Vision Australia Radiothon 2022! Sheila Blanchfield is a 'good listener'

Dedicated Vision Australia Radio listener Sheila Blanchfield shares why she loves our radio service for people living with print disability and why she feels you should support us this Radiothon. Help this radio program stay on air for another 12 months.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Are you a savvy shopper? Is getting smart with money.
Your New Year's resolution. Save hundreds, maybe even thousands of
dollars with an entertainment membership. Enjoy 12 months of savings
on dining, travel activities, shopping and more. Plus, your membership
supports Vision Australia Radio a not for profit essential service
to Australians living with blindness or low vision. Visit via

(00:23):
radio dot org or wood slash save and start saving
via radio dot org bullet slash save.

S2 (00:30):
It is a radio. It's on time and we're asking
people or our listeners to be a good listener. And
speaking of good listeners, I am speaking to one right now.
Sheila Blanchfield, thank you so much for your time today, Sheila.

S3 (00:44):
No problem. Stella, can.

S2 (00:45):
You tell us a little bit about yourself?

S3 (00:49):
I'm very much a senior person. Be involved with Vision
Australia for many years. I went to school at St
Paul Stephen with all my.

S2 (00:59):
Students all.

S3 (01:01):
Year and so that's my era. So I've really been
involved with Vision Australia Radio, RPA. I remember the first
meeting when we all talk about it.

S2 (01:12):
Well, this is a surprise. So you were a part
of the organising of.

S3 (01:16):
Oh, no, no. I just came along. I think we
all put in a little bit of money, and that's
what I remember to get it off the ground.

S2 (01:23):
You've gone from to Vision Australia Radio is still listening.
So there must we must be doing something right.

S3 (01:32):
Well, I survived very well over the years, of course,
and situations have changed because in those days it was
really only a few hours a night. And Neville, who
was running horizons. I think I remember on a Sunday
night we'd listen to that and it would be probably
from about 7 to 11 or 10:00 at night, and

(01:55):
that was as much a licence to allow that to happen.
And then it extended and then involved with probably the
Association for the Blind Phone and then gradually things improved
and licences got better and moved to Google. So it's
gone on from there and it's able to get many,
many volunteers with really interesting how things have changed and

(02:19):
the technology has allowed it to be a lot better
in many way. And now it's on digital radio and
the web and everything.

S2 (02:28):
Through all those changes. And they still do some of
the radio live to air.

S3 (02:34):
Yes.

S2 (02:34):
But the way you listened hasn't really changed because you
still listen to the radio.

S3 (02:42):
Oh, yes. The radio is a big part of my
life and I believe so many vision impaired people. Indeed.

S2 (02:48):
Let's talk about some of your listening habits. Have the
programs that you listened to changed over the years? Did
you once listen to one program and think, I'm not
interested in that anymore and moved on to another program?
Or are you loyal to a particular type of program?

S3 (03:09):
No, probably stay on. I'm loyal to the programs that
I like to listen to, which are often paper readings
and online newspapers. I find they're good. I quite like
having lunch and listening to the afternoon show and I
do different things and different days of reading. I'm always

(03:29):
discovering something is a bit different too. I discovered the
other day that they were reading the read Reader's Digest. Yeah,
I'm sure even at night there would be things that
when we're watching TV or listening to the football or something,
there's a great show on Saturday night, I think about
832 with older people.

S2 (03:48):
Baby Boomers Guide.

S3 (03:50):
That's right. Yeah, I remember now.

S2 (03:52):
So you're saying that you when you're having lunch or
in the mornings you listen to the reading programs, why
is it important to you to listen to those particular programs?
What to get out of it?

S3 (04:06):
I don't do a lot of newspapers online, all that.
So I think it's important because you get a wider
view of what the public is reading or been in
contact with. You can hear the news every hour for
about 5 minutes and you get a bit of an overview.
But often there will be articles about a particular interview

(04:28):
or something like that. It might broaden what you've heard
on on the news.

S2 (04:33):
And what about perennial favorite shows? What about some sort
of specialty programs? Were there any that you enjoy listening to?
And this is a very pointed question.

S3 (04:44):
I say yes. Well, of course, talking vicious and is
even different than you were doing it. And now it
seems do it. And then on Friday we have, for instance,
with the Vision Australia Library Show. That's terrific.

S2 (05:00):
Yeah. Let's talk about Francis's show here. This it's hugely popular.
And you know, when she recommends a book on the
program because the library get all the phone calls and
it gets downloaded.

S3 (05:14):
Oh, well, that's really great, because I've often wondered how
many people listen. And I know some of my friends do,
but often I've told people about the show and they
didn't know that it was on in the library. It's
getting feedback like that. That's really good. It's a wonderful, lovely,
lovely person.

S2 (05:33):
I'll try not to take that personally.

S3 (05:35):
No, don't. So you.

S2 (05:38):
She's really great.

S3 (05:39):
I had a little listen the other day. There's a
new show on and it was for the Children and.

S2 (05:45):
Oh, Happy Days.

S3 (05:46):
Is at 10:00 on Saturday morning. And I just come
home and I have a bit of listening today and
we're doing stretching and things. And I thought, Oh, I
have a go at that. And once you put your
hands behind your back and enraged right up to your shoulders,
and I think I can do that. It might have
been all right when I was in, but it was

(06:08):
really good. I was quite impressed. You could just tell
that they've put a lot of work.

S2 (06:13):
What do you get out of listening to something like
Talking Vision? What does it mean for you to have
programmes like Talking Vision and hear this?

S3 (06:22):
From my point of view, I feel that it really
is amazing what the young people are doing now. The
experience they have of life and technology has made a
huge difference in interviews with young people going for jobs
and they're getting positions that in many ways we didn't
have the opportunity to have or they would do. I

(06:45):
know it's a lot more difficult. It's not the case,
but certainly the they were the young people were just
going gangbusters and doing wonderful things. Really terrific to hear that.

S2 (06:58):
Do you know other people who listen to Vision Australia
Radio and listen to the same programmes that you do
and do you have conversations about the programmes?

S3 (07:10):
Well, I think a lot of people listen to the
stories that I've mentioned. I know we talk about those
programmes a bit, but I think a lot of people
listen to different things and they have different ways of listening,
particularly with the podcasts and everything. You don't necessarily have
to listen when the show is on and the library
often put in podcasts, they're available on people's bookshelves and

(07:33):
that sort of thing so they can listen at any point.

S2 (07:35):
Sheila, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today.
I'll talk to you for the rest of the afternoon,
but I'm sure you've got better things to do. And
thank you very much for being a good listener and
sharing your listening stories.

S3 (07:51):
We thank you very much.

S1 (07:53):
Are you a savvy shopper? Is getting smart with money?
Your New Year's resolution. Save hundreds, maybe even thousands of
dollars with an entertainment membership. Enjoy 12 months of savings
on dining, travel activities, shopping and more. Plus, your membership
supports Vision Australia Radio a not for profit essential service
to Australians living with blindness or low vision. Visit via

(08:16):
radio dot org or slash save and start saving via
radio dot org. Bullet slash save.