Re: [IRCA] Phone exchanges (was Re: KIDD-630)

[Mike Hawkins <michael.d.hawkins@xxxxxxxxx>]

Different reason completely.  Exchanges were used because people doing the
phone system planning thought their user base was not intelligent enough to
remember that many numbers.  Their answer was to use exchanges that people
would be more likely to remember.  When it reached a point with phone
system expansion that remembering the exchanges became the more difficult
task, they gave up and just used the numbers that the exchanges
represented.  As late as the 1990's, "those" people said that people in
general could not remember more than 7 numbers in a row.

And we still have those letters on our telephone keypads, which seem to be
reserved for marketing fools.

Mike Hawkins

On Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 6:52 AM, Mike Brooker <aum108@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I think those phone exchanges disappeared in the 1970s or late 1960s
> because they became politically incorrect. Most of them were very white
> Anglo-Saxon sounding. In Toronto, they used to have exchanges like MElrose,
> LEnnox, RUssell, HUdson, and of course EMpire, as Toronto was a bastion of
> the British Empire (as recently as 1961, the population was over 90% white,
> with origins in the UK).
>
> 73
>
> Mike Brooker
> Toronto, ON
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hawkins" <ng0g@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2014 4:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [IRCA] KIDD-630
>
>
>  IRCA,
>>
>> On 12/26/14 10:20 PM, Patrick Martin wrote:
>>
>>> By the way in 1966 their phone number was "FRontier 2-8154, to give you
>>> an idea how long ago that was.
>>>
>>
>> I miss phone numbers like that.  I wrote a short piece for WHO about
>> them, when the morning hosts were talking about their, and WHO's old phone
>> numbers.
>>
>> Steve
>> --
>> Stephen Hawkins NG0G
>> ng0g@xxxxxxxxx
>> 73 49 111 01001001
>> _______________________________________________
>> IRCA mailing list
>> IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
>>
>> Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the
>> original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
>> IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers
>>
>> For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org
>>
>> To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> IRCA mailing list
> IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca
>
> Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the
> original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
> IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers
>
> For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org
>
> To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx