10
Thursday, October 30, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Pre-recorded time and temp
NuF, chief switchman for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Lawrence, makes an adjustment on the temperature drum.
Staff Photo by GEORGE MILLENER
playback machinery at the Lawrence Southwestern Bell switching center. The service receives more than 300,000 calls each month.
Nation dials mystery voice daily
By MARSHA WILLIAMS
Staff Writer
Each day, John Doyle talks by telephone to more than 10,000 Lawrence residents and hundreds of thousands of other people in cities across the United States.
It's not that Doyle is a man of many words. What he has to say is concise and to the point. Dial the right number and he says, "Okay, the right number, he'll probably say something like:
"For the business of living, see the First National Bank. Three convenient locations.
The bank is located at 505 S. Cedar Street,
Doyle is the man you hear when you call the time and temperature number in Lawrence. He also happens to be a weatherman for WSB-TV in Atlanta.
In a telephone interview, naturally, Doyle said yesterday that for the past seven and one-half years he had been recording time and temperature announcements for Audio-Chron, Inc., which sells the recording bank. In close contact with the record bank and then works with the local telephone company to place the necessary mechanical devices.
Each client submits about 12 messages to Audi-Chron, and Doyle records these messages. He said he generally spent on one day a week making recordings.
"About once every six or eight months, I also record all the times and temperatures of my house."
any subtle voice changes that might have occurred."
Ball Naff, chief switchman for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Lawrence County, sends three separate tapes: one for the hours, one for the minute and one for the commercial. These tapes revolve around two drums, 24 hours a day. The machine is in the telephone booth.
The temperature chamber is connected to a thermometer on top of the telephone company, Nafi said. There are recordings below 120 degrees above zero, to 120 degrees above zero.
Audio-Chron provides the equipment to the telephone company and is responsible for servicing it. Naff said that Audio-Chron can be used in at least two ops a year to check the machine.
The First National Bank began the service in December 1968, Lymn. L. Anderson, vice-president and trust officer of the bank, said. Originally there were about 73,000 calls each month, and now there are more than 300,000 he said.
"We now have between 12 and 18 lines for incoming calls," Anderson said. "We add more lines from October to November. This is the peak period."
"More people call when the weather is bad or unusual. The peak period also results from the students returning to school," he said.
Anderson said that the greatest number of calls recorded in one month in Lawrence were made by two groups.
Naff said the number of calls taken by the machine was regulated in order to avoid overloading. He said there had been very little trouble with the machine.
Naff said the overly overloaded occurred a few years ago when the bank was using "gag" messages. The calls backed up because everyone wanted to hear the funny sayings, he sad. This caused some interference with normal telephone traffic.
Anderson also said there was a problem with the gag messages.
"Some people loved them, but some people wanted us to get rid of them," he
Anderson said there originally was a problem with people dialing the wrong number. The first time and temperature phone number was the same as that of a customer. He said he had to exchange. He said the time and temperature number had since been changed.
Doyle 32, said he hoped to continue making the recording for some time. He said the company used one voice for 25 years before switching to him.
"One thing I worry about is whether everyone can relate to my voice. Since I'm from the South, I wonder if they can detect any sort of accent." Dove said.
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