New York — The frantic final hours of newsgathering and writing at "World News Tonight" complete, Peter Jennings looks into the camera to tell the night's top story about an advance in genome research.
"Buenas noches," comes the voice from the television speakers. "Fantastico dia para la ciencia."
Peter Jennings, left, provides the English and David Crommett provides simultaneous Spanish translation on "World News Tonight." ABC is the first, and so far only, evening news program to offer nightly Spanish translation of the news through the Secondary Audio Program available on most television sets.
Jennings' lips are moving, but it's an unseen David Crommett talking. Crommett is the Spanish Peter Jennings for viewers more comfortable with that language than with English.
Since last October, Crommett has been providing nightly translations of "World News Tonight" for viewers in 33 major cities through the Secondary Audio Program channel, a feature available on most stereo television sets.
SAP is used for some entertainment shows. But ABC is the first, and so far only, evening news program to do this regularly. The network is taking the first few tentative steps to reach out to a Latino marketplace growing in size and influence.
Crommett, a 47-year-old New Yorker and part-time actor, worked for five years as a free-lance translator at ABC Sports, HBO and Fox.
An hour before the newscast, he sits in a cramped pod in the ABC newsroom with Danny Leon, producer in charge of the translated broadcast, and editors Cenia Alvarado and Christine Romo.
Leon is constantly walking between their desks and the nearby "rim," where writers are preparing the English-language broadcast, and retrieving scripts to be translated. The scripts are usually revised before the telecast often several times and Leon wears out a path.
"Just keeping up with the changes is tough," Leon said, "because these folks work so hard to get every last bit of information before the broadcast goes on the air. You have to be very careful. For the first couple of weeks, it was quite terrifying."
With the minutes ticking down, fingers tap nervously on desks and computer keyboards. There's an occasional sigh. Crumpled paper tossed toward a wastebasket lies on the floor; no one has time to retrieve a missed shot.
They need to precisely translate the scripts to fit into the tight time frame a TV news broadcast offers. Since Spanish tends to be 20 to 25 percent wordier than English, it only adds to the pressure, Crommett said.
The news constantly brings them fresh translation challenges, like during the protracted presidential election battle.
"We had to come up with a word for hanging chad," Crommett said. "Chad colgante" is what they settled on. "Chad con hoyuelo" stood for dimpled chad.
Three minutes to airtime: Leon and Crommett have walked to the control room and the adjacent studio, but Crommett still hasn't taken his seat in front of the microphone.
"You've got to get in the chair," Leon calls out.
Even though they have what's supposed to be the final script, Crommett must keep alert for last-second changes. He's learned the spots where Jennings is likely to ad-lib, and how to quickly follow him, as well as recognize phrases most likely to be cut for time.
Their goal is a seamless telecast where Crommett is talking when Jennings is talking no rushed torrent of words after a taped report has begun, and no dead air.
"When we hit our stride, for some period of time it's transparent," Crommett said. "You're oblivious to the English."
ABC has no idea how many people are listening, but has heard some encouraging anecdotal stories about modest increases in viewership in Spanish-language households, Leon said.
Any effort to bring traditional television broadcasts into Spanish-speaking homes is appreciated, said Juan Moreno, entertainment editor for the New York-based Spanish-language newspaper, El Diario la Prenza. But it might not necessarily be the best approach, he said.
Latino viewers are more interested in news broadcasts attuned to their concerns prepared by the Spanish-language television stations than in translations of other newscasts, Moreno said.
Paul Slavin, "World News Tonight" executive producer, said it isn't ABC's goal to replace the Latino-oriented newscasts. But he thinks there's an appetite in many Spanish-speaking homes for a quality broadcast with a different perspective that an American major network can provide.
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