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SAP Translation of WRAL-TV Hits The Airwaves |
WRAL-TV officially launched its Spanish simulcast of the WRAL 6:00pm News on Monday, June 18. With a project that had been a year in the making, the translation of the news on the Second Audio Program (SAP) channel made WRAL the first station in North Carolina to simulcast the news in Spanish.
WRAL will broadcast the translation via SAP for its 6:00pm newscasts Monday through Friday. WRAL’s foray into translation comes as an effort to reach out to its Hispanic audience.In the WRAL viewing area there are no local daily newspapers or FM radio broadcasts in Spanish. Latinos in the Triangle area have only gotten second-hand versions of local news through friends or family who can speak both languages. Now the Spanish-speaking citizens in the WRAL viewing area will be able to hear the latest first-hand.
WRAL.com launched a companion section of its website as the 6:00pm news began on Monday. Now the Spanish speaking community will be able to read about the news firsthand as well.
Simulcasting the news in Spanish came about from a partnership between WRAL and the Latin American Resource Center (LARC). WRAL is providing the technology, and LARC is providing the translators. The translators work from scripts of the newscast, provided to them the afternoon before the broadcast. However, when news is live and unscripted, the translators must translate on the spot.
The 2000 Census reported that 6.1% of Triangle residents are Hispanic, with almost 34,000 in Wake County alone. WRAL Station Manager Jim Griffin said, “Clearly if you believe, as we have all along, that Hispanics are a burgeoning population, eventually you look for ways to serve, and what better way is there than in their own language?”
LARC’s Executive Director Aura Camacho Maas is working with the station along with translators Roberto Davis, Andrea Junguito and Gabriela Gutierrez. Christina Streubel will join the translation team in August; she has also contributed greatly during the planning phases of the project.
The SAP channel is available on all newer televisions and VCRs. For instructions on how to access the SAP channel, visit wral.com.
