"It's a hard job, you have to be 98 percent accurate," she said.
She receives the audio feed live about five seconds ahead of the program. She is required to listen to it, type it out on her steno machine, send it to her laptop and back to the station in order for it to appear on the bottom of the screen in conjunction with the news reports.
She works for news programs on stations from Florida, Kansas City, Mo., Portland, Ore., to San Diego, Calif.
"I have several stations I work for on a regular basis," she said.
Being broadcast captioner not only means she has to be accurate with the information, she also has to have quick hands. She is required to type approximately 225 words per minute with a steno machine (shorthand) accurately.
"My biggest challenge is making sure everything is translated OK from the steno machine to the station," she said. "I have had my machines act up and that worries me sometimes."
She originally learned the steno talent from being a court reporter. She was responsible for typing the minutes of each case and following one judge around a 10-county area. Retiring from that, she taught court reporting and captioning at the American Institute of Business in Des Moines.
She also does depositions for the Wapello County Attorney's Office.
"I like to stay busy," she said.
Even with her "full time" work, she still manages to volunteer time with other organizations.
One of her other hobbies is working with the Veteran's History Project, which carries on the stories of older veterans, about their time in service.
"Basically I tape what they say and then I come back and type it out so there is a hard copy of it," she said.
The hard copies then go into the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., for the public's access.
"I think it is important for us to carry on these stories," Penniston said.
She also spends much of her time teaching other court reporters and captioners.
"I do a lot of training," she said.
Being in the profession a long time, it has become natural for her, but it can be very difficult and challenging at times.
With this and all of her other activities, Penniston said she practically lives by a schedule.
"If I didn't have anything to do, I think I would go crazy," she said.
Scott Niles can be reached at (641) 683-5360 or via e-mail at sjniles@mchsi.com.
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