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Phillies TV Closed Caption transcript was the radio broadcast - huh?

J

jnkiii

This is a strange one so I post it here to see if there is any reasonable explanation.

While watching the Phillies on TV (PHL 17) yesterday (May 5th) with the mute button activated and listening to the Phillies on 94.1 WIP (via a HD-Radio), the closed captioning on the tv was in almost-perfect sync with and playing the transcript of the radio broadcast. So, therefore, whatever Larry Andersen was saying on the radio was showing up in the closed captioning transcript on my tv....

Anyone explain that one? Is that how it is done or was this just a one day mistake.

(I could have posted this on the Philly TV board as well, but the radio board is more active and I know there are a lot of radio tech people who post on this board for which I am not one of them).
 
Actually it sounds like a good idea. It takes time to transcribe the verbiage into closed captioning from a live broadcast. By utilizing 1210's feed, the captioners get the info early, which would make the captioned play-by-play in something close to real time.

Now, this would only work if the sound of the TV signal is totally missing - turned off - or in the case of the totally deaf. If anyone's watching the TV with the sound up and can partially hear the TV play-by-play, but are relying on the verbiage from radio, then they're going to be confused.
 
Did the closed caption transcriber also have to work in a legal ID for the radio station, since the data is coming from their feed?
 
For those who don't how the captioning gets included in a tV broadcast, the audio portion is sent over a telephone hookup to a caption typist. The typist can be anywhere. I know that some work from home. They do not have to be at the TV station. In this case it's possible that someone fed the radio audio instead of the TV audio to the typist by mistake. That could be a real possibility if the TV and radio station's main nerve centers are in the same facility.
 
The closed captioning tools are sonic based - they go by syllables, not letters. Sometimes the syllables get combined incorrectly and some pretty funny - or raunchy - captions are the result.
 
Did you check the TV audio? Maybe what the radio and TV guys were saying was so similar that it seemed like you were reading the transcript of the radio broadcast.

It seems like lately they have been using voice recognition software to do the transcripts. Some of the mistakes are those a person is unlikely to make - but a computer would be. A little while ago, I even saw the F-word in the closed captioning.
 
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