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Show Switchboard Operators going way of Dinosaur PR ft y" " 1 1 (I w t EXPLAINS SWITCHBOARD. Kathy Rowley, standing rear, explains switchboard switch-board operation to open house visitors at Mountain Bell Offices in Cedar City, at the switchboard are Margaret Middleton and Lee Ann H ooton. In a little less than a year from now, the switchboard operator at the Telephone Company will be a thing of the past in Cedar City. Since that eventful day is so close a special "Operator Appreciation Open House" was recently held at the Mountain Bell facilities here. Approximately 200 people, friends and family members of the 60 operators who man the boards on a 24-hour 24-hour 365 day a year basis, took the opportunity to visit the facility and learn firsthand fir-sthand of the operation. For most it was a most revealing : experience to find the number of toll service calls that are handled han-dled through the Cedar City switchboard operation. Helen Spendlove, a group manager, who helped organize the open house, indicated that the numbers of calls handled on a daily basis varies from 5000 to over 6000 "and that does not include the non-toll services that are provided," she said. By non-toll, Mrs. Spendlove Spen-dlove indicated . that time, with the exception of Cedar City, Hurricane and St. George all "time of day calls, etc." are handled through the Cedar City' switching center without additional charges. The Cedar City switching center responds to a broad area of southwestern Utah and parts of Nevada. It serves as the central switching swit-ching center for a 250 mile radius with responsibility for toll calls from as far north as Cove Fort, west to Escalante Valley, Milford and Enterprise; south to St. George and east to Cir-cleville Cir-cleville and Tropic. Installation of new terminal ter-minal switching equipment will make the present switchboard obsolete and will automatically switch all calls to Salt Lake City. That change is expected by May of next year, Mrs. Spendlove stated. Some interesting facts came up at the open house. Peak periods for the placement of toll calls is from 9 to 12 a.m. from 3 to 5 f T A. . T 11 p.m. and from 9 to 11 p.m. "We can always tell when their is a parade in Cedar City", Mrs. Spendlove noted. During the time of the parade the boards are virtually idle, but as soon as the parade is over the rush begins. Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year, right? Wrong. Mrs. Spendlove Spen-dlove indicated that Father's Day is busier. Then there's the TV Commercial syndrome. "You can always tell when there is a good show on TV and when the commercials are on. At the hour, quarter hour and half hour breaks the calls start coming through." Other events also affect the calling , patterns, Mrs. Spendlove stated. "We are affected by such things as the Shakespearean Festival, by special activities in the community, such as a big ballgame, etc. When those events are on the calls are slow. When they are over we're among the first to know;" she said. IT'S A CINCH. Mario Flores, seated, the first male operator at the Cedar City office, discusses operation with co-worker, Leilani Knell. |