‘The Boss’ Snarls D.C. Phone Lines--Except for the Boss’s
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WASHINGTON — A flood of telephone calls about superstar Bruce Springsteen’s coming concert in the nation’s capital crippled service today across the city and in nearby Baltimore and Richmond.
Thousands of American Telephone & Telegraph Co. customers calling into and out of the three metropolitan areas received busy signals or recorded messages that all circuits were jammed, AT&T; spokesman Marty Szostek said.
Tickets for the Aug. 5 concert went on sale today.
The overloaded telephone system frustrated residential callers, as well as businesses and key government agencies.
“We couldn’t even get the outside operator,” a Treasury Department operator said.
Some problems were reported at the White House by staff members trying to put through calls on AT&T; lines, but presidential priority lines operated by the Army Signal Corps remained intact.
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