jim@slxinc.specialix.com (04/25/91)
The April 19 edition of the {San Jose Mercury News} had this story in
the state news section:
Plug pulled on last cord telephone board.
Computer replaces four manual switchboards at Kerman Company.
KERMAN (AP) - They're pulling the plug on California's last manual
telephone switchboard, ending an era when an operator's nimble
fingers, not a soulless computer, connected the caller to the rest of
the world.
"Cord boards" were romanticized in movies. The operators were
familiar, friendly voices willing to give extra help in towns across
America.
"When I got out of school, this was it," Glennda Kountz said. She
became an operator for Kerman Telephone Co. after high school almost
20 years ago.
But a computer was being installed this week to replace Kerman
Telphone's four manual units. Rena McDonald of California Telephone
Association said it is the last cord board used by a commercial
telephone company in the state.
"There might be a farmer somewhere who connects a cord board to his
barn," said McDonald, adding that there still are manual switchboards
in some rural parts of the nation.
A light glows near the top of a black backboard when someone wants to
make an operator-assisted call in Kerman. An operator plugs one cord
into the lighted slot, finds out where the call should go, plugs a
second cord into an outgoing trunk line and dials the number.
"I hate to see it go, but I'm looking forward to new challenges,"
Kountz said. Operators handle 1,000-2,000 long-distance calls a day
plus about 300 requests for information.
Customers in Kerman already dial most long-distance calls directly,
but they have had to dial zero to reach the manual equipment for
credit card or collect calls.
And some older residents dial zero to get special service.
"They ask us to 'call my daughter at Bank of America,'" Kountz said.
"We know who she is because we've been here so long. We just go ahead
and dial it.
"Or they say they want the little store on the corner. You give them
that number. That's the good part, dealing with the community."
The telephone system in this farming community of 5,400 some 200 miles
north of Los angeles has been upgraded bit by bit since William
Sebatstian bought the company for $40,000 in 1946.
His first telephone office "orginally was a beer parlor," Sebastian
recalled. "I lived in the lean-to on the side."
Now 75, Sebastian recalls that his first 1930s-style switchboard was
more antiquated than the one he's replacing now.
"Customers turned a crank, and only half the cords worked," he said.
Some computer functions, such as recording calls and billing, have
been added gradually to the current manual switchboard, which was
purchased about 20 years ago. And Kerman Telephone has expanded into
such modern businesses as burglar alarm systems and faxes.
"We use the old principle of doing a better job at less cost or doing
more at the same price," Sebastian said.
Only one person at a time will operate the computer-based switchboard
scheduled to start up next week. But Sebastian said his eight
operators will keep their jobs, transferring to other areas or adding
duties to their board work.