Dicky Doo wrote:

You blew an opportunity to chat on-air with the gruff caller, and talk him (or her, as the case may be) down from the threats that had been levied.   By suggesting the gruff caller call his mother could have invited a dangerous phase to what already is annually, a dangerous day for peace keepers.



D.D.

As I explained, we were in the midst of pre-recorded heavily sponsored traditional Christmas music. I was the newsie and certainly in no position to go live on the air with a disgruntled guy who viewed the station as his own personal jukebox. I was polite to him until he pulled out the “do you realize who I am” card. I then respectfully suggested he speak with a relative who might help him in his efforts to discover his identity. Since nothing came of it, I can only assume he went outside to touch snow or was visited by three spirits who taught him the true meaning of the season.

I worked the morning shift of Christmas Day , 1977 , in St John's Nfld at CJYQ, formerly CJON. Other than a  rip and read hourly newscast, it was pre recorded shows on reel to reel so was extremely boring, especially at age 22, which had meant the night before was a long one. I did manage to complete the shift and at noon went back to the house I was sharing with a fellow from Calgary who was a deep sea diver and was working installing the footings for the ill fated Ocean Ranger . He had gone out that morning with his gear in St. John's harbour, cut a hole in the ice, and went down into the water. We had fresh caught lobster for Christmas dinner. I have always wondered if he got charged and/or sued over the disaster that occurred some years later . 

I remember one year when we were doing a radio show on Christmas Eve on a talk station that had adopted the format long before anyone else. The show aired from around 11 PM - 1 AM, which means it was on right as the clock hit midnight for the big holiday. 

We were live, we didn't want to play all Xmas music and we weren't even sure anyone would call in. 

What to do? This was in the days before cell phones with long distance included, when making a call overseas was pretty expensive. (Remember the rush to get to the phone to wish Aunt Gertrude in England a happy birthday because "it's costing us money for every minute!") So we decided we'd ask people to phone in and - at the station's expense - we would connect callers with their loved ones in any country in the world. 

The only caveat was that they had to agree to speak to their family in English. We didn't want a five minute chat in Tagalog or something like that, which listeners would not understand. I won't say we were flooded with calls, because it was Christmas Eve on a pretty obscure radio station, but some of the conversations between families who hadn't seen each other - often for years - were pretty emotional. 

It couldn't be done today because you can call almost anywhere for practically nothing now, but back then it was better than just filling those hours with the same endless songs everyone else was playing. And it was kind of fun to eavesdrop and hear how Uncle Stanislaus was doing in Lapland.

Easily Amused wrote:

Picking up on the theme that "long distance phone calls are expensive!", my father's sister had the practice of calling her mother upon returning to Ohio after visiting her parents in New York State. However, it was understood that grandma wouldn't pick up the phone for three rings, as that was the number that auntie would allow as code for "We're home in Ohio!" I think that aunt also had her first communion money saved as well. 🤔

The other scam we used to pull was calling collect for Uncle Ed, (there was no Uncle Ed) and then having the operator ask you, the caller, if you wanted to continue. The answer was inevitably no, but you knew that your family member had gotten home OK and all was fine. And it didn't cost you a dime. 

Can you still make collect calls anymore?

As of two years ago, to make a collect call, the recipient had to give a credit card number to the operator, wait for confirmation, then the call would go ahead. This was being done by a third party . In my case, a family member was calling me from a small town in Northern Ontario after their car broke down and asking me to help pay to repair it. The three calls he made cost me 30$ each call. In conclusion, I ended up driving to pick him up, the car wasn't worth fixing, and it went to a local scrap yard.