Richard Kaiser Retires

Voice of Christian Record's audio magazines is retiring

By Bob Reeves
Lincoln Journal-Star, August 18, 1999

Richard Kaiser has fans around the country - and in many others as well. But most can't recognize his face. That's because most of his fans are blind.

Kaiser, who retired recently after 31 years editing Braille and audio publications for the Lincoln-based Christian Record Services, said he often has been amazed at the reactions he receives.

"I used to meet with groups of blind people, and as soon as they heard my voice they knew who I was," said the 67-year-old, an unassuming guy who likes to keep a low profile.

This evening, Kaiser will be honored at a banquet celebrating the 100th anniversary of Christian Record, the oldest continuously published religious Braille journal in America. It was started in 1899 by Austin O. Wilson, a Seventh-day Adventist who began publishing the magazine in Lincoln in 1904.

Kaiser achieved his "celebrity" status as the main voice narrating stories in Christian Record, Encounter and The Student - three popular magazines provided free on audio cassettes to the blind.

Before coming to Lincoln, he was a pastor in New Foundland, where he started a church-owned radio station. In Lincoln, he edited the Braille publications while expanding the operation to include audio versions as well.

"When I first came, it took a couple of years to get the studio to a point where you could send materials out that you wouldn't be sorry to have reach people's ears," Kaiser said. Now, the ministry boasts a state-of-the-art recording studio that produces top-quality tapes.

Through the years, Kaiser has seen a lot of changes. Braille publications went from being printed on one side of the paper to both sides, reducing the paper needed by half. For years, they were set into type on a six-key Braille writer that required considerable expertise. "If we made a mistake, we had to stamp it out of the metal plate with a hammer," he said.

Now, a computer converts written type into Braille plates.

He's also seen audio publications change from hard disks to soft disks to cassette tapes, following the U.S. governments formats for blind materials.

Another change has been the growth of large-print publications. Christian Record now produces two magazines in 22-point type, a service to those who have difficulty reading most large-print books.

At tonight's banquet, the Rev. Duane Steele, a blind Lutheran pastor from Hillsville, Va., will talk about what Christian Record Services has meant to him. Steele learned to read Braille early, and one of the first magazines he enjoyed reading was Children's Friend, a Christian Record publication.

Later, when he decided to study for the ministry, "the first Bible courses in Braille that I could get my hands on were from Christian Record," he said.

Besides its magazines, Christian Record Services operates a lending library with 1,700 books on audio cassette or in Braille. It also operates 26 camps for the blind annually at locations throughout the United States and Canada.

All services are free to the blind and visually impaired.

More than 53,000 people in the United States and 75 countries use the ministry's various services.