I think the fact that they wrote that into the script is an indication of what the writers thought was the norm at the time.
Of course, different model pagers work differently. Most will go off once and then periodically beep to remind you that you've been paged. That's how my dad's pager works. Different systems work differently, too. Maybe there were a few systems at the time which repeatedly paged.
I think the norm was to be paged once, and then to trust the beeper to do the rest. I've never had to do it any other way, though (and neither has Dad's answering service), so I can't say for sure.
Paul
