[GreenKeys] Hot lead - Linotype machine photo

[Harold Hallikainen]

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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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