“Dial-a-hate” lines drew condemnation and stirred debate in the 1960s and 1970s, decades before social media.
Attracting fans from the far right and simply the curious, their messages condemned prominent politicians and federal programs, warned of gun control conspiracies, and even propagated racial hatred. Some messages warned that the Peace Corps is “an anti-American brainwashing operation” and condemned new curriculum standards as “a tragic plan to destroy the American intellect.” And even as they were denounced by Congress and editorial pages around the country, regulators and telecom companies said there was little they could do to silence the messages, since they were neither obscene nor defamatory to any particular person.