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Jack Benson, the president ofthe station, agreed to spend the$27,000 to buy the new system after hearing it had other benefits,such as size—it is about one quarter the size of the old tape(See BLIND, Back Page)By ERIC TROVERStaff writer Mike Nafpliotis’ fingers breezed over the blank, textured piece of paper. It told him he had a mike break coming up in a fewminutes.The soft rock music filled the studio until it was abruptly interrupted by a loud, continuous tone. Nafpliotis shut off the alarm by striking a key on the computer keyboard. He leaped to his feet, felt along a bank oftape players until he found onethat had opened automatically, took out the tape, felt along the top of the player until he found the tape lying there, put that tape in the player and sat back down.Nafpliotis (some people just call him Mike the Greek) has been blind since birth. But despite his handicap he has fulfilled a lifelong dream of workingin radio. He has been working atKUWL-91.5 since June. The radio plays Contemporary Christian Music, or Christian rock to those in the secular world.“I love being on the air,” Nafpliotis said.Nafpliotis, Fairbanks’ only blind radio announcer, becameMANNING THE MIKE—Mike Nafpliotis mans the microphone during a song introduction recently in the KUWL■' Qr: • Mike Belrose News-Minerbooth. Blind since birth, Nafpliotis is fulfilling a dream by working as a radio announcer.one of the station’s two paid announcers when the station switched to digital audio tapes, known as DATs. The other paid announcer is Randy Snider, the station’s general manager DAT tapes, which look like miniature video cassettes, transform music into computer information and back to music again, similar to compact digital discs, known as CDs.In fact, Nafpliotis was the main reason the station switched to the DAT system, making it one of about five such stations in the United States, Snider said.Snider knew Nafpliotis, who was previously doing volunteer work for the station, was interested in being a radio announcer, but the old tape system hadnumbers and lights that required sight to run. The DAT system. Snider knew, could becomputerized and linked withseveral computer systems made for the blind.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Mon, Jan 22, 1990
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Sammi B.
NA 30 May 2020
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