Remembering The Dial Telephone

Discussion in 'Other Reminiscences' started by Joe Riley, Jan 9, 2021.

  1. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Now teach us about Tip & Ring ;)
     
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  2. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    "Tip and ring are the names of the two conductors or sides of a telephone line. The terms originate in reference to the telephone plugs used for connecting telephone calls in manual switchboards".

    [​IMG]
     
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  3. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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  4. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    The Life of a Telephone Operator in 1969 (with special introduction) - AT&T Archives
     
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  5. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Supreme Member
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    That was interesting. "Being an operator makes me a better person." :cool:
     
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  6. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Jim Croce - Operator
     
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    Last edited: Jan 17, 2021
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  7. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You 1984
     
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  8. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Jerry Reed - The Telephone Song 1974
     
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  9. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Opus Number 1 - The Famous Phone Hold Music

    "Oh, oh I know the lyrics to this song!!! 'Thank you for waiting, please continue to hold and we will answer your call as soon as possible.' Almost didn't recognize this... I'm so used to hearing it in Mono at 8 kbps".
     
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  10. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Use the receiver button. One quick tap is 1, two quick taps is 2 and so on.
    My dad had a phone in his shop as an extension to the house but I found out that with practice and patience a person can use the receiver buttons to tap out the desired phone number.
     
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  11. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    I can still remember our first telephone it was a wall mounted. You lifted the receiver and waited for the operator to take your number.
    Our first phone number was 2718J so you know how many telephones existed at that time.
     
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  12. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Way before cell phone conference calls were developed I do remember that ma bell had a pretty good system for that too called a “party line”.
    If a person had a 2, 3 or even a 4 person party line, a person could listen to all the gossip or have a coffee clutch without leaving the house.
     
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  13. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    Yes the good old party lines. When I was 16 we moved to the countryside where we had a crank phone and you could call people on the same party line by cranking their number of rings. Our ring was two long rings followed by tree short rings everyone on the line had a different ring.
     
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  14. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Yeah, I remember my Grandmother’s crank phone. I call it my Grandmother’s because my Grandfather hated the thing.
    But even when the dial ups came in, there were still party lines but for the life of me I can’t remember how that worked.
     
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  15. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    In the 60's, KDKA Radio, out of Pittsburgh, had a show on at night called "Party Line". Ed & Wendy King were the hosts, and they talked about different subjects with the folks who called in. What made this show unique, was that you didn't hear the people who called in, you only heard Ed & Wendy's side of the conversation. They would repeat what was said to the listeners. It was on for 20 years, and was very popular.

    "The audience for “Party Line” extended far beyond the Pittsburgh area. John Mehno commented in his blog that the program “had a following all over the United States, thanks to KDKA’s 50,000-watt signal. Mehno called the show “the original Google. If you needed an answer, you called EX1-1038.”

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    Last edited: Jan 17, 2021
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