{"id":34893,"date":"2009-05-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/"},"modified":"2022-10-07T05:44:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T12:44:06","slug":"switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/3041558507_c069f27b75_m.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-431\" title=\"3041558507_c069f27b75_m\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/3041558507_c069f27b75_m.jpg\" alt=\"3041558507_c069f27b75_m\" width=\"196\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a>Long before the advent of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/features\/virtual-pbx\/overview.html?pid=BLOGNEW\">virtual PBX<\/a>, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These switchboards &#8211; also known as cord boards, due to the way in which cords were used to connect calls &#8211; were the source of quite a bit of comedy back in the day. The very first switchboards in large cities were floor-to-ceiling affairs where young boys would scramble up and down to connect calls. Later, more-compact switchboards were typically operated by women. It&#8217;s these setups that gave us much of the switchboard comedy of the past.<\/p>\n<p>Lily Tomlin&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o\">One Ringy-dingy<\/a>&#8221;\u00a0served as a sort of bookend piece, the skit chopped up and placed between other skits. The black comedy about the &#8220;omneepotent&#8221; (&#8220;That&#8217;s &#8216;potent&#8217; with an &#8216;omni&#8217; in front of it.&#8221;) Ma Bell certainly makes a strong argument for the eventual breakup of the telephone monopoly.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o<\/p>\n<p>Carol Burnett gave a memorable rendition of the gossipy switchboard operator, but the queen of the cord boards has to be Rosalind Russel in the 1958 film &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uLBohfck_Fo\">Auntie Mame<\/a>.&#8221; Russel&#8217;s operator dealt comically with\u00a0chaos and tangled wires &#8211; and she \u00a0left the viewer with choice quotes like &#8220;\u2026there&#8217;s no such place as San Francisco\u2026&#8221;. Clearly, managing a switchboard was not for neophytes, and the fact that most calls were routed swiftly and correctly says a lot about the competence of those who operated them.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=uLBohfck_Fo<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t long before such operators were almost entirely replaced by the automated PBX. That automation has since gone digital, with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/features\/auto-attendant\/overview.html?pid=BLOGNEW\">auto attendant<\/a>\u00a0services and virtual PBXs that may be adjusted over the web. Today, making a call from San Francisco to &#8220;Mr. Blibliblibli&#8221; happens without tangled cords or comical mishaps.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/teresa-stanton\/\">&#8220;T&#8221; altered art<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These switchboards &#8211; also known as cord boards, due to the way in which cords were used to connect calls &#8211; were the source of quite a bit &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18390],"tags":[182,110,183,184,137],"class_list":["post-34893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-and-collaboration","tag-auto-attendant","tag-business-phone","tag-pbx","tag-switchboard","tag-virtual-pbx"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.3 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business | RingCentral Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RingCentral Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/web_home_HOME_def.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"RingCentral Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358\"},\"headline\":\"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Auto Attendant\",\"business phone\",\"PBX\",\"switchboard\",\"Virtual PBX\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication &amp; collaboration\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\",\"name\":\"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business | RingCentral Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"RingCentral Blog\",\"description\":\"Intelligent Communications\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"RingCentral\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":309,\"caption\":\"RingCentral\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ringcentral\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ringcentral\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ringcentral\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358\",\"name\":\"RingCentral Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"RingCentral Team\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\"],\"url\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business | RingCentral Blog","description":"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business","og_description":"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/","og_site_name":"RingCentral Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral","article_published_time":"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/web_home_HOME_def.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"RingCentral Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ringcentral","twitter_site":"@ringcentral","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RingCentral Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/"},"author":{"name":"RingCentral Team","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358"},"headline":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business","datePublished":"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/"},"wordCount":321,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Auto Attendant","business phone","PBX","switchboard","Virtual PBX"],"articleSection":["Communication &amp; collaboration"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/","name":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business | RingCentral Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-06T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-07T12:44:06+00:00","description":"Long before the advent of the virtual PBX, call routing was handled by a manual process in which physical lines would need to be connected by hand. These","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral Blog","description":"Intelligent Communications","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization","name":"RingCentral","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png","contentUrl":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png","width":2048,"height":309,"caption":"RingCentral"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral","https:\/\/x.com\/ringcentral","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ringcentral\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ringcentral"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358","name":"RingCentral Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"RingCentral Team"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com"],"url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/"}]}},"rc_img_url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ringcentral\/assets\/images\/imgSample.jpg","rcblog_by_author":"<a href=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/amp\" data-dl-events-click=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"link\"><span class=\"image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\" alt=\"\" width=\"30\" height=\"30\" layout=\"fixed\"><\/img><\/span><span class=\"by-author-name\">RingCentral Team<\/span><\/a>","rc_author_full_name":"RingCentral Team","rc_author_avatar":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/ringcentral-logo-new.png","rc_author_link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/amp","rc_post_categories":"<a href=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/category\/trending\/communication-and-collaboration\/amp\">Communication &amp; collaboration<\/a>","amp_link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/switchboard-comedy-and-switchboard-business\/amp","excerpt_title":"Switchboard Comedy and Switchboard Business","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}