[Spooks] Need help identifying something weird

[Al Fansome]

This is a little OT, but this topic reminds me of a phone number known as 
the "Z-Line" in the Los Angeles area back in the mid-70s.

It was listed as the first number in the LA phonebook whitepages under 
"AAAAAAA", and as the last under "ZZZZZZZ". When you called it (it was 
always busy during the day, so you had to call in the wee hours of the 
morning), there would be a brief musical flourish, followed by the 
announcement "You have reached the Z-Line, the first and last name in 
telephone entertainment!", by what sounded like a professional announcer. 
Then another voice would recite a random joke, and hang-up. When I first 
started calling it, the second voice was American, and the jokes tended to 
be fairly long, and I believe even had some sound effects. Later on, the 
voice changed to a British accent, and the jokes became brief one or 
two-liners. I still remember a couple of the latter: "What's nitrate of 
potassium? Half the day rate!", and "Never give blood needle-lessly!".

No one was ever able to tell me at the time who was behind this, and the 
number eventually went away. To this day I occasionally wonder what it was 
all about. I've Googled for the subject, and always come up empty-handed.

And by the way, this numbers line does not appear to be in Commander Bunny's 
code, and I feel no urge to check my tire pressure...