On Hee Haw what was the significance of Junior Samples’ phone number, BR549?
On Hee Haw every week, they would have a short clip with Junior Samples as a used car salesman doing a television commercial. He would tell the viewers to call him at BR549. This brought on a lot of canned laughter. Was there any previous significance to this phone number? Was it funny because it was only a 5-digit phone number?
Years ago operators had to connect your calls through a switchboard. When you crank the handle the operator would ask what number you wanted. As towns got larger so did the switchboarsd and numbers. Many phone companies then divided towns into sections then the number. When I was a kid our first phone number was EV5482. EV was for Evergreen then 5482. My best friend was OR (Oak Ridge)398. Most of these number systems were used in rural areas and small towns. In ghem days you also had party lines with designated rings IE one long and two short. So BR549 would have been a rural town like Brentwood or Brown River or Brockton but you get the picture.
Br 549