Politics and Sleep Deprivation

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Memories from 1988

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The political parties are staging their conventions in August 2020.

2020 and COVID-19

We’ll be hearing a lot about the political conventions taking place in the final two weeks of August 2020.

Most of the coverage will contrast these COVID era conventions to those of years past.

One of the thrills from my fifteen years covering local news on television was the Republican National Convention in 1988.

The station I worked at in Rochester, NY was part of a group of stations that chipped in resources to fund a Washington, DC bureau.

We were able to get interviews from our local legislative delegation on issues of interest in our communities.

An extension of that model was tested in 1988 when the company decided to take the bureau to both Democrat and Republican conventions.

Each station sent extra personnel to provide more coverage for our local audiences. My colleague Rob was assigned to produce coverage for the Democratic Convention.

I was assigned to produce the coverage for the GOP Convention in New Orleans.

My press credential from the 1988 GOP Convention. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Our local team flew into New Orleans on the Saturday before the convention.

We began taping reports on Sunday

It felt like one big story that took almost a week to report. Most of our days began with meetings of the state and local delegations. Those were breakfast events with a guest speaker.

Actor Charlton Heston was the guest speaker one morning. While he did not part the Red Sea as his Moses character did in the movie, he did create some excitement among the party faithful.

Most of our daytime hours were devoted to working in and around the Superdome to interview Republicans from the Rochester area.

I recall the afternoon when Presidential nominee George H. W. Bush announced his choice for his running mate. Once it was clear Dan Quayle was the choice, everyone scrambled for telephone lines.

I recall a good forty-five minutes of busy signals as we tried to call out.

This was long before cell phones became part of the journalist tool kit.

The closest I got to a souvenir from the week I worked the 1988 Republican Convention was this instant photo taken with cardboard cutouts of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

President Ronald Reagan was the keynote speaker on the opening night of the convention.

We were in our workspace at the Superdome, and you could hear the roars from the crowd as the President and Mrs. Reagan were brought into the convention.

Many of us worked our way to the upper level of the arena to get a glimpse of the President.

Two nights later, I was in the room when George Bush made his acceptance speech. That means I was there when the words “Read my lips, no new taxes,” were uttered.

Throughout the week, there were plenty of moments that still take up a little space in my memory. Those moments include sitting in the audience of the Larry King overnight radio program.

We were just looking for a place to sit after a long day covering the events. Larry made reference to us on the air during the program.
My lasting impression was how little sleep I got during the week, and how easy it was for me to fall asleep once I got back home from New Orleans.

It was the busiest week in my career up to that point, and I enjoyed practically every minute.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He worked as a television journalist in the 1980s and 1990s.

You can reach him at SteveNewvine@SBCGlobal.net .

He latest book is Course Corrections, and is available at Lulu.com