kellyk@leah.albany.edu (Kelly K. Hoffman) (10/04/89)
Recently, someone suggested that the TV station WRGB (Schenectady, NY) was named after "Roy G. Biv." This is incorrect. (The station predates color TV, by the way: it was founded on January 13, 1928.) The station's call letters were derived from one of the founding executives, Walter R.G. Baker. I realize this has nothing to do with telecom issues, so I'm including the following, excerpted from _The_Poestscript_, the newsletter of the Poestenkill, NY Historical Society, September 1989. (Copied with permission of the editor. Typos are almost certainly mine.) For the curious, Poestenkill is a small town just outside of Troy. Telephones -- 1936 Style More than 50 years ago, the idea of a telephone strike in Poestenkill would have been out of the question. Not that there weren't telephones here, but they were run on a cooperative basis by the telephone customers. I believe there were two lines -- the "one-eight-F" and the "one-seven-F." A small book of meeting minutes covering the period April 22, 1936, to April 4, 1938, seems to indicate that there were about 11 families on the 18F line... Those present at that April 22 meeting voted to purchase "#12 gage [sic] wire, glasses and what ever needed... Motion made & Sec. that each member be assessed $10.00 to pay for new wire and material. Motion made ... to leave the officers as they are till line is completed." The outstanding assessment of one member of the group reached $18.91! On March 9, 1938, they voted that if payment was not made by March 31, 1938, that member's service would be discontinued and "an action for collection will be taken by 18F Telephone Company." On April 5, 1938, they accepted a $10 payment from the delinquent and granted him further time. They maintained their own lines. At the April 8, 1937, meeting, a "motion made by Vernon Hoffman that every man on line be on hand on Monday morning next April 12 or hire a man to take his place." Trouble with noise on the line prompted a July 2, 1937, vote to appoint a committee of two to find a telephone mechanic "to service our line at the best price" with the committee to report at the next meeting. Each member was to pay for service on his own phone from the pole to the house. On July 12, 1937, they voted to hire Mr. Listen [!] to put the line in shape. To place a call off the line, one long crank got you the operator. To call on the line to reach 18F31, for example, three longs and one short would be used. [One member] told us at a meeting some time ago that his family was one of the few in his area to have a phone, and they used to leave the downstairs door unlocked at night so the neighbors could get in to use it. It was probably the late 40's when the AShley exchange came to town, and not too many years after that the operator disappeared from our life as we got dial service. Kelly K. Hoffman Computing Services, CS-1, University at Albany "hatrack" 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222 kellyk@leah.albany.edu <or> kellyk@albnyvms.bitnet [Moderator's Note: Thanks for a delightful story! PT]