By Charlie Hutson

TOP PHOTO: Featured on this Throwback Thursday is this special group of women known as the La Follette switch board operators, and the group was on the leading edge of voice communication for La Follette and Campbell County.

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Voice communication has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time, and on today’s Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to the 1950s. Featured is this special group of women known as the La Follette switch board operators, and the group was on the leading edge of voice communication for La Follette and Campbell County.

Back in the day, the telephone set had no numbers or dial. So to place a call, you picked up the handset, put it to your ear, and a friendly female voice would ask “number, please?”

Many times, you could just tell her who you wanted to talk to, and she would connect you.

Their office was upstairs in what we know today as the Bowman Jewelry building.

In the 1960s, rotary dial became the new wave technology, and the local operators were phased out. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 11/03/2022-6AM)

2 Replies to “Switchboard was leading edge of voice communication for Campbell County”

  1. Those can’t be Americans! Not a single one them is overweight. What kind of joke are you trying to play?

  2. It would be great to be able to identify the ladies in the picture while there might be someone still alive who can do so for the sake of history.

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