On
those rare occasions when a severe cold wave or a hurricane
or a flood hits the South, telephone-distraught stations in
Region Two doubtless eye with envy the automatic telephone forecast
service in operation in some of the other Regions. Surely the
number of daily calls for the forecast handled automatically
by Weather 6-1212 in New York City is nothing short of phenomenal.
“Prior
to the inauguration of this service on April 8, 1939,”
writes OIC Benjamin Parry of the New York WBO, “the Weather
Bureau was frequently accuse of never answering the telephone,
and unanswered calls became so numerous that the Telephone Company
was compelled to investigate the matter. The addition of more
lines would not solve the problem as we did not have the personnel
to man the lines; accordingly, it was suggested that a telephone
weather service be considered, modeled on the equipment for
the time service.”
“The
equipment was finally installed,” Mr. Parry continues,
“and, while we realized that there was an enormous demand
for weather information, we were astonished when the first day’s
business indicated a total number of calls of 38,310. The average
number of daily calls for the balance of the year dropped off
to 16,218. This average has since gradually climbed and now
stands at 40,000, with the daily average for some months exceeding
50,000. On January 25, 1945, the automatic weather device received
96,595 calls; on February 15, 1943, calls received totaled 120,640.”
(The equipment is engineered to serve more than 150 calls at
one time.)
The
New York WBO has teletype connections with the telephone office
and provides temperatures and humidities hourly and forecasts
four times daily. The weather bulletin, limited to some 40 words
or less, is read into a microphone by a telephone company operator,
and is recorded on a magnetic steel tape. When connected for
service, the magnetic tape, which is in the form of a loop,
makes one revolution in 30 seconds, during which time one complete
announcement is made. A person who dials WE6-1212 is automatically
connected with the announcing apparatus. He may cut in during
the middle of an announcement, in which case he simply listens
until the end and waits briefly for the bulletin to be repeated.
In addition to the weather forecast and the current temperature,
relative humidity and wind direction and velocity, the forecast
bulletins include special information regarding hazardous highway
conditions, heavy snowfall and extremes in weather.
Of
course, the telephone people charge the bureau nothing for providing
the equipment for automatic telephone service. The venture has
proved a profitable one for them. But, an Atlanta official of
the Southern Bell System, when questioned as to the likelihood
of similar service for southern cities, indicate that it was
remote. He stated that due to the flat rate system of telephone
rentals which prevails in the South, that is, say, $3.00 per
month for an unlimited number of calls, little additional revenue
would come to the company should they go to the expense of providing
such a service. In the larger metropolitan areas where telephones
are rented on a message rate basis (the customer pays about
5 cents for each call in excess of some 40), it is said that
revenue is produced at an average of just about 5cents for each
call made for the weather report. In 1945, the average number
of calls for the cities in which the service is provided was:
New York City, Detroit, Chicago, 36,000; Washington, slightly
less than 36,000; Boston, 13,000; Baltimore, 6,000; and Newark,
4,000.
In
spite of the tremendous volume of calls handled by this weather
automat, Weather Bureau employees, in New York at least, still
find the office phones demanding. Mr. Parry comments on the
automatic telephone for the BREEZE with this statement: “In
spite of this service our switchboard traffic continues to be
congested, that necessitates two operators from 8;00 A,M to
11 A.M.
In:
“The BREEZE,” Volume 4, No. 3, April 10, 1947. P.
1, 4.