Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Prefix '520' For Los Angeles Radio Stations
Message-ID: 
Date: 23 Sep 89 21:10:31 GMT
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I think the reason that many radio stations have the same special
prefix is so that the local telco can do selective blocking when
they announce: "..be the 9th caller and win $10,000!".

Without special prefixes, an announcement like this could cause
major problems when calls from all over start heading for one
CO.  With the special prefix, an "intelligent network" can allow
a limited number of calls from each originating office, and the
rest can get locally generated "all trunks busy".

Tad Cook
tad@ssc.UUCP

[Moderator's Note: Tell me about it! The Chicago Cubs World Series
tickets went on sale Friday at 6 PM here, via Ticketron. They did
*not* use any special prefix or traffic routing at first. By 6:01 PM,
phones all over northern Illinois were sluggish, and experiencing
delays in getting dial tone. By about 6:45 Bell employees had managed
to re-route some of the traffic, but the mess wasn't totally under
control until about 10:00 PM.  PT]