The Telephone: Beep Line

One evening last year Joseph Jaarus, 19, of Grand Rapids dialed local radio station WLAV to ask that Disk Jockey Tom Quain play his favorite number, I Need You. As usual, the line was busy. But just as he was about to hang up, Joseph thought he heard a babble of voices through the beeps of the busy signal. "Hello?" he ventured, curiously. "HELLO!" shouted some of the voices. Joseph Jaarus had made contact with the beep line.

Greatest Since Kissing. The beep line comes and goes among teen-agers all over the U.S.—a kind...