When the Chicagoland Radio Information Service, or CRIS Radio, started up in 1981, its primary mission was to provide a newspaper reading service on the radio for the visually impaired. Eleven years down the road, the non-profit CRIS is providing much more than just the headlines for an audience estimated at between 10,000 and 30,000.
Those who qualify for the special radio receivers needed to hear CRIS, which broadcasts 24 hours a day on a sub-carrier channel of WBEZ-FM 91.5, can hear everything from specially produced radio plays to readings of new books, news and public affairs programs, and travel and sports shows.
And when it comes to newspapers, the service offers readings from not only the downtown papers, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor, but also more than 20 neighborhood and suburban weeklies.
”We have listeners all over the Chicago area, and while both the Tribune and the Sun-Times are very nice, people do want to know what`s going on in their back yard,” said CRIS general manager Bonnie Miller. ”We can`t accommodate every single neighborhood newspaper, but the more we can the better.”
One of the newest additions to CRIS is twice-a-month readings from La Raza, the Spanish-language Chicago weekly.
According to Miller, surveys show that at least half of CRIS users are members of an ethnic minority. She says one of the agency`s goals is to increase its outreach program to the Hispanic and other ethnic communities.
All of this is done on a modest annual operating budget of $200,000, with funding coming from the state and from corporate and individual contributors. With only six full- and two part-time staff members, much of the reading and program production work is provided by 150 regular volunteers and 250 substitute volunteers.
Miller notes that CRIS volunteers include a number of Chicago radio and television personalities and local actors, but are primarily everyday folks who are happy to donate an hour a week to CRIS.
In January, the service moved from temporary quarters at 400 N. Franklin St. to new studios in the pedestrian walkway under the Chicago Cultural Center at 77 E. Randolph St. CRIS will be hosting an open house there from noon to 6 p.m. Friday, followed by a dedication ceremony for CRIS` new studios. Call 312-541-8400.
Miller admits that money is always a problem at CRIS, which so far only reaches about 10 percent of the estimated 250,000 vision-impaired people in the Chicago area. While only 3,500 private homes have CRIS receivers, 36 area hospitals and 50 nursing homes and other institutions provide CRIS.
According to Miller, most of those who qualify for CRIS service-anyone who meets the state definition of visually impaired-are on fixed incomes.
Miller says the agency has a long way to go to fulfill its goal of providing service to all who need it.
”People are living longer, but some of their faculties are burning out, such as vision,” Miller said. ”We`re really going to have to work fast to keep up with it.”
