Dialing POP-CORN

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For decades there was a phone service in Northern California that would read you the time and date if you dialed POP-CORN, the letters that represented 767-2676. That service went dark back in 2007, and Bay Curious listener George wants to know why. In this nostalgic episode, we take a romp through the innovative technlology that powered time-and-date services, and meet the beloved voice behind POP-CORN, Joanne Daniels. Additional Reading: Read the transcript for this episode You Used to Be Able to Call POP-CORN and Get the Time. What Happened to That? Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Reported by Christopher Beale. This episode was made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Suzie Racho, Christopher Beale and Katie McMurran. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldana, Maha Sanad, Holly Kernan, and the entire KQED Family.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Okay, so here is a throwback memory that some of you may be familiar with.
0:08.0	For decades, there was a phone service in Northern California that would read you the time if you dialed up a number.
0:16.3	It was called Popcorn or 76726 if you want to be boring about it.
0:25.0	When you needed the exact time you could dial up this number and an automated message would play.
0:33.0	At the tone, Pacific Day Lifetime will be.
0:35.0	12.
0:36.0	Because we spent a lot of time calling popcorn.
0:39.0	I still remember her voice.
0:40.0	At the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be.
0:43.0	And if you were inside the BART station, you could look up and you could see what time it was.
0:46.7	But once you were outside the BART station, you were oblivious to what time it was.
0:50.0	So then you just find a pay phone and you just dialed popcorn and that's how you knew if your mom was late or when the next bar train was coming.
0:56.5	It was a handy service for a while, but in 2007, popcorn went dark.
1:01.8	We're sorry.
1:04.3	You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer.
1:06.8	A B curious listener named George wants to know why.
1:10.5	Today we're looking at the history and ultimate demise of popcorn.
1:15.0	This episode first ran on Bicurious in 2021 and is one of our team's all-time favorite episodes.
1:22.0	Stay tuned. I'm Olivia Allen Price.
1:27.0	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.
1:37.0	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
	...

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