My Take on Wake - Surviving Tar Pits and Telecopiers

Surviving Tar Pits and Telecopiers

Back when I took up sportswriting, the challenge of transmitting my story from the road back to the office could be a far greater pain in the behind than writing the story in the first place. And no, I didn’t ever use carrier pigeon or pony express, despite what you might suspect from the gray in my beard.

But I did use telecopiers, and somehow lived to tell about it. Telecopiers were these large, bulky machines that linked up with each other, allowing the written word to be transmitted through phone lines. That’s when they worked, which was about a 50-50 proposition. We’d type our stories on typing paper, which would be inserted into a spool that rotated through a chemical solution that stunk to high heavens. At the other end, the receiving telecopier required special paper—nasty stuff that got the chemical substance all over your hands and clothes. And it took forever. The settings were for 4 or 6 minutes per page, and we were told to always send it on 6 because 4 rarely got through. Truth be told, 6 didn’t make it through that often, which required plan B.

Plan B was to pick up a phone, dial the office and dictate the story word for word to some unlucky soul at the other end.

Early computers really weren’t that much better. The first wave were also heavy and bulky and had a screen about the size of a slice of bread, and the phone had to be inserted in couplers. If the crowd roared before you could get the phone in the couplers, the noise would trigger the transmission prematurely and cause you to stop, reset everything and start all over again. The second wave, the Radio Shack TRS-80s (Trash 80s in sportswriter parlance) were reliable little buggers, but they gave you only four or five lines to a screen and the capacity was so limited that when you were writing a long story, you had to print out the notes and quotes you had transcribed, and delete the file to have enough bytes available to write the piece itself.

It was a happy day when we graduated to laptops. Even then, however, we had to dial up the modem back at the office, and the phone systems in many of the arenas and gyms we found ourselves weren’t always reliable. So again we had to resort to Plan B from time to time.

The greatest innovation in my time as sportswriter, in terms of saving me time, sweat and aggravation, was wireless. With wireless you’re solid gold. A click of a button and you’re connected to the company email. I remember covering the Orange Bowl of 2006 and having to send at least a half-dozen transmissions over the six or seven hours we were at the stadium. If I had been forced to jump through hoops every time, I would have been led out of the press box in a strait jacket. And my copy would have never made it back by deadline.

What set me off on this tangent was my new favorite song by one of my old favorite singer/songwriters, Robert Earl Keen. He’s asking the same question I’ll be asking if I’m lucky enough to make it through the Pearly Gates. Is There Wireless in Heaven?

Back to the main page.

By Dan Collins on 02/23/2010 (2:15 pm)

Comments

Thomas, not to sound like the old geezer that I am, but I think you’re on to something about the levels of dedication. The best quote I ever heard on that was attributed to the inimitable Blackie Sherrod, who mused that ``Sportswriters used to go to games looking for a great story. Now they go looking for a phone and a three-prong outlet.’’—Or something like that.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (12:06 pm)

Chuck T, I’ve wondered the same thing. Of course when the powers that be can’t find the money to put tape on the court to mark the no-charge zone beneath the basket, how could one expect them to spring for sensors. But it’ll come in time, which hopefully is not that far off.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (12:04 pm)

John, I also saw where he’s playing in Charlotte on 3/11 and Greensboro 3/12. Good thing there’s nothing else going on at that time—LIKE THE ACC TOURNAMENT! If WF plays on the afternoon of the 12th, I’m trying to figure if I could make it to the show that night. Now that would be a nice day.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (12:03 pm)

Bobby H, I told L.D. to give me something good to write about. Carolina-Wake games are always great fun to cover.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (12:01 pm)

CMFan, Just checked out Guy Clark’s Analog Girl. Hell of a song, but I’m not surprised, given who wrote it. I suspect it’s about his wife Susanna.
Desperados Waiting For the Train is one of my favorite songs. Thanks for the heads up.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (11:58 am)

Terry, you could eat off my telecopier too, if you were a dog. In fact I think Old Cozmo did exactly that a couple of times. By the way, it’s hard working for anybody when you’ve worked for the best.

Dan on 02/24/2010 (11:55 am)

There is, of course, more to this post than Country could ever have time to write and still cover Wake Forest sports. The telecopier was a hideous invention, but it worked pretty well if it was taken care of. Some writers were good about that, some not so much. You could eat off Bill Cole’s telecopier. Country’s?? Well… And they required patience, because they were 50-50 when it came to reliablity. Some writers had less patience than others. I was quite often the guy who had to take dictation when Dan’s telecopier failed. Suffice it to say that taking dictation from Country because of a telecopier failure was a test of my managerial skills.
But we all lived through it, our jobs and friendships intact.
Terry Oberle
Sports Editor Ret.

Terry Oberle on 02/24/2010 (11:27 am)

Dan,

Love the blog. For another musical take on technology that I think you’d like see Guy Clark’s “Analog Girl.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmDlmrAIiY

CMFan on 02/24/2010 (10:56 am)

Dan,

One of the most enjoyable by Robert Earl is about the “bucking horse.” He, too, is one of my favorite singers/writers. I’m eager to read your Wake-Carolina columns coming soon!!

bobby h griffin on 02/24/2010 (10:44 am)

I plan on catching REK when he comes up to Asheville in March. Hopefully I can sing ‘Feels So Good Feelin’ Good Again’ after the game on Saturday!

John on 02/24/2010 (9:57 am)

Speaking of technology… Why can’t “we” put sensors on # point line, so-called arc under basket, and end line?!? Money? With TV $‘s, NCAA should be able to afford to implement this/these at all venues.

Chuck T on 02/23/2010 (8:33 pm)

Dan,

I can’t imagine having to do some of the things you described in that piece.

Do you think the increase in technology, while not only pushing the newspaper to the back burner in terms of medium consumed, has served to diminish the quality of sports writing and or writing in general? Meaning: Have you seen a change in the kind of people and their dedication level, doing the job you started out doing those years ago? Or is it just easier? Personally, I can’t fathom working without the modern prepress and press rig, i.e. having to cut and paste little pieces of paper on to a thing and then take a big picture of it with a giant camera whilst on deadline. Want to hear something stressful, think about returning to an office where you have exactly 1.5 hours to write a girls and boys basketball story from the game you just attended, while also taking call-ins from the other three schools in your area (if they choose to do so) all while finishing the layout of your own pages. It’s a doozy.
So that being said, I think I would have blown my brains out long ago if I had a crappy TRS 80s to work with or God forbid trusting my work with some poor sap on the other end of a phone line. It’s a world few enter, but the stress and fulfillment of a nightly deadline met is a thing of beauty. But I will tell you this, I won’t be complaining quite as much next time I’m pedal to the metal. I’ll just be happy I’ve got what I do.

Thomas on 02/23/2010 (4:47 pm)