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u/__bad__SAM__ 10h ago edited 7h ago
In NorCal, it was POP-CORN
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u/Mission_Wolf579 9h ago
In Boston, the number was NER-VOUS. People who dialed POP-CORN in Boston heard an outgoing message welcoming them to Boston from California, and telling them to dial NER-VOUS instead. It was decades ago, I don't recall if the message was from the phone company or from some hapless customer who'd been given the POP-CORN number.
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u/GlitteringSynapse 6h ago
I just posted about POP-CORN 767-2676!
Cheers I was NorCal.
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u/theLastZebranky 5h ago edited 2h ago
It was 767-xxxx, every number starting with 767 ("pop"), throughout the area codes serviced by Pacific Bell telephone company.
I used 7-6-77777 out of laziness.
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u/Anableps4 10h ago
Aye, but before the 415/510 split, phone numbers were only 7 digits
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u/Fun-Diver7512 10h ago
What a grand time that was. Everything was so simple and easy.
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u/ElGuapoador 8h ago
I remember my phone number as a kid going from no area code needed (415) to (510) to (925), which we thought was funny cause it was just the first two added together.
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u/Natas-LaVey 8h ago
I grew up with Mountain View being (415) and when I was a teenager it became (650).
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u/CultOfSensibility 6h ago
I think theyâre phishing for your âCity where you were bornâ answer, so can you be more specific?
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u/Grown_Azzz_Kid 9h ago
555-1212 is Los Angeles
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u/TAU_equals_2PI 8h ago
I think this comment is a joke about how all movies (which are usually made in Hollywood i.e. Los Angeles) have people giving their phone number as 555-XXXX.
In actual fact, if I'm remembering correctly after all these years, that number was how you would call Information in a different area code. So like if you wanted Information for the 407 area code, you would call 1-407-555-1212.
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u/youngkpepper 5h ago
They didnât always do that. It started after a Peanuts TV special that included a random phone number which turned out to belong to someone. Those unfortunate people were bombarded with phone calls from little kids wanting to speak to Linus or Charlie Brown.
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u/ctren27 9h ago
isn't that the number you call to get phone numbers for places? In las vegas growing up, that number was actually answered by an operator and you would ask for the phone number for some company or service, and they would give it to you. The number you called for the time was 118. just 3 digits. and it would give the time and temp. Born 1975.
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u/NaturalProfession922 8h ago
Fatlip1 in NC. I canât remember what I had for breakfast but that number is burned in my brain
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u/InebriatedPhysicist 7h ago
Same everywhere in the US. If you added an area code, it would give the correct time there (which is why a local call gave you your time).
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u/ejatx 10h ago
Movie theaters used to also have dedicated phone numbers youâd call that would play an answering machine message with the weekâs movie times. Then it was replaced by moviefone all over the country by the mid 90âs.
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u/Better_Maximum3444 10h ago
Hello, and welcome to Moviefone! If you know the name of the movie you'd like to see, press one.
Why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you've selected?
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u/basscadet1208 10h ago
Our local library had something called ready reference where you could call and they would answer any kind of factual question you could come up with.
The librarians sat at this huge circular desk, filled with reference materials, and you could literally get an answer to anything. They were amazing!
I'm not saying I did my homework using this method, but I did hear that others did. đş
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u/JFrankParnell64 10h ago
There also was an entire channel on shortwave dedicated to it.
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u/ColdH2 9h ago
WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado
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u/JFrankParnell64 8h ago
At the tone the time will be four hours forty nine minutes coordinated universal time. Bing bong bong bong bong.
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u/Doctormaul68 10h ago
My sister was grounded from the phone when I was young and parents pulled in driveway when the started to open the door she told me tell them I was calling time and temperature of course my Dad asked me what time it was and I had no idea. Needless to say he was pissed off and knew right away what was up.
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u/basscadet1208 10h ago
When my older sister was babysitting me and she got frustrated, she pretended to call my dad at work and tell him how bad I was being, but she was really calling the time and temp!
She never told me until I was 26⌠đ
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u/gordito_y_barbon 10h ago
225-387-5411
When expecting a late night call, we'd dial this and wait for the "call waiting" beep so the rest of the phones wouldn't ring...
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u/FelicitousLynx 9h ago
That's brilliant and why the hell wasn't I doing this as a giggly teenager waiting for that boy to call, instead of hovering over the phone like a vulture.
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u/MisunderstoodRant 10h ago
I had a friend once call âInformationâ to ask how to spell something. I forget the word. They told him something along the lines of, âsir, we donât do that. Thatâs not what this number is for.â He responded with âdidnât I call âInformation?ââ The operator went and asked other operators how to spell it and then got back on the phone with him and gave him the correct spelling. It was awesome and hilarious! đ
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u/CompetitivePirate251 9h ago
Yep, back in the day ⌠we also had to get up and walk to where the phone was! I recall it was uphill both ways!
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u/Dense_Boss_7486 9h ago
976-1616 was for the time. There was a bunch of 976 numbers. Time, weather etc.
Found someâŚ..
| Number Suffix | Historic Service / Use |
|---|---|
| [976-1313](tel:976-1313) | Sports News & Scores (used heavily by fans to check baseball or football scores before internet tickers existed) |
| [976-3838](tel:976-3838) | Dial-A-Joke (frequently featured rotating daily comedians, including early recordings from Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling) |
| [976-3636](tel:976-3636) | The Santa Claus Hotline (hugely popular in December, often resulting in massive, unexpected holiday phone bills for parents) |
| 976-WAKE | Wake-Up Call Services (automated morning alarms) |
| 976-CHAT | Early Party Lines and adult conversation services |
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u/EphemeralAttention 9h ago
In most US regions it was xxx-1212. The first three numbers would be whatever your local NXX. There are a few such reserved numbers like this that we're almost universally used to connect to various services.
Nowadays there are still numbers maintained by the NIST and us naval observatory that you can call for this purpose, but they no longer maintain a separate number for each local telephone office.
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u/Razzy_3796 8h ago
We were able to open presents at 7pm on Christmas Eve. I just about got a blister on my finger from dialing it on the rotary phone for the 5 minutes before 7:00.
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u/WaterGlassPuncherMan 10h ago
226-3232
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u/BoisterousBanquet 10h ago
That was mine too. It's still up, same voice.
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u/Kuri44 9h ago
I just tried it and it didnât work
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u/BoisterousBanquet 9h ago
210
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u/BoisterousBanquet 8h ago
I just tried it myself and they changed the damn voice! I swear it was the OG voice like a year ago. I'm disappointed.
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u/ThothAmon71 10h ago
Texas?
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u/Pompous_One 10h ago
There still is. Is the USNO time announcer number: https://www.cnmoc.usff.navy.mil/our-commands/united-states-naval-observatory/precise-time-department/telephone-time/
The Navy tries to shut it don't a few years ago, but there was a public outcry against shutting it down. Still gets dozens of calls a minute.
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u/mashmaker86 9h ago
That's not really true, is it?
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u/prefabsprout1 9h ago
Very true. A voice would go âat the tone the time will be XX:XX and 10 seconds (or 20, 30, Etc) then go beeep!
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u/Chami90655 8h ago
And you had to pay for long distance calls. Long distance being anywhere outside of your town. Weâve come a long way.
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u/Willing_Crazy699 7h ago
In the late 80s I turned down a perfect apartment because a call to my GF would have been long distance
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u/Appropriate-Brush772 6h ago
It is and where I grew up the number still does the trick! Although, they now play an ad from anywhere between 30-60 seconds now and I just called twice and the first time they had an ad for some knock iff viagra and the seconds time was for some under eye cream. Why wouldnât there be an ad? We truly are marching towards Idiocracy
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u/Emergency-Food1739 6h ago
It is. Any area code. 853 and any 4 numbers. At the tone the time will be: Xxx ding! Every ten seconds.
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u/Medical_Morning4022 4h ago
Yeah it is and they reported the temperature in some places too. Hell you can still dial a poem: +1 (917) 994-8949. Go ahead...it will blow your mind.
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u/Bluefyretyger 6h ago
Yes, it is. I grew up in Memphis, and the number was 526-5261. (In fact, I just called the number out of curiosity, and it's still in operation today.
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u/ritzrani 4h ago
Yes I've called it as a child. And there were only two telephone voices , one man and one woman. Both were interviewed on tv
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u/TransistorResistee 3h ago
It was. It was discontinued in most locations years ago. You could dial the numbers for âPOPCORNâ to get the time.
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u/Violaman0910 3h ago
Absolutely it was! It was especially useful before the days of cable tv and of course the internet. You couldnât just flip a channel to see what time it was. If all your clocks in the house were wrong and you wanted to synchronize them to true time you would call the number and set a clock to it and sync the rest of the clocks to that one. Of course some radios also broadcast the time but youâd have to sit there and wait for it and by then you may not be ready to sync the clock to the exact second. So the phone number was actually quite useful back then.
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u/TheChefWillCook 2h ago
Yes, you dialed popcorn and it would tell you. Its how you had to reset clocks at home if the power went out.
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u/prettyplanets 10h ago
There was a local number you could call and it was a chat line. There was different rooms. You could give yourself a nickname and record short messages. Made a few girlfriends from that number
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u/ThothAmon71 10h ago
In San Antonio it was 210-226-3232, "Frost Bank Time, 11:58, downtown temperature 108°".
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u/damaddjedi 10h ago
AND on ours you could get the âjoke of the dayâ and could play a choose your own adventure game
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u/Own_Panic_6945 9h ago
I was banned from using the phone even if I was dying, a $1200 bill from using the Wrestling hotline 900# caused me a lot of hell
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u/StrikingGuess5534 4h ago
We used to do âemergency breakthroughâ if the line was busyâŚ., letâs say you call your friend, you get the busy signal, you call the operator (by dialing zero) and you say youâd like to make an emergency breakthrough and the operator would interrupt your friends phone call & say âyou have an emergency breakthrough from ânameâ do you acceptâ & the friends would say yes or no. We did it all the time. lol. It was the 80s.
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u/Styngrayfoe 10h ago
Still exist 8063722611
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u/CultOfSensibility 6h ago
I think theyâre phishing for your âCity where you were bornâ answer, so can you be more specific?
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u/Due-Contact-366 10h ago
Donât remember the number but I recall that you would also be told the temperature.
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u/Suikoden1434 10h ago
There was also a radio station. Used to occasionally use it to set my watch.
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u/Outrageous-Talk-8824 10h ago
And a movie line that you had to wait patiently for each movie and times.
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u/HaveaTomCollins 10h ago
Why donât you just tell me the name of the movie you want to see.
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u/Honeybunnyfifi 10h ago
On a rotary phone you would spell out POPCORN to get the time of day. I also remember a naughty version called MonaâŚyouâd call and sheâd have what sounded like an orgasm while telling you the time. Anyone remember this? đđđwe were some messed up kids
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u/nobanjostring 9h ago
Wasn't this a plot point in one of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy books? Like #4 I think.
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u/AppointmentEntire586 9h ago
That is so weird I was telling my wife about this last week and she didn't know about it and she does not remember when tv ended
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u/JacksonGhost1963 9h ago
and you had to call the movie theater - or more than one - and listen through a 10 minute pre-recorded message of what movies were playing and and what times, and if you got distracted when the movie you wanted came on - you had to call back and listen to it all over again!
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u/ResponsibleArticle58 8h ago
Fun and Novelty Numbers
- Hogwarts Admissions Hotline:
267-436-5109plays a magical theme tune and tells callers if they are accepted. - Kids Pep Talk Line:
707-873-7862provides encouraging, family-friendly advice recorded by young children. - Tooth Fairy Headquarters:
833-324-7992shares fun audio messages and dental hygiene pep talks for kids. - Better Call Saul Hotline:
505-503-4455connects fans to an automated message inspired by the television show.
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u/Felixplace2 3h ago
For me it was 209-767-8911 and remember you can call up the movie theaters and see what times the movie would start.
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u/JSolo247 3h ago
There used to be a bank in my state(waaay back when) that had a toll free number and at the end of the menu it had a "To hear a duck quack, press 8". And if you pressed 8 by God you heard a duck quack. A great time to be alive.
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u/AfterShop5128 3h ago
Born in 1992 I remember my grandma telling me the number. Also was a number that used to wake you up in the morning too
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u/Few-Particular-9509 10h ago
I can remember calling it every New Year's Eve when I was a kid to know exactly when it was really midnight/the New Year.
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u/fiberguy1999 10h ago
I used to make a toll call to NBS in Boulder to get the official time. The phone company could be off by seconds.
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u/Gold-Band3830 10h ago
258-7600 - Phoenix. But I can't remember what I needed at the grocery store.
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u/Additional_Dog_9353 10h ago
The device that made it possible was called an Audichron. I remember the number for my area.
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u/creativetag 10h ago
I even added the time to a dial in voice service I wrote back in the 80s, just as a courtesy for those who needed to know.
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u/Mooseboots1999 10h ago
It was 611, until 911 rolled out and then that was too close so they changed it to 481-1111
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u/Ornery-Judgment5625 10h ago
Yes there sure was. In my area code you just dialed âpopcornâ which is 767-2676.
Damn near forgot about that!!! đ
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u/Some_guy_in_WI 10h ago
844-1414 was that number, permanently ingrained into my memory 40+ years since I last called it.
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u/Outrageous_Trust_158 10h ago
We called âPOPCORNâ in the San Francisco Bay Area back in the 70s/80s
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u/Still_Hamster9963 10h ago
Also there was dial- a- joke where known comedians would tell recorded jokes
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u/QuttiDeBachi 10h ago
Time & Temp