Sandra Coile Interview
Interview with Sandra Coile
April 1, 2023 Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL
Frank Cabrera= FC Snadra Coile= SC
FC: So Sandy, once again, if you can just say your name, um, why you're here, spell how to mm-hmm.
SC: And then that's it. Okay. Well, my name is Sandra Coile . C O I L E is the last name.
FC: If you can see the time and date.
SC: Date, it's, uh, Saturday, April 1st at 3:39 PM
FC: Thanks so much.
SC: Mm-hmm.
FC: And my name is Frank Cabrera. Um, like Sandy said, is 3 39, um, April 1st. So after April fuels, actually nothing. Today is gonna be a joke. We're gonna get serious. Um, Sandy, go ahead and just tell us your story. Why are you here? Um, and anything you'd like to say?
SC: Well, I worked for AT&T at the time of Farm Aid and I was one of the first five women in the state of Illinois that came outside to be an installer repair person. So I used to climb telephone poles and work in manholes. And when Farm Aid came along, I was, working outside. And, uh, I was assigned to the project to wire, well, actually we wired all the communications. We wired for all of the broadcast trucks that came in. They didn't have cell phones at that time and they didn't have, uh, really wireless. So we were. Putting actual dial tone into all of the locations.
FC: Okay.
SC: So we did all of the media work and, uh, we worked for a couple of weeks actually before Farm Aid, trying to get that all together. My husband, uh, Don Coile was the manager. He was in charge of all the communication in this building and for farm aid. Uh, he worked for AT&T as well. And so we had a great,
FC: Do you have any positions?
SC: Do what?
FC: Like positions? If you could get like anything.
SC: He was the manager.
FC: Okay.
SC: He was the manager. I've got his card actually somewhere I give it, I gave it to them.
FC: Wonderful.
SC: So, uh, he was the manager here at the time and uh, he was very proud of, uh, being a part of this and we all were, you know, and it was a lot of fun. We worked. From early morning to late at night, um, trying to be creative, trying to get cable, telephone cable to the different locations. Um, we didn't have enough cable and we actually had our construction department come in, put in temporary cable and temporary pedestals, and then we ran the wiring out of those pedestals to the different locations. So it was a big joint effort on AT&T's part, and we were so happy to be a part of it, but it was a lot of fun to be a part of the team, so...
FC: That's amazing.
SC: It was fun.
FC: So unfortunately, I have no idea when you're talking about cable and electricity.
SC: Okay.
FC: So if you could explain to everyone kind of just what that means.
SC: Right.
FC: like, like cameras, audio, like anything from the basics. Cuz I, unfortunately, I don't know anything.
SC: Okay. Alright. So, so, okay. Dial tone starts out at what we call the central office, and that is downtown Champaign.
FC: Any addresses?
SC: Uh, not off the top of my head, but I can FC: That's okay.
SC: I can get it to you later if you need. But there are cables, they're actually cables with multiple, uh, What, shall I say, multiple wires inside the cable that comes out buried to this location, and the dione starts there. It comes through the cable, and it comes to what we call a pedestal, a little green pedestal that's on the ground. And so the dial tone comes in there. And then we have to connect up to that dial tone, just a small wire. Uh, that will, in this case, it was very creative. We couldn't have done this in a business or in a home because in a business or a home, you had to staple the wire every seven and a half inches.
FC: Okay
SC: Here it was like a free for all you, however you could get it there safely is what you did. And so we ended up with that little wire that went to, let's say the trailer and we would uh, wire a jack, a phone jack on the end of it, and we would throw it through the window, which is totally wrong, but it [00:04:00] was the only thing that worked those days. And so we'd throw it through the window and then they'd plug their phone in or whatever they were gonna use to broadcast with. And so they were hooked up, you know? And so there would be satellite trucks that would come out here that would have the big satellites on 'em. And, uh, well, like for example, CNN , ABC , all of those people, any of those people that would come, that's who we would wire up for because they all needed connections. So, um, what they did once we dropped the dial tone off to 'em is really beyond my realm. You know, how they worked that out. But it was my job and our job to get the dial on to them.
FC: Okay, so now let's think about the people in the audience, right?
SC: Mm-hmm.
FC: So we actually had a, a fellow named Thomas. Um, Dennis And he, he described seeing the microphones out the window, right?
SC: Mm-hmm.
FC: He said, he said people had to do what they had to do to make sure this would work.
SC: That's right.
FC: Right. And so if you were to a [00:05:00] random person, What would be your first thought seeing a microphone out the window?
SC: Well, my first thought is probably different than somebody else's first thought, because my first thought would be how did they get the wire there? What path did they take? What cable pair wires did they use? Is it live? Is it, you know, and so we had to be standby. Well, we did that at the stadium anyway for football games, you know, or at the assembly hall at the time for ball games.
FC: Was it State Farm?
SC: It's State Farm Center, Uhhuh. It used to be the assembly hall, and we would provide dial tone for those things as well. But it was all in house, so it was something we were used to. This was outside.
FC: Mm-hmm.
SC: And so we had to run wire on the grass. We had to get 'em in the trees. We had anything we had to do to get dial tone to these trailers. So it was different. It was really different.
FC: That's amazing. And. Um, the 77 Club right here where you are right now.
SC: Mm-hmm.
FC: Have you been here before? What's your first impressions?
SC: Well, I'll tell you, this is totally different than I remember it. Of course, I retired in 2005.
FC: Okay.
SC: So it's been a long time. I worked for 35 years for AT&T.
FC: Amazing.
SC: And, uh, so as a technician I would come in and we would. Sit stand by. So that if someone had a problem with their dial tone in the press box, we got to sit in the press box. It was pretty cool, I have to say. But, but they would come to us and it was like, oh no, this guy's getting up and walking towards me. Are we gonna have a problem? You know, and, and if they had a problem with their dial tone, then we had to immediately respond. And we usually had a backup plan to get them dial tone quickly so they were not off. So it's changed a lot. I mean, this looks totally different than what I remember.
FC: That's amazing. Um, any last comments or any concerns, questions?
SC: No. I was just gonna tell you that they fed us, um, they fed all the workers. Tyson had a great big tent out here on the west side.
FC: Okay.
SC: And so they fed us all our meals there
FC: on first street?
SC: Yeah.
FC: Okay.
SC: Yeah. And so they fed us all our meals. We were just like, the press, the press went in there, the workers went in there. I mean, the entertainers did not go in there, but all the rest of us, you know, we went in there and, and we all enjoyed a meal together. It was really fun. We really enjoyed it. So my husband passed away a couple years ago and he had these, uh, pictures.
FC: Mm-hmm.
SC: And so I thought, well, what am I gonna do with them? And when I saw your article, I thought, well, maybe you guys can use them so.
FC: Thank you so much.
SC: You're welcome.
FC: I appreciate that.
SC: That's all right.
FC: Your vulnerability amazing, has been amazing today.
SC: Thanks.
FC: Um, and I'm sure your husband be proud of you today. Like you're, he was your manager. Yeah. I'm sure he got you there. Yeah. And is there anything like you want to say to women today? You know, like, you were one of the first.
SC: Oh yeah, absolutely.
FC: Like in a way you're a trailblazer, you know?
SC: I am, yeah I was .
FC: And at end of the day, like you came here and now only did you tell your story about your husband.
SC: Yeah.
FC: Um, and so any, this will be actually. In two years, it'll be the 40th anniversary, right?
SC: That's right.
FC: And we're gonna have a segment at Spurluck. you're more than welcome to be there and we would.
SC: Thanks.
FC: So be honored to have you there.
SC: Thank you.
FC: Is there anything you would like to say to to,
SC: well, in terms of women, yes. I mean, you can do whatever you want to do. I was always a tomboy as a kid, and I climbed trees and I climbed in my grandma's barn and back in 1978, when affirmative action came out, they asked me if I might be interested in being an outside technician. I was a tomboy, and so I was a little afraid of the climbing.
FC: Okay.
SC: But you can do it, you know, if you're interested in doing it. I made a lot more money and I made a lot of money during Farm Aid because we were on overtime, double time, you know, it was crazy. But, uh, really as a woman, anything you wanna do, you can do.
FC: That's amazing. Thank you so much.
SC: You're welcome.
FC: I appreciate you.
SC: It's alright.
FC: Um, so I think we're good right here. We'll have you sign the papers right now.
SC: Okay. But yeah, it was so.
This set of recordings is of a range of participants in the Farm Aid concert of 1985, and is to be used only for historical research and educational purposes. Interviews were conducted with the express written consent of all participants. This collection was compiled by the Champaign County History Museum and the Spring 2023 History Harvest class at the University of Illinois. These recordings are presented with transcripts of their contents.