Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: joe@mojave.ati.com (Joe Talbot)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Prefix '520' For Los Angeles Radio Stations
Message-ID: 
Date: 22 Sep 89 08:33:25 GMT
Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US
Organization: ATI, High desert research center, Victorville, Ca
Lines: 58
Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us
X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 396, message 3 of 8

In article , morris@jade.jpl.nasa.
gov (Mike Morris) writes:
> klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) writes:
>
> LA has most of it's FM station on a 5,000' mountain so both the AM and
> the FM has excellent coverage - LA county has 2 complete area codes
> (818 and 213) and pieces of 2 more (714, 805).  Many of the radio
> station also cover portions of San Bernadino and Riverside counties
> (area code 619). A while back (pre the 213-818 split) I noticed
> that more and more stations were giving out 213-520 numbers for dial-in.
> After the split, I noticed that they were giving out the same number
> as "dial 213-520-xxxx or 818-520-xxxx".

This works the same as 976, both area codes translate to the same
thing. The 213/818 520 prefix is a "choke" prefix, designed to prevent
Radio and TV station contest calling from disrupting the network.
Typically only 2-4 trunks are available from each office. A special
prefix does not appear to be needed, often, in smaller communities, a
prefix and a single hundreds group function the same way. Examples:
Colton (714) 431-5XXX, Phoenix used to be that way, maybe still is
(602) 260. Other choke prefixes of note are:  Chicago (312) 591-XXXX,
San Jose (408) 575-XXXX, Orange County (714) 977-XXXX, San Francisco
(415) 478-XXXX, San Diego (619) 570-XXXX.

> Well, to make a long story short there is only one 520 exchange, but it
> can be accessed from both 818 and 213.  A acquaintance in Pac Bell tells me
> that if they can get GTE to co-operate that they might be able to do the
> same thing with 714, only it would have to be something other than 520,
> as that is already in use in the city of Anaheim.

It's really too bad that 520 in Anaheim didn't get used. The 520 prefix
was already in service in LA years before 520 even got assigned. 520 in
Anaheim has a whole bunch of big centrex/DID customers on it, no hope
of any change. (One customer had a recording reminding callers to dial
213 before the number because of huge numbers of misdirected calls!).
Note that Orange County has its own choke prefix (714) 977.


> It probably won't happen with 619 as that is north San Diego, and all of
> Riverside and San Bernadino, and many of the lower powered stations don't
> reach that far.  My '84 Riverside book does not list a assignment for
> 619-520 however.

The prefix 520 is not special. It just happens to be one of the last
to be assigned because of its position on the Bellcore list. Prefixes
that end in 0 are later to be assigned because of confusion with the
letter O.

> I was told it was done at the (collective) stations request to lower the
> number of FX lines and hence the cost, but I kinda doubt that -

Stations often are forced to pay foreign exchange and milage charges
just to get service, because that service MUST be on a choke system.


joe@mojave
I finally changed my dumb signature. People were always telling me what
a great signature I had.