Databases :: Retrieving From OdbcDataReader / Unable To Cast Object Of Type 'System.Byte[]' To Type 'System.String'

I have defined an ODBC Command and ODBCdatareader as follows

OdbcConnection myConnection = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);
OdbcCommand myCommand = new OdbcCommand();
myCommand.Connection = myConnection;
myCommand.CommandText = "select UOPGM from GREG.TUSROPTF";
OdbcDataReader myReader;
myConnection.Open();
myReader = myCommand.ExecuteReader();

When I try to retreive from the reader as follows:

while (myReader.Read())
{
string someString = myReader["UOPGM"];
lstNames.Items.Add(someString);
}

I get the following error

Error reading the database. Unable to cast object of type 'System.Byte[]' to type 'System.String'."

I have also tried string someString = (string)myReader["UOPGM"]; to no avail