Each Wednesday, Bob Hargreaves wakes early to catch a train to Sydney as part of his role as an on-air companion to vision impaired people.
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“I’ve got all the equipment here,” the 83-year-old Kiama Downs resident said. “I needn’t go to Sydney, I can make the studio sounding program here at home.
“But I wouldn’t meet anybody, the other volunteers.
“It’d save me getting up at 4am to catch an early train to Sydney. But I record the voice track in Sydney, and then I bring it home and I edit it, pace it and mix the music to it here at home.”
For the past 31 years, Mr Hargreaves has been an on-air companion to vision impaired people through radio reading.
“Sometimes you’ll hear on television or maybe radio, but mostly television, the presenter will say, ‘out there, you out there’,” he said.
“Well, there is no ‘out there’. A radio announcer is in there, is in their lounge room, bedroom, bathroom.
“It’s a very personal thing… The little bit of feedback I’ve had is that it’s good company. It’s also filling an information gap.”
He’s currently celebrating his 60th year in broadcasting, having kicked off his career at Albury’s 2AY in 1957.
He worked in television and commercial radio, and was a weekend newsreader for ABC Canberra.
Mr Hargreaves began his involvement with radio reading while living in Canberra.
“I felt that I’d been very well-blessed for being able to work in the industries that I loved,” he said.
“So I heard on the radio that they were going to start this broadcast reading service in Canberra, and I thought, ‘right, that’s how I can put something back’.”
He continued his efforts after moving to Kiama Downs about 15 years ago, and since then has travelled to Sydney each week.
He hosts a weekly half-hour, magazine-type program, featuring news content compiled from various publications.
It is broadcast on several RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped) network stations around the country.
“I’m happy to say that it’s never missed a week in 31 years,” he said.
“At the moment, as well as the weekly program I’m working on a special for Anzac Day which I’ve done for about 17 years.”
The Community Broadcasting Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit funding agency. The foundation recently launched the Beating Loneliness through Community Radio Campaign to reduce the levels of loneliness in Australia. Details at www.cbf.com.au.