Those first 15 years when the most of the HOLD was endured were in the 1970's and early 80's. Music on hold was not a typical feature, so "no" I didn't hear many good songs then. What I DID hear were dozens of other repairmen, also on hold, because the way the holding bridges were designed allowed a very faint signal to cross over from one line to the next. If you shouted into the test set, you might be able to get other guys to hear you, resulting is a very weird multi-person conversation.
I got to read many books when on hold. All the original James Bond, Travis McGee and Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin. Read Ulysses from front to back (talk about an amazing, yet mind-numbing book) and tried several times to read War & Peace, but could only get through the first chapter, about 8 times.
To get back to the subject of Spokesmen, most of us carried one, with a couple of 9-volt batteries taped to it, to be put across the pair when we were on hold. This allowed us to put the test set down on the floor while reading with the angle flashlight above the cross box terminal. When the tester came on the line, we would quickly grab the test set and get back to work. (Yes, we put caps in series with the R & G leads).
I saw many more Spokesmen in use by field employees (and on phone company bosses' desks) than I ever did on subscribers' premises. Same thing with 4A speakerphones.
