BBS story · SWF3
The SWF3 archive
Empire BBS ran its own SWF3 area. An archive with its own menu, its own file areas and its own network. It all started at the radio.
In its final months the mailbox was fully SWF3-branded. Empire BBS ran as an official SWF3 base for Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Its mascot: the moose, here with a cap. This welcome screen was the last one the mailbox ever showed.
____/\/\ /\__/\
/ _ _/ // / __/ Hoellentrip bei Feinkost-Zipp
\// // _ / __/
/ // // /_ / SWF3-Hitline
\/ \/ \/ \/ Die Elmi-Show
________ _________ ____ _________ ________
\ ___\ /\ /\ \ __ \ \ \ \ __ \ \ ___\
/ /___ / \/ \ / /_/ / / / / /_/ / / /___
/ ____/ / \ / _____/ / / / _/ / ____/
/ /____ / /\/\ \_ / / / / / /\ \_ / /____
\_______/ \___\ \___/ \___\ \___\ \___\ \___/ \_______/
_________
_/ \_ B B S
E _/ ------- \_ Moggaeenn!
L / \\__ ----- __// \ SWF3-Der Club _
C | \__\ /__/ | _ ( ) _ SWF3-ZIPP
H |.. _\\ //_ .| /( )| |( ) _
M \: //\\\ ///\\ :/ __________/_| || || |( )_____________
U | (|_// | \\_|) | / \_/| || || | /
E ( / \ ) / \_/\_/\_/ /
T ||)_________(|| / /
Z || IIIIIIIII || / SWF-3 Stuetzpunkt-BBS /
E \\_IIIIIII_// / fuer die Schweiz und das /
\ ::::::: / / Fuerstentum Liechtenstein /
( . ) / /
\/|___|\/ -------------------------------------
\|___|/ GAST-ACCOUT: Name: GUEST, Passwort: EMPIREThe listener with the ISDN edge
During the mailbox years I listened to SWF3. The station that later became SWR3. Now and then the shows had something to win. Sometimes a cap, sometimes an SWF3 moose. A random generator picked the callers. Whoever was on the line at the right moment had won.
That is where my ISDN line came in. ISDN set up the connection almost instantly. Analog lines were still dialing and waiting for the tone. I could redial every second. And ISDN had two channels, so I called on both at once. That put me on the line often enough at exactly the moment the generator struck. Prizes came in accordingly. At some point the people at SWF3 already knew my name.
From listener to archive
That closeness turned into something more. Empire BBS gained its own SWF3 area, “Das Archiv” (The Archive), with its own menu. Anyone turning there from the main menu ended up here:
SSSSSS W W FFFFFFF 333333
S W W F 3
SSSSS W W W FFFFF 333333
S W W W W F 3
SSSSSS W W F 333333
Das Archiv
-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-SWF3-
-*- SWF3-Der Text -F- SWF3-Das File -M- SWF3-Das Netz
-*- Infos ueber SWF3-Der Club -*- SWF3-Hotline
-G- SWF3-Radio Yesterhits -Q- HauptmenuThe areas
Behind the menu sat well-kept file areas around the station: autographs of the SWF3 presenters, lyrics, pictures, sounds and samples (Waves), animations, comics, texts, and info about the shows' guests. Plus an area for the contests and the "Radio Yesterhits". Everything a fan collected back then, in one place.
The SWF3-Net
Later it grew into its own network, the SWF3-Net, with a range of boards: a general “SWF3”, one for music requests ("write your requests to SWF3"), one for the solutions to the contests, a pinboard for chatter, plus info and announcements of new files. Through a Fido board, SWF3.GER, the whole thing was also tied into the rest of the scene.
The listener with the fast line had become a fixed SWF3 outpost. On an Amiga mailbox in Liechtenstein.