Beep line

In telephony, beep lines^[a] were improvised conference calls hosted over busy signals, loop-around test tones, or certain automated informational service numbers, active in the United States from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s.^{[5][6][7][1][3]} These lines allowed callers to communicate with up to dozens of other people simultaneously, the conversations often punctuated by the busy tone "beep" and accompanying intercept message. Such lines were a consequence of the electromechanical nature of switching equipment within the central offices of the public switched telephone network in widespread use at the time. Some journalists have perceived beep lines as early social networks.^[8][9]

History

For most of the 20th century, calls were usually placed on the public switched telephone network via electromechanical switching equipment. When a caller dialed a number that was busy or permanently unavailable, the central office of their carrier would shunt the incoming call to a circuit on which the busy signal tone was produced. These busy signal circuits did not have their voice path cut off, and as a result, if two or more people reached the same busy signal, they could potentially talk to each other and host a conversation over the sound of the busy signal.^[10][2][3] The majority of participants were teenagers using these lines to hold informal conversations with strangers in their locality, as well as to collect the phone numbers of potential dates.^[10][1] Beep lines were also a popular spot for phone phreaks, or people who deliberately experimented and explored public telephone networks, during the 1970s.^[6]: C1

This phenomenon of impromptu conference calls was known among telephone company workers as early as the mid-1950s and first publicized by The Idaho Statesman in 1961, where they called the phenomenon "moondialing".^[11][5] As central offices did not send answer supervision to busy signals, conversations hosted over these so-called "beep lines" were toll-free in most cases.^[3]

A common point of discovery for the beep line back in the 1960s were call-in segments of radio programs. As dozens of callers attempted to reach the DJ or talk show host at the same time, many would invariably reach a busy signal, through which they could speak to other shunted callers.^{[10][12][8]: 3–2} Another entry point was permanently unavailable numbers or loop-around test numbers intended for internal use by the telephone company.^{[13][14][6]: C1} Such numbers were often spread word of mouth or published in local teen-oriented weeklies.^[15][14][10] Beep lines proved infectiously popular in the 1960s and 1970s; for example, New England Telephone in 1963 reporting a sharp uptick in busy signal calls in one week (from 1,495 to 27,928) after a beep line number was published in a teen weekly, according to Time magazine.^[10]

The pace of conversations hosted over the beep line was often choppy and monosyllabic if the machinery generating the busy tone was particularly loud.^[16][13] The number of concurrent callers on beep lines at any given time could number between 30 and 40 or potentially more.^[17]: 1 While beep lines were not initially illegal in the United States,^[14][b] they were frowned upon by the telephone companies because of their potential to overload a main trunk line in a central office,^[4] preventing normal telephone service for a given area and potentially leading to outages for critical lines such as hospitals and emergency services.^{[17]: 1 [18]} Some measures within central offices to quash beep lines included making the busy tone louder or by increasing the interruptions per minute of the tone—to the chagrin of regular callers who found these new tones obnoxious.^[17]: 2 Other actions included implementing devices within the electromechanical switching equipment, such as resistors, to inhibit the voice path;^[5] rerouting the busy signals or loop-around numbers;^[19] or by upgrading the central office equipment to electronic switching systems (ESS).^[20][21][13] These measures were expensive to implement at the time and were often to no avail,^[5][11] as beep line enthusiasts would cycle through secretive beep lines or connect to distant exchanges with older electromechanical switching equipment and talk there.^[22][13]

Beep lines all but disappeared by the mid-1980s as the vast majority of central offices completed the conversion of their equipment to electronic switching systems.^[1]

See also

• Party line (telephony)
• Chat line

Explanatory notes

1. Other colloquialisms include jam lines,^[1] the Grapevine,^[2] and the Pipeline.^[3] Central office technicians formally referred to them as busy tone conferences.^[4]
2. In Minneapolis by 1974, misuse of the telephone service became a misdemeanor crime carrying a $500 maximum fine and up to six months in jail, although this was almost never enforced beyond warnings.^[6]: C2

References

1. Aslanian, Sasha (December 26, 2012). . MPR News. Minnesota Public Radio. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020.
2. "What a Mess!". The Daily Tar Heel. United Press International. October 17, 1963. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Kovalchik, Kara (April 8, 2015). . Mental Floss. Minute Media. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015.
4. Rutherford, Glenn (April 5, 1978). "The numbers game: What's everybody shouting about? The telephony 'beep line' fad is back". The Courier-Journal. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Electronic Gags End 'Moondialing' Craze". Idaho Daily Statesmen. March 17, 1961. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Carson, Larry (March 25, 1974). "'Phone Freaks' on Beep Line—Weather or Not". The Evening Sun. p. C1, C2 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Curl, Jacqueline (March 12, 1983). "Just call her—please—a phone-aholic". Springfield News-Sun. p. 1, 2 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Sirott, Bob (April 1, 2010). . Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. p. 3-1, 3-2. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Paradiso, James (June 6, 1997). "Cyberspace Illusions". Chicago Tribune. p. 22 – via ProQuest.
10. . Time. Vol. 82, no. 16. Time Inc. October 18, 1963. p. 54. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023.
11. Goldwyn, Ron (February 4, 1972). "Beep, beep, who's there?". The Journal Herald. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
12. Merryfield, Mary (May 13, 1964). "Teens Take Action to Halt Telephone Beeping Sessions". Chicago Tribune. p. 2A – via Newspapers.com.
13. Richardson, Cei (July 25, 1971). "Howling Party Line For Teen-Agers". The Baltimore Sun. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "'Beep Line'". The Indianapolis News. February 12, 1971. p. 44 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Samors, Neal (2006). Chicago in the Sixties: Remembering a Time of Change. Chicago's Books. p. 26. ISBN 9780978866310 – via the Internet Archive.
16. G., J. (March 16, 1965). "Busy Beep Line". The Evening Sun. p. B1 – via Newspapers.com.
17. Moyle, Mike (November 5, 1963). "Boom Lowered on 'Beep Line'". Centre Daily Times. p. 1, 8 – via Newspapers.com.
18. Clark, Steve (March 20, 1970). "'Beep Line' Play Could Be Fatal". Dayton Daily News. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
19. "Breakfast Chatter". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. March 25, 1967. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
20. "Firm Says Beep Line on Way Out". The Honolulu Advertiser. October 31, 1963. p. B6 – via Newspapers.com.
21. "Action Line". The Journal Herald. June 23, 1969. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
22. "Breakfast Chatter". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. May 23, 1968. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Assortment of beep line recordings from the 1970s by Evan Doorbell