Now that's funny!
Surge in calls tagged to 'American Idol'
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
Last Updated 7:49 p.m. PDT Wednesday, May 21, 2003
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ruben and Clay sang, then America talked. And talked.
Telephone calling surged on major carriers Verizon and SBC Communications after Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken competed for the title of "American Idol" on the Fox TV talent show Tuesday.
Chatter among viewers as well as calls to phone numbers registering audience votes for the two contestants led to the increase in volume, according to the phone companies.
Verizon, which typically processes more than 1.5 billion phone calls on an average weekday, saw an increase of 116 million calls, or 7 percent, Tuesday night.
"That's a significant jump, which can be attributed in large part to the massive amount of calls placed to the 'American Idol' hot lines," the company said in a statement.
But the series generated other types of phone traffic, according to Suzy Henderson, SBC executive director of network services.
"People call friends, family to discuss the program," Henderson said. "We've seen an increase in traffic across the network in general because this is an enormously popular show."
SBC said it processed more than 260 million calls during the three-hour "American Idol" voting window last night, a hefty 100 million calls more and an 80 percent increase over a typical weeknight.
Cell phone owners also were able to cast votes by text messaging.
"American Idol" producers had said they expected as many as 30 million votes; an official tally wasn't available Wednesday afternoon. The winner was to be announced Wednesday night.
The huge number of calls also represents efforts by some frustrated fans to get past busy signals on the voting lines. The bottleneck occurred even before the crucial final round.
"I must have called five times and never got through," Jolene Bristow, 72, a special education teacher in Ontario, said after trying to vote for Studdard last week.
"It bothered me. ... I at least want my voice to be heard," she said.