6 JAN 06: READ MY LIPS
Tommy Tuberville said something - but what exactly did he say? Viewers with hearing problems who watched one evening newscast this week might never have known. And judging from how Auburn played in the Capital One Bowl, I fear most of the players couldn't hear him.
As of this week, hearing-impaired people should have an easier time watching television. New federal rules require almost all programs to have closed captioning. So when that Verizon guy asks in the commercial, "Can you hear me now?" it doesn't really matter anymore.
The new federal rules have local TV stations scrambling, because they risk large government fines if their programs don't have closed captioning. I'm hearing the fines can be in the thousands of dollars - but if I wasn't told that in writing, maybe that's inaccurate.
The new closed captioning rules took effect Sunday. So armed with my remote control and its captioning button, I checked to see how obedient local stations were. On opening night, there was Tommy Tuberville talking on WRBL at 11:00 p.m. - with no quote on the screen! C'mon, no college football coach is speechless....
We checked again during WRBL's "News 3 at 6:00" Thursday, and Lisa Scribner of Consumer Credit Counseling said something which wasn't captioned on the screen. Hearing-impaired people could call the station, demand money in exchange for not reporting the violation, and have no more credit trouble.
And if that's not enough, the 11:00 p.m. Georgia Lottery drawing wasn't captioned, either! But perhaps that comes under a federal exemption for commercials - since the whole point of showing winning numbers is to get you to buy more tickets, right?
We should note there are other exceptions to the new closed-captioning rules -- but what we saw does NOT come under them:
+ Programs between 2:00 and 6:00 in the morning. Blurry-eyed viewers would have trouble reading the captions, anyway.
+ Live sports events - which on WCGT TV-16 from now on will mean Calvary Christian School basketball.
+ Programs in languages other than English or Spanish - so if you see a station showing the French soccer league "match of the day" this weekend, that's why.
+ TV stations with annual revenues of less than three million dollars. Hmmmm - is THIS why WRBL seems to be flaunting the rule?
Some churches are concerned about the new closed-captioning rules, because they are NOT exempt. What are they to do during live worship services? What happens if a Pastor feels inspired to depart from his script, and condemn half the viewers to the lake of fire?
Hopefully hearing-impaired people will benefit from the new TV captioning rules. In fact, it could benefit other people - like the nerds who watch newscasts in noisy sports bars....
BLOG CORRECTION: Uh-oh - a local history buff caught a mistake we made Thursday:
Hey Richard-
Hate to tell you this, but Benny Goodman wasn't a pilot, he was a band leader. Perhaps you are thinking of Major Glenn Miller (another band leader) who died in a plane crash in December of 1944 while he was on route to Paris from England to play a Christmas concert. Now Jimmy Stewart…there was a pilot!
Take care and Happy New Year!
Matt
Our apologies, Matt. I admittedly never have watched those old movies -- "The Benny Goodman Story," "The Glenn Miller Story," or even "The Sonny Bono Story."
With that mistake resolved, let's try to get other items straight from Thursday's news:
+ Columbus NAACP President Bill Madison told WRBL he wants to move into a new and larger office with computers. Right now the chapter is in a First Avenue house in the Historic District, which it shares with a bookkeeping business. Hopefully the two are integrated, so Ed DuBose doesn't get upset.
+ Columbus Civic Center officials reported the arena hosted 277 events last year, about three times the number in 2002. Of course, the basketball Riverdragons left town during the year - but maybe some wimpy softball teams can play inside to make up for that.
+ The Mildred Terry Branch library served refreshments in the afternoon, to mark its 53th anniversary. Once the proposed renovation there becomes reality, I expect the cake to be about 50 percent bigger.
+ Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue proposed giving every county in the state $234 million in gasoline tax money for road improvements. He calls the program "Paving the Way Home." Some of us call it "Paving the Way to Reelection."
(Isn't this the same Sonny Perdue who suspended fuel taxes across Georgia for a month last September? How much campaign money is he getting from Chevron Texaco?)
+ "The Insider" reported Atlanta-based music star Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is getting a divorce, after 13 years of marriage. The official reason is listed as "irreconcilable differences" - such as whether his face really still is like a baby.
+ The Columbus Cottonmouths flattened Florida 7-2. They've now won nine games in a row, beating Florida for their last three wins -- so all our mild weather must be psyching out those visitors.
+ The final Associated Press college football poll showed Auburn ranked 14th, while Wisconsin is 15th. Apparently the sportswriters didn't turn on their TV sets Monday until after the Fiesta Bowl started....
+ Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora Jr. was fined $25,000, for making a cell phone call during the December 24 overtime loss in Tampa Bay. This seems a bit harsh to me. After all, Mora didn't hide his phone behind a goal post like wide receivers do.
+ Instant Message to WRCG Radio: It sounds like you've finally won approval for that adjusted signal. The other morning when my clock radio went off, I actually was able to hear your station - not a mix of strange voices which could have been a cable TV talk show.
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