About us
The Mission Statement for the Berkshire Talking Chronicle (BTC), a non-profit radio reading service, the only such service in Berkshire County:
To provide local news, information and entertainment not readily available through any other source to the print-impaired of Berkshire County - thereby improving the quality of life.
Print-impaired listeners are the blind, visually impaired, those with learning disabilities, physical disabilities (such as MS, Parkinson's disease, AIDS, injury, old age or stroke) which prevent holding reading material, spinal cord injury, dyslexia, mild mental retardation or an allergy to newsprint.
The MA Commission for the Blind's Report of the Register shows over 800 blind persons in our listening area in Berkshire County. The majority of our listeners are in their middle 70's or older.
Approximately 30 volunteers and one part-time employee are involved in the operation of the studio, equipment and transmission, as well as the delivery of receivers, advocacy, publicity, fundraising and program development.
Programming is transmitted twenty four hours a day every day at the studio in Dalton. Approximately 30 hours of news and information is aired from the Dalton studio, with the rest airing from the Massachusetts Radio Reading Network at the Talking Information Center (TIC) in Marshfield, Massachusetts. TIC has a contract with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind to provide, through affiliates like BTC, the radio reading services for Massachusetts.
We currently transmit through a sub frequency low power FM license: WRRS 104.3 LPFM Pittsfield, special receivers, community TV cable stations and audio stream on the web from
Listeners can access "The Berkshire Eagle" twice daily, "Pittsfield Gazette" weekly, the Elder Services' newsletter, the Berkshire Record, Advocate, other monthly local news publications, local news, political issues, health issues and updates, editorials, birth and death announcements, schedules and sports and senior news to name a few. We look forward to expanding our programming in the near future.
Local support such as money donations from service groups like the Lions or Rotary clubs, local friends and businesses, and from listeners enable us to bring this programming to our listening audience. We also receive in-kind donations such as supplies; grants from the Pittsfield Human Services Commission, Cultural Councils, as well as United Way, Taconic Foundation, Berkshire Life, the Crane Foundation and others.
Receivers have been placed in: private homes, senior centers, Berkshire Medical Center, nursing homes, Our Place Drop-In Center of AdLib, GoodWill Store, United Cerebral Palsy's Toy Library; At this time, there are over 200 receivers placed in central, southern and northern Berkshire County.
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