# Why do Music Channels have a sign language presenter during the night? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638 "2008-01-23T06:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/1 "2008-01-23T06:39:36Z")
Several of the Music channels we have on satellite show music videos at night. Nothing unusual about that except there is often a person in the bottom right hand corner of the screen signing out the lyrics of the songs. Are there a huge amount of insomniac deaf people who enjoy watching music videos or is it a gimmick for drunk/stoned people or do the stations have a public service remit or something else I haven’t thought of? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Comte\_de\_Mortain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Le\_Comte\_de\_Mortain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Comte_de_Mortain)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/2 "2008-01-23T12:19:01Z")
Mostly because all channels with a certain audience share are required to have a certain percentage of their programming signed. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/3 "2008-01-23T12:37:20Z")
Does seem a bit pointless doesn’t it? A bit like having a braille tanslation available for a mime act. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/4 "2008-01-23T13:31:35Z")
Why would that be pointless? I can understand why a Deaf person who is not blind might be interested in knowing what the dialog (the lyrics) is that goes along with the show they’re seeing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/5 "2008-01-23T13:40:04Z")
I don’t think it’s pointless at all, I just wonder what economic imperative they have for doing it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/6 "2008-01-23T14:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] Does seem a bit pointless doesn’t it? A bit like having a braille tanslation available for a mime act. [/QUOTE] Not everyone is completely deaf. Some deaf folks can hear some of the music, and I’m sure they’d like to know what the lyrics are. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/7 "2008-01-26T11:02:52Z")
Anyone got anything concrete? ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/8 "2008-01-26T15:07:42Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Anyone got anything concrete? [/QUOTE] Nothing concrete here, but I can confirm what **Monty** and **carnivorousplant** have stated. I’ve also known a couple of deaf people who loved music. One was partially deaf, and enjoyed Latin American dance music. The other was stone deaf, and listened to Guns N’ Roses through an amped-up (and especially annoying IMHO) subwoofer. I understand that the big thing for either of them was the sense of percussion. I don’t know how either of them enjoyed music videos, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they found them appealing. Music videos are often produced by very skilled and avant-garde people, and can be considered works of art even if separated from the audio portion. ---
**Author:** ![DeuceBigelow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@DeuceBigelow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeuceBigelow)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/9 "2008-01-27T12:39:32Z")
I don’t know why a music channel would only have a sign language interpreter at night, but I just wanted to confirm that many deaf people can enjoy music. I am deaf and have worn hearing aids for most of my life. The hearing aids amplify sounds so that they are audible to me. (Very few deaf people have NO residual hearing at all.) I love music and can play the piano and guitar. While I can hear music, the lyrics are often hard for me to make out, so having closed-captioning or an ASL interpreter is helpful. Many deaf people also receive cochlear implants, which allow them to hear much better than with hearing aids. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/10 "2008-01-27T17:15:59Z")
Googling I find several websites that claim that the law requires that a certain proportion of all the programming on channels broadcast in the U.K. has to be signed. I presume that the same rule must apply in Ireland. Apparently the channel owners don’t want to use signing in their most watched hours, so they only do it at night. There isn’t any such rule in the U.S., incidentally. As an aside, the channels in the U.K. and Ireland are presumably signed in British Sign Language, which is completely unintelligible to people who know only American Sign Language. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/11 "2008-01-28T02:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=DeuceBigelow] I am deaf and have worn hearing aids for most of my life. The hearing aids amplify sounds so that they are audible to me. (Very few deaf people have NO residual hearing at all.) I love music and can play the piano and guitar. [/quote] Heya Deuce! Welcome to the boards. I hope you stay. You wouldn’t by chance live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, would you? I know this deaf guy here who plays guitar. He’s a huge Radiohead nut. This isn’t you, is it? ---
**Author:** ![mmouse9799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mmouse9799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmouse9799)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/12 "2008-01-28T04:30:29Z")
I’m sure law requirements are a big part of the offered programming. In college, I knew _a lot_ of Deaf people because I majored in Deaf Education, so I can tell you without a doubt that they _love_ music. It’s not as much hearing the lyrics (because, of course, many of them can’t), but rather it’s the way the music feels. Turn the bass _way_ up, and you can feel the music throughout your entire body. This is a lot of what music is to Deaf people, but they love to understand the words as well. I’ve been to party’s at a Deaf school where this sort of programming was video recorded and played on the big screen TV as the music for the party. Kids and adults alike love it. (And I felt like my body was vibrating and pounding for hours after I left.) ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/13 "2008-01-28T05:21:20Z")
[QUOTE=mmouse9799] In college, I knew _a lot_ of Deaf people because I majored in Deaf Education. [/QUOTE] CSUN? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/14 "2008-01-28T09:34:01Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Googling I find several websites that claim that the law requires that a certain proportion of all the programming on channels broadcast in the U.K. has to be signed. I presume that the same rule must apply in Ireland. Apparently the channel owners don’t want to use signing in their most watched hours, so they only do it at night. There isn’t any such rule in the U.S., incidentally. As an aside, the channels in the U.K. and Ireland are presumably signed in British Sign Language, which is completely unintelligible to people who know only American Sign Language. [/QUOTE] I don’t think there’s a specific law requiring this in the Republic of Ireland but the channels we get on digital are mainly of UK origin. The only thing they change for the most part is the advertising for the local market. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/15 "2008-01-28T13:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] CSUN? [/QUOTE] Just as an aside, my mom went to CSUN, and while she didn’t major in Deaf Education, still took a lot of sign language classes. Since she was a journalism major, her beat was the campus deaf community. She was appreciated because she had learned to talk to them on their terms and was interested in them as people. Carry on. Robin ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/16 "2008-01-28T22:04:37Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] There isn’t any such rule in the U.S., incidentally. [/QUOTE] The [rule](http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/ccrules.html) in the US seems to be that programming has be closed captioned and all TVs sold since 1993 have to be able to decode closed captioning as a way of providing access - so we’re less likely to see signed programming. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/17 "2008-01-28T22:18:22Z")
A supplimentary question would be do many deaf people prefer signed interpretation over closed captioning? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/18 "2008-01-28T23:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] A supplimentary question would be do many deaf people prefer signed interpretation over closed captioning? [/QUOTE] Not all deaf people know ASL. Quoting [Harlan Lane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Lane) as the most reliable source I can muster at the moment, only about 25% of deaf people know ASL; the rest rely entirely on CC. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/19 "2008-01-28T23:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] The [rule](http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/ccrules.html) in the US seems to be that programming has be closed captioned and all TVs sold since 1993 have to be able to decode closed captioning as a way of providing access - so we’re less likely to see signed programming. [/QUOTE] I have a theory about this—they’re just doing it to look cool. Deafness, Deaf culture, and ASL are all massively tres chic right now with the high school and freshman crowd, particularly here in Southern California. Every semester, ASL classes at community colleges fill to capacity immediately. I think the music channels might be doing it to look hip. Every deaf person I know, signing and non-signing, watches TV with the CC on. ---
**Author:** ![mmouse9799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mmouse9799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmouse9799)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638/20 "2008-01-29T01:47:47Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] CSUN? [/QUOTE] No, I went to MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois. My beloved alma mater has a student body population of 650 students. I would be surprised if you had heard of it. (The entire town of Jacksonville has a population of 20,000, smaller than many colleges.) Most Deaf people I know prefer an interpreter as opposed to closed captioning. The “average” Deaf person graduates high school with a 3rd-4th grade reading level. (There are a lot of reasons for this–which I can explain if anyone wants to know.) Often times, captioning is too fast for them to keep up and understand. In fact, I had Deaf professors in college who were so dependent on ASL that their written English was riddled with grammatical and usage errors. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-music-channels-have-a-sign-language-presenter-during-the-night/434638.md?page=2)