MY GOD the kids of today couldn't handle the fifty's
We had a 19 in black and white NO remote control if you wanted to change channels you got your butt off the floor [only mom and dad and guests sat on the couch] and changed the channels and don't even think about interrupting dad when Huntley Brinkley were on. Yep kids of today are lazy thanks to xbox and ipods

Quote from: REDWHITEBLUE2 on November 16, 2010, 05:55:08 PM
MY GOD the kids of today couldn't handle the fifty's
We had a 19 in black and white NO remote control if you wanted to change channels you got your butt off the floor [only mom and dad and guests sat on the couch] and changed the channels and don't even think about interrupting dad when Huntley Brinkley were on. Yep kids of today are lazy thanks to xbox and ipods

Or when the phone rang, you actually had to run to get it, no such thing as cordless.
Now that I think of it, we didn't even get a phone till 59.

Quote from: Solar on November 16, 2010, 05:58:29 PM
Or when the phone rang, you actually had to run to get it, no such thing as cordless.
Now that I think of it, we didn't even get a phone till 59.

We were on a party line so half the time you couldn't call out cause someone else was on the line. eavesdropping was the thing back then :)

We called it the "beep line." Anybody remember this?

Probably late sixties, before digital phones. We discovered that the local phone company (Ohio Bell, before the big breakups) used a standard recording for their "busy signal." That is, if you dialed a number that was in use, the system transferred you instantly to that one line that transmitted a monotonous recording of beeps. Everyone in a given area was treated to the same line, transmitting the same recording of the same beeps.

We discovered that you could talk and be heard between beeps. The cool part was that you could talk to lots of people at once and the coverage included areas that would otherwise be long-distance. ($$$) For example, I lived in Miamisburg, OH back then, but I could talk to folks in Vandalia and other points north of Dayton for free on the "beep line." Calling those areas directly would have been "long distance" calls, a forbidden thing in my house!

Yeah, it was awkward. "Hey [beep] how [beep] are [beep] you? [beep].... But it was fun and free and something to do in an age when TV wasn't much and even FM radio was in its infancy.

Anyone else ever talk on a "beep line?"

Quote from: REDWHITEBLUE2 on November 16, 2010, 08:25:53 PM
We were on a party line so half the time you couldn't call out cause someone else was on the line. eavesdropping was the thing back then :)

Never had one, but my friends did, and the ranch I worked on had one as late as 1988.
The kids used to listen to all the neighbors conversations. :o ;D

Quote from: tbone0106 on November 16, 2010, 11:36:12 PM
We called it the "beep line." Anybody remember this?

Probably late sixties, before digital phones. We discovered that the local phone company (Ohio Bell, before the big breakups) used a standard recording for their "busy signal." That is, if you dialed a number that was in use, the system transferred you instantly to that one line that transmitted a monotonous recording of beeps. Everyone in a given area was treated to the same line, transmitting the same recording of the same beeps.

We discovered that you could talk and be heard between beeps. The cool part was that you could talk to lots of people at once and the coverage included areas that would otherwise be long-distance. ($$$) For example, I lived in Miamisburg, OH back then, but I could talk to folks in Vandalia and other points north of Dayton for free on the "beep line." Calling those areas directly would have been "long distance" calls, a forbidden thing in my house!

Yeah, it was awkward. "Hey [beep] how [beep] are [beep] you? [beep].... But it was fun and free and something to do in an age when TV wasn't much and even FM radio was in its infancy.

Anyone else ever talk on a "beep line?"

That is weird, though it makes total sense.
Long distance was ridiculously expensive, I still have an old bill from the 80s and some calls were like 30 cents a minute.
What year was that?

We moved into the house in Miamisburg in 1968 and left it in 1973, so my "beep line" days had to be somewhere within that time frame. Met a few nice babes that way!

Quote from: tbone0106 on November 18, 2010, 12:46:20 PM
We moved into the house in Miamisburg in 1968 and left it in 1973, so my "beep line" days had to be somewhere within that time frame. Met a few nice babes that way!

Thats a neat bit of trivia, something I collect in my head.
I'm crammed full of useless facts. ;D :-[

Here is something that those under 30 wouldn't know.
Back when it was all Bell, the PH# used to have an alphanumeric prefix, like GA1 3905 which would translate into 421 3905.
The reasoning behind it was that certain areas had names, Ga stood for Carella Gardens, that way it made it easier to tell what area someone lived in, it was helpful for Fire and Police, most of these areas were about 5 miles across and 5 wide.

Thats something that will never return.

Oh sure! I can't believe that this isn't more common knowledge! When I was a  kid, in Dayton, OH, my phone number was CR5-4623. On a phone dial (think cell phone buttons and the text characters assigned thereto, you young cretins) it was 275-4623. The "CR" was short for "Crestview," the name of the phone company's exchange in our neighborhood.

Quote from: tbone0106 on November 18, 2010, 08:05:37 PM
Oh sure! I can't believe that this isn't more common knowledge! When I was a  kid, in Dayton, OH, my phone number was CR5-4623. On a phone dial (think cell phone buttons and the text characters assigned thereto, you young cretins) it was 275-4623. The "CR" was short for "Crestview," the name of the phone company's exchange in our neighborhood.

Now when they watch an old movie and the caller tells the Operator "Thats right operator, Crest View5-4623" they will know why we used to use names. ;)

By the way, just a few moments ago, my mom found out that dialing "O" will not get you an operator.
This is news to me, but I guess Ca has done away with them. :o

Quote from: Solar on November 18, 2010, 09:36:51 PM
Now when they watch an old movie and the caller tells the Operator "Thats right operator, Crest View5-4623" they will know why we used to use names. ;)

By the way, just a few moments ago, my mom found out that dialing "O" will not get you an operator.
This is news to me, but I guess Ca has done away with them. :o

Wow!! I can not remember the last time I dial "O" for an operator.  It has to be over 50 years or more.  lol

Quote from: walkstall on November 19, 2010, 07:02:42 AM
Wow!! I can not remember the last time I dial "O" for an operator.  It has to be over 50 years or more.  lol

I know it's been years for me as well.

My mom is getting old, so I'm not even certain if she was dialing "O" or "0"... ;D ;D

We can't go back, we can only look...behind to where we came
and go round and round and round...in the circle game...   :'(

Quote from: Solar on November 18, 2010, 03:30:29 PM
Thats a neat bit of trivia, something I collect in my head.
I'm crammed full of useless facts. ;D :-[

Here is something that those under 30 wouldn't know.
Back when it was all Bell, the PH# used to have an alphanumeric prefix, like GA1 3905 which would translate into 421 3905.
The reasoning behind it was that certain areas had names, Ga stood for Carella Gardens, that way it made it easier to tell what area someone lived in, it was helpful for Fire and Police, most of these areas were about 5 miles across and 5 wide.

Thats something that will never return.

I have used a wall-mounted crank telephone, as a boy, and experienced part lines firsthand --- but I found it funny trying to teach my wife's then-young son how to operate an actual rotary dial phone. Now an adult, he gets a kick out of watching his wife try to operate that same device.

Some day, we'll be explaining what those funny poles with all those wires were, in an age of wi-fi everything.

Most kids wouldn't have a clue what MA Bell and General Telephone was I remember our phone number was AT-O- 6401