[BC] putting phone calls on the air

[Dennis Cope]

In the small town of Chincoteague Virginia in 1955 we still had operators
and a peg and cord switchboard and three digit phone numbers.

In some ways the systems was superior to what we have today.  We had voice
recognition "may I have 369 please".
Also you could pick up the receiver and say my dad is sick and the operator
would send an ambulance (pre 911?).
Long distance was even more fun "Hi operator I need NJ MOris 5651 please"
she would give you the option of calling you back or hanging on the line and
listening to all the connections she had to make.

Then there was the personal touch, just pick up the phone and ask her how
long to cook a cake....  or give you the time, just think a real person..

Our exchange was EDgwater 6156 which later became 336-6156 then
757-336-6156.  If you look at your phone pad ED is 33.
IMHO I liked the old days better.

Radio loops were just a DC pair to the station.  When I was 14 I connected
the 70.7 volt output of a 35watt PA amp to the loop and the talent from the
local AM station did his remote.  We couldn't believe it worked but it did.
We just adjusted the mike gain on the amp till it was clear at the station
end.

Dennis
WESR, WCTG


-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net]On Behalf Of Paul Smith W4KNX
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 09:24
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: RE: [BC] putting phone calls on the air


I came from Almont Michigan.  The General System was also my phone company.
I recall they had just put in a step office but didnt have ANI (auto number
identification) so we had to give the operator our number when making long
distance calls.  Ahhh memories.  It also had 5 numer dialing

Paul Smith
W4KNX
Sarasota, FL