Countywide : ‘TalkLine’ Phone Service Trial May Be Extended

A phone service that allows up to 15 people to talk to each other at the same time--dubbed by one telephone company spokesman as “an electronic singles bar”--may become a permanent fixture in Anaheim, Fullerton and Garden Grove.

Pacific Bell has requested the Public Utilities Commission to extend its “TalkLine” experiment for six months beyond the original June 1 cutoff date. The telephone company hopes to make TalkLine--which has been logging up to 2,000 calls per week--a permanent service for north county residents in 1986 and may expand it to other parts of Orange County, said spokesman Michael Runzler.

The service is especially popular with teen-agers, who have three numbers reserved for them, while adults have two lines they can call. In similar fashion to CB radio users, TalkLine callers often use “handles,” or code names, with the primary purpose of meeting other people.

Valesta Hawkins and Daniel Karnes said spending $400 in two months of TalkLine calls was worth it--they plan to marry in November. The service is 20 cents for the first minute and 12 cents for each additional minute during the daytime and 8 cents after 11 p.m., Runzler said.

“It provides a social outlet,” Runzler said. “Some people wonder ‘Why would I want to do that?’ But after you call it, it’s kind of fun.”

Runzler conceded there can be some confusion with 15 people on the same line, but usually it works out, he said, because not everyone--especially newcomers--plunges into the gossip-mill, dating-outlet or “whatever you want it to be” service.

Runzler would not say how much revenue TalkLine has brought to the company.

Although 173,000 people in Anaheim, Fullerton and Garden Grove are the only Southern California residents who have access to the service, other parts of the state and country have similar telephone lines, Runzler said. In other countries, such as Sweden, France and England, it also has proven successful, he said. In Brazil, Runzler said, about 12 million to 15 million callers a month dial such a service.