Progress of The Talking Gazette
The first recordings were produced on audio Compact Cassette and the first edition was mailed out in March 2005.  The hardware involved was a recording made onto a cassette tape and then duplicated using a special cassette duplicating machine.

Over the years, cassette tapes became difficult to purchase and the production moved to using audio CDs.  These are still being produced today.

There have been a number of volunteers involved over the years but a couple are still involved that were part of the very beginning.  Click on Volunteers in the menu above to learn about our amazing team.

The move to CDs meant that the narration was done using a Toshiba laptop that is still in use today although now upgraded.  The recording used a program called Wavepad to record the master file produced by the narrator.  This was then burnt to a master CD using a program called Express Burn.  The master CD was provided to the person responsible for duplication of the master to many CDs to be delivered either by hand or by mail to the registered recipients.  Of course, producing CDs and purchasing mailers to package them in all costs money and resources are limited.

Providing the recording online
The online version of The Talking Gazette was discussed at a meeting at the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre in June 2026.  A test web site was quickly established to trial how this idea would work and it did prove highly successful.  The permission from The Blue Mountains Gazette to extend the copyright agreement to cover delivery via a web site was sought and was given in July 2026.  This allowed some promotion of the new site and notification to various nursing homes and aged care facilities of the online presence.

New software for recording and production
A new software package has been written to enable the recording, creation of a master cd and uploading and updating of the web site.  This allows the narrator to record the many articles of the Blue Mountains Gazette and upload it to the website on the days of publication.  CDs are still produced for those who wish to continue with them rather than changing to the online version.  The advantage of the online version is that it is available on the afternoon of publication of The Blue Mountains Gazette.