Does anybody here know how to use a microphone?
Covering the Wisconsin legislature can be a frustrating experience for reporters who rely on sound to tell the story, because very few lawmakers display much aptitude for proper use of microphones. I routinely cover the Senate, where the microphones are attached to flexible mountings which allow the Senators to adjust them when they stand to address the chamber. Ideally, that would mean setting the microphone at the appropriate distance, and then leaving it alone. In reality, a number of Senators cannot leave their hands off that flexible extension, and use both hands to throttle it as if choking barnyard poultry. Some of them like to take the microphone out of its bracket and hold it, while still others get so close while speaking that their comments are buried in distortion.
In committee hearing rooms, the microphones are mounted on shorter stalks and lawmakers remain seated, so constant readjustment is not much of an issue. Unfortunately, the hearing room microphones are also equipped with on/off switches, and I’m not sure what’s worse: the legislators who routinely forget to turn their microphones on (this also applies to people who are testifying before committees) or those who never turn them off, and loudly clear their throats or shuffle papers when a colleague is providing what would otherwise be a perfect sound bite for my story.
But, to answer the query posed in the title of this post, I can report that yes, there is at least one state legislator who does know his way around a microphone. The other day, with the lawmaker seated next to him having gotten a good thirty seconds into making a comment sans microphone, state Senator Randy Hopper discretely reached over and turned the microphone on. I doubt whether his colleague even noticed. So, I’d like to suggest that Senator Hopper would be the ideal person to draft a brief memorandum on proper microphone use, to be distributed to members of the Senate and Assembly. How do I know Senator Hopper would be uniquely qualified to provide this service? Simple: his business background is in radio.
