[1] Audio-Reader broadcasts the content of books, newspapers, magazines, and other printed materials via a closed-circuit radio to certified users in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
In addition to the radio program, Audio-Reader operates other services for the blind, including a telephone information service called Telephone Reader, audio description of theater in Kansas City, Missouri, and Lawrence, Kansas, cassette taping of printed materials, and a sensory garden.
A staff of thirteen operate the service, supervising three hundred volunteers, who record materials at the on-campus office or through telephone headsets from their homes.
Anne "Petey" Cerf, a Lawrence resident, began working in the mid-1960s[3] to find a way to provide written materials for people unable to use standard print using radio, and hired Midwest Research Institute to determine the feasibility of such a project, originally focusing on using the same radio channels used by Muzak.
During this period, volunteers recalled live broadcasts that were interrupted by heavy rainstorms or squirrels running along the tin roof of the trailer.
"For Your Ears Only", an annual music sale in Lawrence begun in 2003, is a fundraiser put on by Audio-Reader's staff at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Audio-Reader is only allowed to provide these radios to users who can certify a print-disability from a medical doctor or social service agent.