TECH

Back-To-Back Conventions Have Crews Wired

Technicians Grapple With Relocating Media Operations Between Denver and Twin Cities

by Lisa Caruso

Monday, Sept. 1, 2008


As exhausted Democrats rest up from last week's festivities and Republicans prepare to throw their quadrennial grand old party, weary media are wrestling with the hassles, expense, and physical challenges of relocating operations from Denver to the Twin Cities with no break between the two parties' conventions.

Many information-technology staffers are on week two of a three-week convention road trip because they had to be in Denver long before the reporters, editors, and photographers to install the computer networks, fiber-optic cables, phone lines, and other technology the media depend on to do their job.

A technician with Tribune Publishing, who asked not to be identified, said that news personnel at the Democratic convention needed their computer equipment through August 29 but that the IT staff had to start wiring the St. Paul workspace before then. As a result, he said, "We've just had to have two of everything. That means double the cost and double the man-hours." He has been on the road since August 17 and must put in yet another week before returning home.

As the Tribune technician was getting the print operation's workspace ready on August 29, others staffers were driving the Tribune Broadcasting satellite trucks 14 hours straight from Denver to St. Paul after staying up all night on the 28th to break down their operation in Denver.

A technician with a major media outlet said, "We're like reconnaissance. We come in first, and we turn it into a work area from a concrete slab -- before they even walk in the door." By the time the editorial staff arrives, "we've already been pounding the pavement for a week and a half." After the convention ends, he added, "We're the last to go because we have to stick around and box everything up."

ABC News Radio engineering supervisor Art Gauthier said that back-to-back conventions meant his network had to rent equipment for St. Paul. "There's no way you could tear it all down, get all the gear into [the Xcel Energy Center], and set it all up again," Gauthier said, as he outfitted one of the ABC operation's 12 broadcast booths with microphones, headphones, Internet access, and equipment to send convention audio to the radio stations using it.

Television networks are saving themselves a few logistical headaches by using some of their local affiliates' equipment. Craig Wolfe, station technician with NBC's in-town affiliate KARE, said he started setting up in the Xcel Center two weeks ago. Although NBC's convention news operation benefits, KARE is in a bind, Wolfe said, because it is also broadcasting this week from the state fair. "We're using less [equipment] at the fair then we normally would."

At least one major news network has had to build three different anchor booths in less than two weeks -- one for its skybox in Denver's Pepsi Center, a second to cover Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High, and a third at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. Said a set designer with the network: "There's just no time to go from one place to another."

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