Deaf Today: NewsChannel 9 is now "Real-Time Captioned"

April 22, 2003

NewsChannel 9 is now "Real-Time Captioned"

From: WTVC, TN - Apr 22, 2003

New service will help the hearing impaired get local news.

For the first time in the Chattanooga market, hearing impaired viewers are now able to watch local news with real-time closed captioning.

WTVC NewsChannel 9 now provides the exact text of every word that is said on each real-time captioned newscast, including weather and sports.

The real-time captions will appear in 4 and 1/2 hours of local news every day. The newscasts with the real-time captions are Good Morning Chattanooga which airs from 5am until 7am, NewsChannel 9 for Women at 10am, NewsChannel 9 Midday, NewsChannel 9 at 5pm, NewsChannel 9 at 5:30pm and NewsChannel 9 at 6pm.

The captions are provided by Captioning Services of Kansas and are made possible be a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

WTVC NewsChannel 9 was the first station to provide "scripted" captions in 1988 and is now the only station providing real time captions.

"We also now have the ability to provide real-time captions for breaking news events and special reports" says WTVC News Director Steve Hunsicker. "We think it's a great public service to provide to our hearing impaired audience."

The only regularly scheduled newscasts without real-time captions are the weekend newscasts and NewsChannel 9 at 11pm.