[BC] putting phone calls on the air

[Gary Glaenzer]

ah yes

we had 4-digit dialing when we got our phone (1958 ?) in Columbia, IL
(Monroe
County, just wouth of St. Louis on the IL side)

'Butler' (28) 1-3833 was the number, but we only had to dial the last four
digits
Red Bud was Butler 2
Dupo was Butler 6
Waterloo was 'Western' (93) 9
Valmeyer was Western 5

we were on a 'shared line' (not 'party') where ten subscribers' phones were
paralleled (if hookswitch was closed) across the CO battery, to ring, we had
'selective frequency' ringing, the CO had ringing generators of (memory is
dim here) 60, 55, 50, 45, and 40 cycles, and your phone had a frequency
selective ringer in it

5 phones on the shared line had ringer wired CO battery plus to ground and 5
had  ringer to CO battery minus to ground thru a honking big cap

back then there were only three area codes in IL

312 Chicago
618 roughly south of where I-70 runs today
309 everything in between




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis Cope" <dcope at intercom.net>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 11:15 AM
Subject: RE: [BC] putting phone calls on the air


> 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
>
>
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