CHICAGO – There’s a lot to take in while you’re walking around the floor of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago.
A combination of the loud din of general conversation, monitors in the news preparation facilities blaring out excerpts of speeches from the previous night, and the hum of helicopters scouring the skies for disruptions is enough to cause frontal lobe tension in a matter of minutes.
But amongst all the sights and sounds at the convention, one feature from the floor caught the attention of everyone of the WTMJ crew out in Chicago this week: 57 white landline phones attached to each of the stanchions supporting a state or territory’s name.
The phones themselves are not overly remarkable themselves: a simple, solid white landline attached to a blue box and adjacent to a small intercom device. But while they may not appear distinctive, they are critical to ensuring the convention runs smoothly. After all, both the DNC and the Republican National Convention have the moniker in the media world as a “four day live television show”, and so one technical gaffe could be disastrous.
“Basically, they are here so the DNC can call down general instructions or relay to us any information that we may need to know” Wisconsin Democratic Party Executive Director Sarah Abel tells me. “And then we can give that information to our delegates”.
The best comparison to make is to the bullpen phones still stationed in the dugouts at American Family Field used to call down to the bullpens. Imagine Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison is Brewers manager Pat Murphy, and Abel is bullpen coach Charlie Greene. Now I’m envisioning Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers running down from the back end of the DNC floor to the lectern on the main stage all to the tune of some raucous jazz music (though if Tuesday night is any indication, the Governor might consider toning down the jazz):
Out of curiosity, I was allowed to pick up the phone and see if there was anything going on. Sure enough, a monotonous dial tone greeted my right ear, though I didn’t dial my grandma’s home phone in Sheboygan to see if the line was solid.
While it may seem like outdated technology for a convention taking place in the year 2024, in reality, a hard-line connection is vital to make sure the call quality is as clear as possible. I can confirm that despite the United Center being centrally placed in the heart of a city of 2.7 million people, the cellphone reception on the floor was hovering somewhere between nonexistent and sketchy for me.
Imagine trying to run a Zoom call with around 4,700 people, all while on a spotty wi-fi connection. Now, imagine if that Zoom call was absolutely imperative to ensuring the potential next President of the United States is nominated correctly. You’d definitely want to make sure that call doesn’t drop.
MORE STORIES FROM THE 2024 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION:
- Day 3 at the DNC FULL recap & interviews — Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
- A conversation with Minnesota’s Isaac Winkler, the DNC’s youngest delegate
- A delegate living abroad: Learning more about DNC attendees from overseas
- ‘Once a nurse, always a nurse.’ – Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez addresses DNC
- Youngest invited attendee at DNC ready to get into politics
