newspapers, magazines and books aloud. You can listen to many of them online, in any browser, with no download and no account — open 72FM, search for a station's name, and press play.

Radio reading services

A radio reading service reads printed material aloud for people who cannot read it themselves — because of blindness, low vision, dyslexia, a stroke or a physical disability. The first was the Minnesota Radio Talking Book, which went on air in January 1969; the idea spread across the United States and abroad, and services are now linked through the International Association of Audio Information Services (IAAIS).

In the directory you will find, among others:

• CRIS Radio — from the Chicago Lighthouse.
• Connecticut Radio Information System.
• KPBS Radio Reading Service — San Diego.
• WUFT Radio Reading Service — Gainesville, Florida.
• WKAR Radio Reading Service — East Lansing, Michigan.
• Down East Radio Reading Service — Maine.
• The Recording Library of West Texas and Owl Radio in San Antonio.

Most read local newspapers, grocery adverts and community notices as well as national news — exactly the local print that is hardest to get in other formats.

Stations from organisations of blind people

• NFB Radio Network — from the National Federation of the Blind in the United States.
• ACB Radio — from the American Council of the Blind, with programmes by and for blind people.
• Blind Bat Radio — from the United States.

Outside the United States

• RNIB Connect — from the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the UK, with news, talk and information about living with sight loss.
• Vision Australia Radio — part of Australia's RPH network of radio reading services, which began in Melbourne in 1975.
• Print Radio Tasmania (7RPH) — Tasmania's reading service.

Using 72FM with a screen reader

72FM works in any modern browser, so it can be used with the screen reader you already have — VoiceOver, TalkBack, NVDA or JAWS. Station cards announce their names, the play button is labelled, and the whole player can be driven from the keyboard; keyboard shortcuts lists them. Favourites let you save the stations you use, so you do not have to search each time.

Simple ways to listen

For someone who finds screens difficult, a wifi radio or smart speaker can be simpler: wifi internet radios, radio on a smart speaker and radio for elderly listeners cover devices that need only a button or a voice command.

A route in

1. RNIB Connect or Vision Australia Radio, depending on where you live.
2. ACB Radio or NFB Radio Network, for programmes by blind people.
3. The radio reading service nearest you — search for "reading service" on 72FM.