Daily Listening Options
There are various ways to listen to our service, the first on this page is our online players, Sonata Internet Radio, the British Wireless for the Blind Fund Talking Newspaper Federation telephone app, the Alexa skill or the USB stick service. Read on for more information.
Low income Broadband Deals
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If you are concerned that you can't access our service as you are on a low income. There are reduced rates available. You might want to take a look at this January 2022 article on U Switch find out more here
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Daily Listening Options
There are various ways to listen to our service. The British Wireless for the Blind Fund has worked with the Talking Newspaper Federation to bring over 250 titles together through their
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Our BWBF players are designed to be fully accessible to visually impaired people and mean that you can access the news the same day that our volunteer readers record them from their homes.
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Weekly Compilations
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Not interested in listening to the daily recordings provided by Cue and Review Print Speaking to the Blind? If you only have time to listen to 90 minutes of news each week, why not sign up for one of the ways of accessing the service weekly
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Online Players
The following links will take you directly to the latest stream of each title. You will find there is a picture link and a button link to make it easier for reader software. If you then listen on a computer or on your mobile phone you will may need to press the play button on the player or use the fast forward or rewind buttons when the new page opens.
Listen To Talking Newspapers From Across The Country On Your Mobile Phone
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National charity British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) and The Talking News Federation (TNF) have joined forces to bring together local Talking Newspapers from across the UK.
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They have developed a mobile application that can be accessed independently from any specialist BWBF equipment.
The Talking Newspaper app can be downloaded by users to their own smart devices for free from both Apple and Android stores; and is available to people with a variety of difficulties reading text, such as dyslexia - not just the blind and partially sighted.
Alexa Skill (now live)​
“Alexa Enable Talking Newspaper” Our Alexa Skill brings talking newspapers that are members of the Talking Newspaper Federation together on a skill developed by Cue and Review Recording Service and the British Wireless for the Blind Fund.
​To get started using the skill say “Alexa Enable, Talking Newspapers”, make sure you use the plural. Then say “Alexa, open talking newspaper” to your Alexa device. A short message will play, meaning you have successfully started the skill.
To get started, say play and the name of the title you would like to listen to. For example, “play Cue and Review The National”, Cue and Review The Herald, Cue and Review Evening Times, or Kirkintilloch Herald”. Make sure you say the exact title as below.
The functions which currently should work are Next, Previous, Loop, Pause, Resume and Stop.
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For more on how to access and use the skill check out our dedicated page here
Weekly USB Stick digests​
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Although this is the slowest way to access your news we are aware that for many people getting the paper on a USB stick posted in a yellow padded postal wallet is the way that they have always liked it. Since March 2022 we have brought back this service now that it is safer to do so.
Listeners will currently be sent two editions before we will stop if they don't return their wallet and stick. Ideally, listeners would post everything back weekly.
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If you have someone who can add the audio onto a stick for you you can now also visit our public Dropbox folder where they can add the audio direct for you
Weekly Castbox Editions
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Not interested in listening to the daily recordings provided by Cue and Review Print Speaking to the Blind? If you only have time to listen to 90 minutes of news each week, why not sign up to our Castbox Service available as a weekly digest of the Herald Scotland the Glasgow Evening Times and the National Scotland.
It’s easy to set up simply follow the links below and login using your Facebook or Twitter account. The links that we have provided will take you straight to pages for our three online newspapers.
Listener Membership Form
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The above button to sign up to our mailing list is optional, however, it does mean that we have an idea of who is listening and which format they are listening on. In turn, this helps us access funding which ensures the service remains free to our listeners. Rather than leaving the website to fill out the form it is also repeated at the bottom of the page.
What We Offer
Monday to Friday our volunteers are reading and then uploading individual articles to the Sonata Internet Radio service provided by the British Wireless for the Blind Fund. Via the boxes featured in the video, you can listen daily to approximately 20 articles from the Herald, 16 Glasgow Times and 20 articles per week from The National all with the permission of Newsquest Glasgow. We also upload weekly recordings of Inside Soap and TV Radio Listings.
On the box you don’t need to listen to the whole paper you can choose which articles you wish to listen to. On the stream, you can listen as the articles are read automatically or click on the individual tracks.
While we are phasing out our tape service we are still providing a weekly tape of the Herald and Glasgow Times but as tape players become harder to find we are encouraging sighted family members to use our alternative faster services. You also receive less information on an audio cassette and have to post the cassettes back in a postal wallet after each edition.
Support Workers or Sighted People with Visually Impaired Relatives.
How can your teams raise the profile of those living with sight loss in East Dunbartonshire when it comes to local bodies (public, private, or third sector) communicating with them? Can you encourage local public sector bodies to include our player link on their website? Can you care teams tell clients about our service and pass their information on to us? With daily readings and distribution, we are ideally placed to get information out to visually impaired locals quickly.
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In East Dunbartonshire the register says there are 450 people registered as visually impaired, the RNIB says there are 4350 living with sight loss. Currently, just 10% of people on the register listen to our local service each week.
We could work with social care workers to put smart speakers, download the mobile app, or even the slowest option, USB sticks into client homes. That way if there was a leaflet, newsletter, or general information that needed to be distributed we could respond quickly and easily.
BWBF Connect
BWBF Connect enables the recipient to receive equipment via a doorstep delivery. They then receive a phone call from a member of BWBF’s team who talks them through the setup and answers any questions they may have, ensuring that they get full use of the equipment. If you or someone you know is interested in receiving a device, please contact BWBF Connect on 01622 754 757 or sophie@blind.org.uk
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Cue and Review's office
We have recently installed a virtual phone system that now means we can answer calls from our homes. So please call us on 0141-772-3976 but just in case we are recording drop us an email here or contact us on our Facebook page.