We had a teletype machine in the display room at COSL and whenever a Z-Gram started coming across the wire, everyone would rush over to the machine to read it. It was always great news for sailors! We had a lot of respect for Admiral Zumwalt.
The 2-2-2-80 provided the rewarding opportunity to EVERY watch section to do field day EVERY week!
Nick,
Your input sounds the most like an answer to the original question.
I would have thought, with former OPSOs and OPS LCPOs weighing in on the subject, that we would finally have the mystery solved for us. But, I guess like many other SOSUS oddities, it must have boiled down to the usual: that's how the Commodore likes it!
Getting called back in on a Mid-Eve swingback for a missed contact or misannotation generally helped to hone those analytical skills. Not saying that I was ever called back in by the direction of George.