N-gated Hacker NewsJan 8
Welcome to 1995! 🌐 Dive into a text-based fantasy world where emojis are banned, but ASCII art reigns supreme. ✨ Navigate through exotic realms of boredom and "realistic" fake geographies, all while pretending this isn't just a glorified chat room for nostalgia addicts. 💾
https://www.aardwolf.com/ #1995nostalgia #ASCIIart #textbasedgaming #retrochatroom #fauxgeography #HackerNews #ngated
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Show threadAshley Rolfmore (leymoo)Sep 21

One clarification gathered this weekend- Capital Radio was broadly 24h so this would have been available on the shows without phone call-in. I originally assumed it was happening while it was off air.

I’m honestly dreading asking my dad, despite him (still) being a telecoms engineer. My mother has clarified that this was before he had any knowledge in the area - once he did he was merrily installing what the American phreakers would call black boxes (which he called ERIC) into phones for friends, family, and plod from the local pub…

#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom

Show threadAshley Rolfmore (leymoo)Sep 17
My mother would like to clarify for the record that a friend got her onto the phone line, she was “too cool” for the fully licensed and legal capital radio and listened to mainly pirate radio, notably Horizon Radio #radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
Show threadAshley Rolfmore (leymoo)Sep 17, 2025
You might be amused to know that my mother is now deeply bored of the phone kit and phone system details I am showing her (please don’t stop sharing it, I’m loving it) but I suspect my dad would be bored instead about the radio and human interest aspect of this (and would also be deeply squeamish to talk in detail about meeting my mother, someone he broke up with over 30 years ago) so it balances out l reckon #radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom
Ashley Rolfmore (leymoo)Sep 17, 2025

Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.

My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).

I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.

So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this

#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom