“Welcome to Callin’ Oates: Your Emergency Hall and Oates Hotline”… An unusual combination of low-tech and hi-tech has landed a young programmer a viral hit, only three weeks after he started his job. After some online endorsements the Callin’ Oates phone number is racking up thousands of hits, with well over 60-thousand people calling to hear some Hall & Oates tunes.

Programmer Michael Selvidge told The Atlantic Wire all new employees at Twilio are tasked to build an application and present it to the company. If it works, you win a red track jacket and respect of your new peers..Asked if it was like an initiation project and he said, “That’s a pretty good word for it.”

One of the ways Selvidge promoted Callin’ Oates was tweeting from @CallinOates to members listed as listening to something else asking them something like “@NewzGuy why listen to @GreenDay when you could call me and listen To Hall & Oates? 1-719-26-OATES”. The calls really started rolling in after a tweet was re-tweeted by Jenna Wortham, the N.Y.Times technology journalist with nearly half a million Twitter followers.

Selviidge says “I’m not trying to make fun of Hall and Oates… I do sort of recognize the cheesy factor but I actually do appreciate their music and I do actually listen to it and they are one one of my favorite bands. It’s definitely an affectionate thing.”.

As @CallinOates tweets, “For when you just want to listen to some sweet H&O, dial 1-719-26-OATES. That’s 1-719-266-2837. Free”  Well, that’s free if you have unlimited long distance, so be aware long distance charges may apply.  Also check out Callin Oates online here.

And here’s video of some Hall & Oates favorites: