When I worked for United Press in Dallas in the 1950s, Western Union still had Morse operators skilled in the Phillips code (a sort of shorthand or brief code designed especially for press work, using the full range of Morse characters) who used keyes (straight or bugs) and sounders to send and receive. It was a delight to get them on temporary private line circuits from sporting events or other major news events because they understood the needs of press work and with their keys and sounders were faster in real world output than those circuits set up by W.U. with teletypewrtiers (and manual keyboard ones at that).
In 1945-46 I wrote the play-by-play for University of Oklahoma football games at Norman with a Morse operator by my side. I type each play on the typewriter and he sent it in real time looking over my shoulder as I typed it. Again a very skilled professional.
Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com
***** Moderator's Note *****One Phillips Code abbreviation continues in use to this day: "POTUS". It means "President Of The United States".
Bill Horne Temporary Moderator
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