Comments on: The Beep-Beep Line- The Jam Line – Busy Signal Chats

By: Russell

Russell — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:37:00 +0000

It was about 8:30 pm on April 26, 1984. A teenage girl was standing in a phone booth in the parking lot of the SuperAmerica gas station on 37th Ave. NE, in Minneapolis, MN talking on the Jam Line, when suddenly the telephone line went dead, then was proceeded by some clicking sounds, went dead again, and just as suddenly the Jam Line was back on. Moments later the power went out all around her, then an F-3 tornado hit the Apache Plaza Shopping Mall about a 1/2 mile away. The resulting damage would trigger the eventual bankruptcy and demolition of the mid-sized indoor mall built in 1961.

For days afterwards the local evening News casts would focus on how there were no warning sirens sounded before this tornado struck the mall. There was a lot of public outcry for a better system to activate the air-raid warning network. It turned out that the air-raid sirens were triggered by telephone line, and for some reason the system had failed on the 781/788/789 telephone prefix areas. The sirens worked fine in other areas of the city. The Weather Service was baffled.

The Jam Line that existed on the 781/788/789 prefix was the last ever in the Twin Cities, MN area. It was shut down in 1984, about a month after the tornado, but not before I talked to the teenage girl who was in the phone booth that stormy night. She was one of the last girls I ever talked to off of the Jam Line, and she talked about this strange story of how the tornado had momentarily knocked out the Jam Line, and how she was so close she could see a “green-glow” in the darkness traveling along the ground towards Apache Mall. To her, the NWS, and the TV News Reporters, there was no explanation for the failures that night. To me and a select few others, we knew exactly what had happened.

One of my friend’s mom’s was a NorthWestern Bell Operator. Both my friend and I were heavily into the Jam Line. We had been told by his mom that the reason the telephone company didn’t like the Jam Line was because with so many people calling into a certain prefix, it would over-load the circuits and block in-coming calls. The phone company would have to try and reroute traffic, but they could only do so much. That teenage girl told me the Jam Line was very busy that night and there were about 20 people screaming on the Line. She had been a bit frustrated trying to dial in because it was hard to get through. It didn’t take an Einstein to figure out what had happened, but the phone company kept it quiet. The Jam Line had overloaded the circuits and blocked the trigger signal for the warning sirens in the area.

Many residents and shoppers lives were put at risk that night because they had no warning. No one could have ever predicted that the Jam Line would have caused such a mess. These events are a true story; but the conclusions are purely speculation on my part. It’s nice to see so many responses to my Jam Line sound byte. Maybe I should dig up some more old audio to be put on here….

By: Dennis Markham

Dennis Markham — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:07:28 +0000

Thank you Sheila for the comment! Glad we could be of some service. Feel free to mention Vintage Rotary Phones in your book! I would be glad to check out your story when it is complete. This particular topic has continued to elicit responses from readers. Best of luck on your memoir! ~Dennis

By: sheila shotwell

sheila shotwell — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:27:10 +0000

I am currently working on a memoir and am writing a story abut my Beepline experience (it was a doozy) in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the late 60s. When I googled this a few years ago, I wasn’t able to find anything. This has been great fun…..thanks to all of you. If I ever get published, I’ll let you know so anyone interested can read it.

By: Dennis Markham

Dennis Markham — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:08:54 +0000

Thanks for checking in from yet another part of the Country, Bill. It does seem like this Beep-beep, Jam-Line thing was popular all over the United States “back in the day”.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:36:20 +0000

Yes, I experienced this in Portland, OR back in the 60’s, and the recording you have is exactly like it. We used to try to hook up with girls, but it seems there were more guys on it than anything else. Judging from the replies, it seems that many, many people experienced this, and it was not just a fluke of one area of the country.

By: Dennis Markham

Dennis Markham — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:58:31 +0000

Rob, that’s great that you enjoyed the sound clip. This topic has resulted in more reader response than any other. Thanks to Russell from Minnesota for providing me with that sound byte. Thanks for leaving a comment!

By: Stevie (Rob)

Stevie (Rob) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:56:10 +0000

Oh My God! I’m writing a novel and needed to research JAM LINE. Amazing. I met my girlfriend of 3 years and current friend. Brought me right back to 10th grade. That recording is invaluable. Thanks for this site!!

By: Junebug

Junebug — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:57:00 +0000

You’re welcome, Dennis. I think WLS had one of the strongest antennas. I hear it got as far as Arkansas and Tennessee.

By: Dennis Markham

Dennis Markham — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:19:05 +0000

Junebug, thanks for your posting. I remember listening to WLS here in the Detroit area. At night the AM signal would travel and they were a strong station. That would have been much later though, in the early 70’s. Thanks for the link and the comment!

By: Junebug

Junebug — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:04:04 +0000

The beep line on WLS radio! That was THE popular AM radio station. I grew up in Chicago in the 1960s.

Is BEEP there BEEP anyone BEEP on BEEP the BEEP line?

We would call the radio request line and meet other kids that way. I didn’t know it was going on around the country.

I looked on Art Roberts’ site ( he was a popular DeeJay on WLS) and found the 1964 Silver Dollar Survey. That was the top 100 songs, so we knew what 45’s to buy! http://www.firststrategy.com/artroberts2003/11-13-6444.jpg