 But by the mid-1990s, the pool of available exchange codes in area code 913 was being exhausted due to rapid population growth on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, particularly Overland Park and Johnson County, as well as the proliferation of cell phones and pagers.Late in 1996, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), which oversees telecommunications in the state, requested relief from the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) for the exchanges of area code 913, and on February 12, 1997, the NANPA responded by splitting most of northern Kansas from area code 913 into the new area code 785.From July 20, 1997 through October 2, 1998, customers affected by the new area code could use either 913 or 785 when dialing long-distance.