Calling For Time: Whatever Happened to POP-CORN?

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Want to know what time it is? These days, it's as easy as looking at your phone. But before the digital age, Bay Area residents could dial POP-CORN or 767-2676 to hear a woman's recorded voice giving the time. Bay Curious unpacks the human history of this now obsolete telephone service. Additional Reading: You Used To Be Able to Call POP-CORN And Get the Time. What Happened To That? Reported by Christopher Beale. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Suzie Racho and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Erika Aguilar, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Paul Lancour, Carly Severn, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Don Clyde. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Okay, so here's a throwback memory some of you might be familiar with.
0:07.0	For decades there was a phone service in Northern California that would read you the time if you dialed up a number. It was called
0:15.1	popcorn or 767 2676 if you want to be boring about it. When you needed the exact time, you could dial up this number and an automated message would play.
0:31.0	At the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be.
0:35.0	Because we spent a lot of time calling popcorn.
0:38.0	I still remember her voice.
0:39.0	At the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be.
0:42.0	And if you were inside the BART Station, you could look up and you could see what time it was.
0:46.0	But once you were outside the BART station, you were oblivious to what time it was.
0:49.0	So then you just find a pay phone and you just dialed popcorn, and that's how you knew if your mom was
0:54.2	late or when the next bar train was coming. It was a handy service for a while but in
0:58.1	2007 popcorn went dark.
1:02.1	We're sorry.
1:04.0	You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in a
1:07.0	bit.
1:08.0	A curious listener named George wants to know why.
1:09.0	Today in the show, we're looking at the history and ultimate demise of popcorn. I'm
1:15.1	Olivia Alan Price you're listening to Bay Curious.
1:19.7	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family-owned, operated, and argued over.
1:30.0	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
1:36.3	Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.
	...

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