San Antonio Express-News, May 19, 2008

Audio adds a new dimension to Alamo tour

Alamo officials had planned to let political and business leaders take the first new “audio tour” of the famous site.

“But the public beat us to it, and we are tickled to death,” Madge Roberts, president-general of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, said as the Alamo entered a new era of historic interpretation that uses the latest MP3 technology.

As soon as rentals of audio headsets began at 9 a.m. Monday, visitors eagerly shelled out $5 to hear the Alamo's history as they wandered through its grounds, even though the Daughters don't charge an admission fee.

To many of its 2.5 million visitors annually, a tour of the Alamo is little more than a few quiet moments of reflection in the Shrine, a slow jaunt through the Long Barrack Museum, a stroll in the gardens and a stop at the gift shop. The new, hourlong audio program, produced by the Daughters and Antenna Audio, offers a more sensory experience of the 1836 battle for first-time visitors and Alamo aficionados.

At their own pace, visitors soak in the music, sound effects, narration and readings by Alamo staff of accounts of battle survivors. A map guides them through 30 sequentially numbered points of interest on the grounds. Visitors can view the sites out of order and repeat their favorite audio segments.

The program, in English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese, points out details that many people overlook: a spot at the base of the Shrine's iconic façade where a cannonball left a baseball-size crater; an explanation of the Shrine's interior and its use as a roofless cannon station in the battle; a Japanese monument erected in 1914 that commemorates a similar battle in Japan in 1575.

The audio also attempts to capture the battle's drama with authenticity and horrific detail.

“A cannonball striking a human body essentially tears it apart,” Alamo historian Bruce Winders explains during his audio commentary.

In a few months, once the program's startup costs have been offset, the rental fees will help the Daughters fund preservation of the Alamo. The Daughters are trying to raise $60 million to expand the grounds, build a new library and auditorium, and fund endowments for preservation and educational programs.

Similar audio tours at Pearl Harbor, Alcatraz, the Tower of London and other sites have generated millions of dollars for maintenance, said Chris Tellis, founder of Antenna Audio, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, which produces the Discovery Channel.

“It's a win-win for the sites,” Tellis said.

Corey Derrenbacher of Gaithersburg, Md., was celebrating her 36th birthday with her husband, Don, during their first trip to San Antonio. They were the second customers to purchase the audio tour Monday.

Both gave favorable reviews, and said a vivid description of women and children huddled in the Shrine, crying while surrounded by cannon blasts and the moans of dying men, will stay fresh in their minds.

“That definitely touched me,” Corey Derrenbacher said.

She felt the audio put the battle and its importance in a true historic perspective.

“Now I know the story of the Alamo,” she said.

See more HERE

By Scott Huddleston

May 19, 2008

 

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