Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, who co-founded the first commercially successful spoken-word record label, one that began with the poet Dylan Thomas reciting his story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and that led to today’s multibillion-dollar audiobook industry, died on Monday at home in Baltimore, Md. She was 95. Her daughter, Eleanor Holdridge, …

Read more

A Dyslexic Comedian Walks Into a Recording Booth …

A Dyslexic Comedian Walks Into a Recording Booth …

Phil Hanley stood in a womb-like studio, psyching himself up to record the final section of his memoir. Peppermint tea, check. Hands in meditation position, check. Sheaf of highlighted, color coded pages printed in extra large type, check. But when Hanley leaned into the microphone to read from “Spellbound,” his …

Read more