There used to be a pay phone in front of my old corner store, but every time you picked it up there was always some guy having a coversation on there. Whoever was talking couldn't hear you when you said anything to them, but it didn't really sound like a cross over. It sounded, almost, like talk radio? Is that possible? What might cause this to happen?

Cheers,
Lost

It's not a terribly uncommon thing. What you heard sounded like talk radio because it probably was talk radio. I forgot the exact reason why, but phones (I think all phones) are capable of picking up radio signals if the wires used aren't protected well enough.

Spiff's got it aright.

The wires in non-shielded payphones act exactly like the antenna on a radio, and the circuitry inside the phone, IE the audio amplification circuit, boosts the signal.

I always wanted to see if I pushed the little volume button if it would get louder.

Heh. The phone companies can afford to get James Earl Jones for their commercials, but they can't afford to put a few fucking diodes in their payphones. Now THAT'S amusing.