Coming to a Station Near You!

The Spoken Word

The Spoken Word is a weekly hour-long public radio program that focuses on literature, culture, the arts, and authors. The programs are recorded at events sponsored by independent bookstores.

Created two years as a project of the Southeast Booksellers Association with Public Radio South, The Spoken Word is currently heard on about 40 stations in the Southeast. And now it’s going national, with the sponsorship of the regional booksellers associations like GLBA. In preparation for that, direction of the program recently was transferred to Public Radio Partnership (PRP), an organization in Louisville, Kentucky, that operates three NPR stations and produces programs for national syndication.

Beginning early in 2006, PRP will offer The Spoken Word to stations all across the country. And events will start being recorded in bookstore venues all around the country as well. “I never would have believed two years ago that The Spoken Word would be going national this soon, with hundreds of independent bookstores across the country sponsoring and supporting it with their author events,” says Wanda Jewell, executive director of SEBA.

The GLBA board and staff are enthusiastic about the program. “This takes us beyond Book Sense,” says GLBA Executive Director Jim Dana. “With the power of radio to reach into people’s homes – into every aspect of their lives in this technological age – the profile of independent bookstores will be raised exponentially in the public consciousness.”

The program addresses several goals of the GLBA simultaneously, in that it promotes authors and literature, it raises the profile of independent bookstores with the consumer, it encourages reading, and it promotes specific member stores through on-air mentions. The GLBA office will be contacting member stores this winter and spring with more information about what you can do to make the most of this exciting new development.

In the meantime, you can find out more about The Spoken Word at its Web site, www.spokenwordradio.org.