The Decline and Fall of the Reperforator
Thirty Years ago, a marvelous new electro-mechanical message switching system was being installed in Minneapolis and 15 other locations across the country. The system, called a reperforator system, was cut over in 1948 and eventually handled an average daily volume of about 100,000 messages.
Then, about four years ago, the InfoMaster computer was cut over to handle the domestic messages
and the daily volume dropped to about 7,000 messages and, later, to about 1,700 messages per day.
The Minneapolis reperforator was kept on to handle international traffic and was the last of
the reperforators in the country still in operation.
Computer technology continually progresses and InfoMaster finally acquired an international message switching system which has now put the last reperforator out of business. On December 11, 1976, at 3:30 AM, Central Standard Time, Late Night Traffic Chief DeEtte Sopczyk received the last message destined for processing on the Area reperforator and switched it to RCA. Very quietly and without fanfare, the era of the Company's reperforator operation had come to an end.
Now, after 29 years of operation and almost one billion telegrams, the retired system is being prepared for removal from the building to make way for a new tenant and other office changes. No longer will Minneapolis employees hear the chants of "tight tape", "cross office tieup" or "holding time" coming across the loudspeaker system, as they pass the second floor. The locale is quiet and resembles a ghost town full of dark switching turrets and idle 4930, 4812, 111 and 5106 racks.
Veterans of the era remain proud of the contributions they made to the reperforator operation, and on occasion, even suffer twinges of nostalgia.
Above photo caption: The End of an Era -- Late Night Traffic Chief DeEtte Sopczyk observes the last message to be switched on an Area reperforator being sent to RCA prior to shutdown. After 29 years of operation and almost one billion mesages, the system is being removed. Traffic formerly handled by the reperforator is now being handled directly by InfoMaster in Middletown, Virginia.
The Minneapolis office at 317 2nd Ave South.