#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio movie
#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio series
#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio tv

Karen Gourgey, 68, the director of a center that trains blind people to use technology at Baruch College in New York, normally finds herself 'bored' by the Olympics, 'for obvious reasons,' she says. The aim is to provide 'what and how,' says Van Horne - 'what an individual is wearing, the expression on their face, how did they fall, how did they twist the ankle.' Not only can the blind follow the action, they can also connect with the emotional upheavals that are as much a part of the Olympics as the sports.

All that raises the level of difficulty for NBC's narrators.

#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio tv

The car chase, the gun shots, the subtle or not-so-subtle look across the room.'īut live TV events are much harder to narrate because there's no script, and as a result narrated sports events remain rare in the U.S. 'If you're trying to follow a program, you need to know the basis of what's going on.

#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio movie

Descriptions are also available in many movie theaters, on Netflix and during some live theater.įor a long time, the visually impaired didn't know how much they were missing from TV shows and movies, says Paul Schroeder, head of programs and policy at the American Foundation for the Blind.

#Diving commentator olympics nbc rio series

TV in the 1980s, and is now available for certain prime-time series and children's shows on the major broadcast networks and a few cable channels. While closed captioning for the deaf today is ubiquitous, most people who aren't visually impaired have never heard of 'audio description' or 'video description,' as this sort of narration is formally known. 'When you say a spike, what does that mean? When you say a tumbling pass, well, what are they doing exactly?' Blind viewers say sometimes they can't hear the NBC announcers in the crosstalk.įinding the right words can be difficult, said Wick, who keeps stacks of notes in front of her. player Kerri Walsh Jennings was waiting for the wind to die down to serve the announcers started up again before he finished his sentence. During a pause, Van Horne notes that U.S. While they try not to talk over announcers, it happens. At one point during a beach volleyball match, Wick mostly limits herself to reciting the score - otherwise invisible to those who can't see - in-between points. They aim to wedge in short sentences or even a few words amid the often breathless announcing. Wick and Jim Van Horne, both Canadian sports broadcasting veterans, devoted hours to studying the sports and NBC commentators' speech patterns. 'Night has fallen,' she continues, right after NBC's Bob Costas intones, 'Aaaand here we go.' On a recent Wednesday, narrator Norma Jean Wick opens the Olympics broadcast in a neutral, almost robotic tone, saying 'Golden orange sunset in Rio de Janeiro' as music swells over a shot of the city.

'I'm so happy I'm going to be able to sit back, watch the Olympics like anybody else, know what's going on, not have to imagine or wonder. 'I love the Olympics,' says Marlaina Lieberg, 66, who's been blind since birth and has long bugged her sighted husband to describe the athletic events. But their running blow-by-blow can open things up for the blind, who at best get an incomplete picture from traditional sportscasting that takes visuals for granted. Most viewers won't even know the additional narrators are there to hear them, you need to turn on special cable-box or TV settings to activate their audio track. (AP) - Two people in a recording booth deep inside a Connecticut office park are helping millions of blind Americans feel part of the Olympics like never before.įor the first time in the U.S., NBC is airing the Olympics in prime time with additional narrators who simply report what's happening on screen - a sort of closed captioning for the visually impaired.