2004 Presidential Debates

The The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987. You can read the complete history of the debates HERE on the CPD website. The website also has complete transcripts of many of the debates and even some videos.

Laurence Estrin has been the audio and communications consultant for debates during seven presidential election years. The first was on October 6, 1976 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for the CBS pool. He has been a consultant with the CPD since their beginning.

Pete Erskine has worked on debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004 and in 2008, was again in charge of the engineering for the communications systems, Riedel Digital intercom programming, and operated the backup audio console.

Michael Abbott was the FOH engineer for all of the debates, Kelly Epperson was the TD and designed all the audio systems, Russell Emery was A2 for Mics and in charge of the timing lights, Stan Hunter managed all the installation of equipment, Shipley Landiss was the Media engineering coordinator, Jamie Ransford was the equipment supervisor from On Stage Audio, Steve Savanyu was the onsite Audio/Technica rep and Steve Mendelsohn coordinated all of the RF, both inside and outside the venues.

The 2008 debates were held over the course of only 3 1/2 weeks in The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.; Washington University in St. Louis, MO; Belmont University, Nashville, TN; and Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. The same production crews worked all 4 events.


The Production Crew	Setup discussion with Marty Slutsky, Larry Estrin, Steve Mendelshon, Steve Savanyu, and Russell Emery.	Mike Abbott aqt the FOH console and Kelly Epperson adjusting the system EQ.

The setup	The Strike - Pix by Harlan Erskine	Timing lights on the center Camera - Pix by Harlan Erskine
	`
Moderator's view of timing lights, clock and setup thermometer.	Timing lights control center	HME DX200 base stations and Pete Erskine

Audio/Technica wireless and Kelly Epperson