IRIS in Iowa City

Last week, IRIS director Rob Davis made a stop at the IRIS studio in Iowa City. In addition to joining the volunteers in their daily reading of the Gazette at the WSUI/KSUI conference room in Iowa City, Rob also managed to snap some great photos.

IRIS Volunteer Rich Roller reads the Gazette .

Art Nowak is one of the original IRIS volunteers in Iowa City. Thanks Art!

Art and the WSUI/KSUI conference room

IRIS volunteer Barb Elias

IRIS in Iowa City's "fearless leader," A.K.A. volunteer coordinator, Robin Paetzold

The IRIS team in Des Moines sends a big thank you to the IRIS volunteers in Iowa City for all of their hard work!

IRIS off air today

WOI-FM, and therefore IRIS, will be off air for about an hour today starting at 12 pm for routine maintenance.

We appreciate your cooperation during this time.

Florida Reading Service Shuts Down

The radio reading service in Orlando FL is shutting down next week, following funding cuts from the Florida legislature. Many services in FL are now going dark following this action. Here is the article in the Orlando Sentinel:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-wmfe-blind-service-061909,0,683116.story

IRIS News and Notes

A reminder that the IRIS Board of Directors will meet Thursday, June 25 at St. Lukes Church, Beaver and Forest at 3:30pm. There will be no July meeting. Please call the IRIS office at 243-6833 and let us know you are coming. The annual IRIS Ice Cream Social will be held Thursday August 27th at 3:30pm at the AIB College of Business in Des Moines, the same location as last year. Be there or be square !

IRIS on Air in Sioux City!

Gretchen Gondek, the general manager at KWIT in Sioux City, reports that transmission repairs are complete. She gave the IRIS volunteers the official OK to resume readings of the Sioux City Journal today. At IRIS HQs, we have been busy calling listeners and other constituents to give them the good news. Here is a link to the article in the Sioux City Journal:

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2009/06/12/news/latest_news/e4c0f7c5dfe9ad5b862575d300574727.txt

Sioux City IRIS Update

KWIT General Manager Gretchen Gondek reports it is possible KWIT will be operating at full power again as early as Friday. IRIS volunteers in Sioux City are on alert to possibly report to work Friday morning. IRIS volunteers read The Journal at 8am each day. As you know, damage to a transmission line forced the station to operate at greatly reduced power for the past several weeks and that put IRIS out of business for the duration. Let's keep our fingers crossed !

IRIS in Mason City

IRIS volunteers in Mason City said goodbye at a coffee June 9 to volunteer coordinator Jane Ginapp, although she is not going very far! Jane has served as volunteer coordinator for more than 3 years, and in addition to scheduling volunteers, has worked on IRIS outreach and public relations, putting out a newsletter and scheduling many volunteer get togethers. Lisa Janzer Mott will take over the IRIS scheduling duties, but Jane will continue to read for IRIS in Mason City.

Mason City IRIS volunteers Marv Murphy, Ralph Cassady, Jane Ginapp, Lisa Janzer Mott , Barb Wendt, Kay Faulken were among the IRIS readers at a coffee June 9 at KCMR Radio.

Outgoing Mason City volunteer coordinator Jane Ginapp receives a coveted IRIS vase from Director Rob Davis as a "thank you'' for her work on behalf of IRIS.

KCMR Manager Bill Schickel shares a laugh with IRIS volunteers at a training session and coffee June 9 at the radio station.

IDB Library Update June 2009

Want to know what's going on at the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped? Here is the monthly audio report, which you may play from this blog. Many IRIS programs are archived for downloading on our web site at http://www.iowaradioreading.org/. You'll need a password to access the audio archive, so please call the IRIS office at 515-243-6833 or toll free at 1-877-404-4747 !

IRIS Volunteer Photos

We love our volunteers! Here are a few select photos of some of our 300 volunteers.

AIB Staff and AmeriCorps volunteers help coordinate a service learning project, in which AIB students read the Council Bluffs Daily Non Pareil.

Cedar Falls volunteer, Bea Koontz, reads the Cedar Falls Courier.

Sioux City IRIS

Rob here. I know our Sioux City IRIS listeners are anxiously awaiting the return of our service in Siouxland. The General Manager of KWIT, Gretchen Gondek, reports work is underway to repair a damaged transmission line which has forced the station to operate at very low power, for an extended period of time. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by the end of the month. Thank you for your patience !

Welcome !

Welcome to the IRIS blog. We will be posting items and photos here from time to time. Please check our blog regularly, and feel free to leave any comments. - Rob