[GreenKeys] Hot lead - Linotype machine photo

[Harold Hallikainen]

Interesting! I see the book for sale on Amazon. I had not heard the term
Pony Wire (or even its use by newspapers). I had heard of something
similar for auto parts recyclers ("junk yards"). I understand that they
may have or had a half duplex voice circuit that covered a wide region
(maybe a state). Anyone could hop on the wire and ask everyone else about
a part that a customer needed.

Harold


> Many years ago a bookstore in the town where I was living published
> the memoir of an old newspaper man, under the title of "Hot Type
> and Pony Wire".  Hot Type of course refers to a Linotype machine.
> Pony Wire was a telephone circuit where, at a certain time of day,
> people from the various newspapers subscribing to the service would
> listen on a telephone circuit and take down the news as it was read
> to them.  Woe betide the listener who asked the talker to slow down
> or repeat!
>
> I guess the book didn't sell well.  I happened to notice it when browsing
> the store and seeing books on closeout sale.  As I was buying a copy the
> sales woman said something to the effect that it didn't sell well and she
> thought the reason was the title.  I told her the reason I was attracted
> to the book was because of the title.
>
> I suppose the verbal pony wire was a direct replacement for a Morse code
> circuit, available to papers that didn't want to pay enough for Teletype
> service.
>
> I've enjoyed several books of that genre of memoirs of retired people,
> but there doesn't seem to be much of a market for them.  One I bought
> from a vanity publisher and it came wrapped in a big sheet of paper
> that was printed with someone else's memoirs, in this case a retired
> diplomat.  I thoroughly enjoyed the pages that were there, but not
> enough to want to order a real copy of the whole book.
>
> Jim W6JVE
>
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