Collect Call From Like Whatever

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Two best friends.
We're talking the past, frommistakes to arcades.
We're having a blast.
Teenage dreams, neon screens,it was all rad and no one knew
me Like you know.
It's like whatever.
Together forever, we're nevergonna sever Laughing and sharing
our stories.
Clever, we'll take you back.

(00:25):
It's like whatever.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to Like Whatever a podcast for.
By and about Gen X.
I'm Nicole and this is my BFF,heather.
Hello, so how was your week?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh, my week was not good.
So normally we record onTuesday, correct, but this week
has been crazy.
We live in Delaware where weget snow maybe two inches a year
, like total all year.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
I think like 09 was the snowpocalypse like that was
a lot and that was like a footand a half of snow for like the
whole year.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, so we just got a foot of snow, yes, and it has
been just brutal.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Our little state's not prepared for this, not even
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
And um, so yeah, it's been.
It's been a week.
Um, as know, I work for thepost office and I don't know if
you know the motto of the postoffice, but I have been working
all week in a foot of snow.
Fun fact, mail trucks arehorrible in the snow.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yes, they don't even look like they'd be good.
They're not.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
And there is a we don't have.
We have chains, but not enoughfor all the routes.
Yeah because, again, it doesn'tsnow here very often so we
wouldn't need chains.
So it's been a harrowing threeor four days.
So that is.
We are recording on Thursdayand this goes up in, you know,

(02:02):
just a few hours from now.
But Heather's going to crush it, I'm going to crush it and on
the opposite end of the postaljob.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I work for the state, so Monday I had off because, it
snowed Tuesday.
I had a two-hour delay becauseit snowed.
Yeah, yeah, and I might get adelay tomorrow because now the
winds are really high.
Yes, and they are recovering.
All delay tomorrow because nowthe winds are really high.
Yes, and they are recoveringall the roads.
Yes, schools are alreadystarting to delay for tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
I can tell you, on my journey up here it was bad.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I'm hoping for another snow day tomorrow.
You're probably going to getone.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
I am not A because of course we're closed today for
the funeral of Jimmy Carter.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Correct Rest, of course we're closed today for
the funeral of Jimmy Carter.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Rest in peace.
Yes, if you would like to hearmore about Jimmy Carter our take
on Jimmy Carter you shouldlisten to the last episode we
did.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
But yeah, so I am technically off today, but due
to circumstances I was not ableto get up here until five
o'clock, so we're gonna recordshe's going to drive like an
hour and a half, maybe two hours, because the weather's bad and
the roads are bad, and thenshe's going to edit and have

(03:16):
this up by midnight yes, we'llsee so if you're tuning into
this, please be all in whileyou're listening, because you
better like share rate reviewthumbs it up, whatever.
Heather put a lot and she'srunning on very little.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I did sleep until nine this morning, so I'm not
going to.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
But I am tromping through a foot of snow.
This week this has been brutaland you know you go on Facebook
to all these little neighborhoodgroups and of course they're
all bitching about oh, we didn'tget mail this week.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Come on, guys.
Well, and for the most partpeople are like chillax, like
what is so important in yourdamn mail that you need it?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
It's not like the olden days anymore, and of
course I we have been working.
Shut your bitch ass mouth up,calm down.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Exactly.
Anyway, that's enough bitchingfrom me about my week, and it's
not going to get any betterbecause it's supposed to snow
again Saturday.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
So, yeah, yeah, I heard Good times.
So Flavor Flav, our buddyFlavor Flav, trying to save
Sesame Street Now he saved theOlympics, he did, yeah, yeah,
the water polo team, right, yeah, yes, and now he's going to

(04:34):
save Sesame Street.
Good for him, I love it.
You know what a 180 he's done?
Yeah, I think.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, he seems to have it together.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, who knew we would be saying that Flava,
flava had it together.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
I mean who knew he'd still be alive?
That's true.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
You are not wrong.
Oh man, I was going to tell yousomething else too, but I don't
remember what it was.
I was so ready to tell you whenI got that damn car.
I guess it wasn't thatimportant, so anyway, yeah, that
was a week.
I don't think anything else isgoing on.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, I don't have much to share.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
She's just been snowed in hanging out.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
I made the obligatory crockpot soup on the snow day
man soup.
It was taco soup, it was good.
Yeah, I was going to, it wasgood.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, I was going to make baked potato soup today,
but I didn't know what time Iwas going to be leaving.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, my daughter made baked potato soup on the
snow day.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, yeah, I love baked potato soup, yeah, so
that's that About that.
So what is our topic today?
Let's see, it's my week, so Iknow what the topic is.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Let's fuck around and find out about the telephone.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
I got my information from androidauthoritycom,
practicallynetworkcom andsmithsoniancom.
I didn't write that down inthere.
Did you see my note above that?
I did, I did smithsoniancom.
I didn't write that down inthere.
Did you see my note above that?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
you didn't, I did, I did.
I see it now I wrote note tonicole because I bet she isn't
actually reading this andactually right before we went on
, I said you need to send me thescript.
She's like.
I did like saturday.
I was like, oh my bad, yeah, soyeah, yeah, I definitely did
not read it.
She did not, so she does notknow.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
She's like just got it like five minutes ago.
Does not know what we'retalking about today.
So I am going to just give abrief little history, mostly
because I'm a nerd and I find itfascinating about the telephone
.
I mean I'm not going to be liketechnical because again I
didn't understand the sciencebehind telephones.

(06:47):
But you know, oh, I know what Iwanted to tell you.
Okay, before we get into that,yeah, because that's how my
brain works today.
So on my way here, I waslistening to my podcast and they
were talking about a survivorstory of the Titanic.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yes, see how important it is.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
And I forget that other people are not obsessed
with the titanic, like I am.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
So she was explaining it and they were going back and
forth and their information waswrong and they were like, oh, I
did not.
Oh, that happened.
Well, maybe that was the movie,was you know?
It did say that in the movieand I'm like oh, I feel like
pain for you, yeah it was.

(07:31):
I mean, they got it.
Mostly they were surprised by alot of things that I don't
understand how you could besurprised by, because you know
it's over 100 years now thatthat happened and I don't know.
I just I forget that people arenot obsessed with the Titanic.
Me and James Cameron seem to bethe only ones.
All right, so Titanic, yep Lookit up.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's a cool story.
I'm so proud of you forremembering.
Well, it literally justhappened 45 minutes ago.
That doesn't mean anything.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
No, it doesn't.
I did too many drugs.
So, yeah, I'm gonna just do alittle bit of the background on
telephone and then we'll bringit back around to the telephone
phone that we had you know, it'sfunny now, because this phone I
don't.
If it rings, I'm like, yeah,okay yeah, exactly, even if it's

(08:25):
somebody I know, I sit thereand I look for a second, like
you couldn't have texted maybeI'll see if they leave a
voicemail today I had because wewere gonna um, we were gonna
record virtually um just becauseof the snow issues, but um,
again technical difficulty onheather's part.
Um, I couldn't get it to workso I had to actually call her

(08:48):
while we were online together onthe little room because I
couldn't hear her.
So I had to call her and Ican't believe she answered,
because I'm pretty sure that'sthe first phone call we've had
in about 10 years yeah, and itwould have been a tragedy the
last time that we spoke.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
I think that's the only time we call each other is
when something really traumatichas happened, something horrible
happens, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Also fun fact, we have never had a hug.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah, no, and we won't.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
No, we refuse, we do.
It's a thing now.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
It is, oh it would be so weird.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Plus, when we hug, one of us is dying.
Yeah, oh, all right, let's moveon.
Probably be me.
You better be me.
So telephone Credit for theinvention of the electric
telephone is frequently disputed.
Did you know that it wasfrequently disputed?

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I did know that.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
I did not.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I watch a lot of documentaries.
Oh, on that.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, yeah, I watch a lot of documentaries.
Oh, on that, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Nerd in that way, yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
So as with other influential inventions such as
radio, television and the lightbulb, the computer, several
inventors pioneered experimentalwork on voice transmissions
over a wire and improved on eachother's ideas.
New controversies of the issuestill arise from time to time.
Charles Bersow, antonio Meucci,joanne Philip Reyes and

(10:14):
Alexander Graham Bell and AliciaGray are among the ones
credited with the invention ofthe telephone, but of course
Alexander Graham Bell got the USpatent in 1876.
The earliest use of the wordfor communication system was the
telephone created by GodfreyHuth in 1796.
Huth proposed an alternative tothe optical telegraph of Claude

(10:38):
Schapp, in which the operatorsin the signaling towers would
shout to each other by means ofwhat is called speaking tubes,
but we would call themmegaphones these days, when
speaking tubes I like that.
A communication device forsailing vessels called telephone
was invented by Captain JohnTaylor in 1844.

(11:02):
The instrument used for fourair horns to communicate with
vessels in foggy weather.
The term telephone was adoptedinto the vocabulary of many
languages.
It's derived from the Greektele, far and phone voice, which

(11:22):
means distant voice.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I'm going to start calling it the distant voice.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
I'm going to say where is my distant voice?
I've lost it again, goddamndistant voice, then you sound
like a crazy person.
The first telephones weredirectly connected to each other
from one customer's office orresidence to another customer's
location.
Being impractical beyond just afew customers, these systems
were quickly replaced bymanually operated, centrally

(11:48):
located switchboards.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
That's so funny.
I'm imagining like the red solocup with the string from
bedroom to bedroom.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
That's the OG.
That's how they started.
And then, like these centrallocated was you know, in all the
old movies, with the ladiesthat are like moving my grandma
did that.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Oh well, that's my dad's mom.
She was a switchboard operator.
That's so cool, and I can stillremember making phone calls to
switchboard operators.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
I do not.
I do remember like having tocall the operator to get a phone
number.
Yeah, but I remember calling theoperator and they'd put in the
number and connect you.
I never did that, but I didn'thave.
I didn't really talk on thephone that much.
So oh yeah, yeah, I'm not a nota fan, so I yeah.

(12:36):
Before the advent of operatordistance dialing and customer
direct calling, a switchboardoperation operator would work
with their counterparts indistant central offices to
complete long-distance calls.
Switchboard operators aretypically required to have very
strong communication skills.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah, you'd have to be very organized to do that job
A hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
First of all because, like, where would you stick the
little thing yeah?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
yeah, that's just one of those things that has to
become automatic, I would think.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Mm-hmm, before the advent of automatic exchange and
operator's assistance, whichrequired for anything other than
calling telephones across ashared party line.
My mom talks about shared partylines all the time.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
I remember party lines.
I think I was a little tooyoung maybe for those, but I do
remember.
I remember a lot too youngmaybe for those, but I do
remember.
I remember a lot.
But I'm going to let you go soI don't interrupt you.
Oh, no, no.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
If you read my note, you would see that I said please
do.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well, I remember things like now I'm going to
brain freeze oh, party lines arewhat we were talking about.
And then shoot it's gone.
All all right, go ahead andtalk.
It'll come back.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, it's because I don't have my wine this week oh,
that's right, it's dry januaryI am not participating in dry
january mostly because Iparticipate in dry every other
month.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, so whatever, so shared probably.
Carers spoke to an operator ata central office, who then
connected a cord to the propercircuit in order to complete the
call.
Being in complete control ofthe call, the operator was in a
position to listen to privateconversations.
Before the 60s, the telephoneexchange, with telephone

(14:21):
switchboards and operators,played a crucial role in
connecting phone calls.
Wow, switchboards and operatorswere an integral part of the

(14:46):
telecommunications system untilthe introduction of electronic
switching systems in themid-20th century.
Automatic or dial systems weredeveloped in the 20s to reduce
labor costs as usage increasedand to ensure privacy to the
customer.
Emma Nutt became the firstfemale telephone operator on the
1st of September 1878, when shestarted working for the Boston

(15:09):
Telephone Dispatch Company,because the attitude and
behavior of the teenage boyspreviously employed as operators
was unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's funny how that sentence ended, because when you
started that sentence I wasthinking I can't believe they
let a woman in 1878 be the firstperson to do that.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Well, they weren't.
They had kids doing it, youngmen, and they cussed Duh yeah,
and it was.
So they were like, yeah, that'snot really working out.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
That's where the OG prank phone calls probably came
from, yes, from them.
Oh, I do remember what I wasgoing to say.
I remembered earlier, though.
I remember when you used tohave to call to get the weather.
Yes, do you remember?
that I do Yep, there was a.
I want to say it was like athree-digit number or something
that you called and they wouldtell you the weather forecast

(15:57):
for the day.
And you would also have to callto find out the time, the time
Sometimes.
Because you have to call tofind out the time, the time
Sometimes, because if you hadelectric only had electric
clocks, and the power went out,you didn't know what time it was
.
You didn't have any way to knowwhat time it was.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
You did not, unless you had a watch.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, that is true, but I've called for the time and
a lot of times you just call.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
I know also that I used to call the time or the
weather if the phone wasn'tworking.
The phone wasn't work because Iknow, um, so where I live, the
telephone lines would get saltyright and so a lot of times, and
the power lines too, um, theywould go out because they were,
they were loaded with salt anduh.
So you didn't know if the phonewas working or not, so you
would have to call, but youdidn't want to like try and make

(16:39):
a call.
So call the weather andtelehealth.
Do you remember telehealth?
Um, I called telehealth all thetime and it would give you a
record, like you can what was itlike telephone web md yeah you
would call.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
I don't remember that one.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, you could call and like.
It would give you a list oflike ailments and you can learn
all about the ailment.
I spent hours doing that Again,because I'm a nerd.
Yep.
Back to Emma.
Okay, she was hired byAlexander Graham Bell and
reportedly could remember everynumber in the telephone
directory of the New EnglandTelephone Company.

(17:19):
Wow, yeah, but there wasprobably like 10.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right, True, I mean, I used to be really good at
phone numbers too.
Me too.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
I still know my.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
we had the same phone number my whole growing up, so
we had once we moved to theplace I moved to in middle
school I think it was middleschool we stayed there.
So, that was the same phonenumber.
I remember that one, so thatwas the same phone number I
remember that one.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
We had the same phone number from 1979 until my
parents moved out of thatexchange, so it was 539.
It was 539 number and so I grewup at the beach and there was
one phone number that said thatyou were at the beach.
But the exchange you rememberthe first three.

(18:04):
Three numbers would say whereyou were from.
So whenever anybody would saytheir phone number, you knew
exactly where they were from.
Yes, by the first three digits.
Yep, so we had a 539 and then,after start, more people started
getting phones.
Then they went with 537.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
So if you had a 539 number, yeah, I grew up in
milford where it's 422 and Imean what, when I think I wasn't
even living in milford anymorewhen this happened?
But they went to 424 as welland I was upset, yeah, like
that's not milford's number whenI moved out on my own because I
moved to rehoboth first andthen a 227 if you're.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
If you care, that's an old school number too.
And then I moved back into the539 area and they tried to give
me a 537 number and I was likeno, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
I want a 539.
So I did end up getting a 539.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
And then it was 537 and then they went like 541.
I know.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Like Dover, was the only one that I remember always
having two.
It was 6-7-8 and 6-9-7.
Or 6-7-4.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Georgetown was 8-5-6.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, yep, yep, I remember that.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Millsboro is 7-3-2.
Tagsboro is 9-3-4.
Sad that I remember all thatdon't ask me what five times
anything is no or what I had forbreakfast or what I was
listening to 45 minutes ago, orwhere I am in this, in this,
yeah, um so, but emma back toemma, yes, she can remember all

(19:45):
the numbers.
We're never gonna get past it no, I could remember all the
numbers.
More women began to replace menwithin the sector of the
workforce for several reasons.
This is the part that's gonnamake you angry.
The companies observed thatwomen were generally more
courteous to callers and women'slabor was cheaper in comparison
to men.
Yeah, specifically meant womenwere paid from one half to one

(20:09):
quarter of a man's salary.
In the united states, anyswitchboard operator employed by
any independently owned publictelephone company with no more
than 750 stations were excludedfrom the equal pay act of 1963.
Harriet daly became the firsttelephone switchboard operator
at the United States Capitol in1898.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
The funny thing is, we still have that huge gap
there, that's odd, so crazy.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
I think we're going to make America great again.
I think we're going to makeAmerica great again.
Julia O'Connor, a formertelephone operator, led the
telephone operator strike of1919.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Oh dang, they hadn't even been in business that long.
Nope the telephone operator.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Strike of 1923 against New England Telephone
Company on behalf of the IBEWTelephone Operators Department
for Better Wages and WorkingConditions.
Wew Telephone OperatorsDepartment for better wages and
working conditions In the 1919strike.
After five days, postmasterGeneral Burleson agreed to
negotiate an agreement betweenthe union and the telephone
company, resulting in anincrease in pay for the

(21:16):
operators and recognition of theright to bargain collectively.
However, the 1923 strike wascalled off after less than a
month without achieving any ofits goals.
I'm not going to say anythingabout the current Postmaster
General.
Yeah, you probably shouldn't.
No, not a fan.
In 1983, in Bryant Pond, maine.

(21:39):
Susan, mostly I was just doingthe female history of telephone.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Gotcha.
Well, there are a lot offemales in the history of
telephone.
Well, there's a lot of women inthe history of everything.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yes, and everybody knows about Alexander Graham
Bell.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, yeah, and I can't remember the story, but
he's not even the one thatreally invented it.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
No, no, no.
Susan Gleans became the lastswitchboard operator for hand
crank phone.
When that exchange wasconverted, manual central office

(22:21):
switchboards continued inoperation at rural points like
Kerman California and.
Wainard.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
South New Wales as late as 1991.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Dang, I know, but these were central battery
systems with no hand-crankedmagnetos.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
I'm trying, I think I want to.
I feel like I want to have amemory of hand-cranked phones,
but I know I didn't.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
I think it's just remembering TV.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
And I was just going to say specifically Mesh,
because they would alwayshand-crank the phone.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Probably because they were weird phones crank the
phone to.
Probably because they were.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
They were weird phones too right, yeah, because
they were like in those canvasbags.
Yeah, and they would take themout, crank them up.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Well, and the hand cranked ones were like the ones
on the wall where right that hadlike they weren't together.
You held that your piece up andthen you talked into the wall,
right while you're cranking it.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, very cumbersome it seems.
So that would have perfect.
I would have just never madephone calls.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Never.
I mean now.
You carry it in your pocket.
You don't make phone callsExactly, it's either way.
So these exchanges were soonconnected together, eventually
forming an automated, worldwidepublic switched telephone
network.
As phone systems became moresophisticated, less direct
intervention by the telephoneoperator was necessary to
complete calls.
Sophisticated, less directintervention by the telephone
operator was necessary tocomplete calls.

(23:24):
With the development ofcomputerized telephone dialing
systems, many telephone callswhich previously required live
operators could be placeddirectly by calling parties
without additional humanintervention.
For greater mobility, variousradio systems were developed in
the mid-20th century fortransmission between mobile
stations on ships and inautomobiles.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
So that would just be for well, no, live operators
would be for just local calls,right, because remember calling
collect.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
Well, yeah, that's, I'll get to that but yeah,
that's different.
You could still make longdistance calls without an
operator if you had longdistance.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Right.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Like we had AT&T but to call collect.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
But to call collect, you needed to talk to the
operator and like to get a phonenumber if you didn't have a
phone book which, by the way, westill deliver phone books.
I hate them.
They're very small and they'revery stupid but, we still do
deliver them.
That's crazy.
Yeah, I can't, I'll stupid, butwe still do deliver them.
That's crazy.
Yeah, they're I can't.
I'll tell you what, though.
When we get them, it's usuallyin the spring, and I can't

(24:30):
imagine having to have deliveredthose big ones from our day
where it was like 56 000 pagesand yeah, and the new ones they
don't even have, like it's justregular people.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, it's like an advertisement Pretty much yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah, they're very small, that's crazy.
So the concept of mounting boththe transmitter and the
receiver in the same handleappeared in 1878 in instruments
designed for use by telephoneoperators in a New York City
exchange.
The earliest telephoneinstrument to see common use was
introduced by Charles WilliamsJr in 1882.

(25:06):
Various versions of thistelephone instrument remained in
use through the United Statesas late as the 50s.
The telephone dial originatedwith automatic telephone
switching systems in 1896.
Desk instruments were firstconstructed in 1897.
Patterned after thewall-mounted telephone, they
usually consisted of a separatereceiver and transmitter.

(25:28):
In 1927, however, the AmericanTelephone and Telegraph Company
AT&T oh snap, which, by the way,I did not know what AT&T stood
for, no, me neither introducedthe E1A handset which employed a
combined transmitter-receiverarrangement.
The ringer and much of thetelephone electronics remained

(25:49):
in a separate box on which thetransmitter-received handle was
cradled when not in use.
The first telephone toincorporate all of the
components of the stationapparatus into one instrument
was the so-called combined setof 37.
Some 25 million of theseinstruments were produced until
they were superseded by a newdesign in 1949.

(26:13):
That one was totally new,incorporating significant
improvements in audio quality,mechanical design and physical
construction.
And the push-button version ofthis set became available in
1963.
Ooh, push-button, uh-huh.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Huh, I didn't know.
It was around that early.
I didn't either.
They must have been reallybougie, because we definitely
had rotary phones for a longtime.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
My grandparents had a .
I don't remember.
No, we did have a rotary too,but I remember my grandparents
had the one.
Ours was a wall-mounted rotary.
My grandparents had the onewith the cradle Right and it had
a.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
I had, we had the wall one.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Ours was green.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Mine was yellow like that.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Mm-hmm, ugly, mine was like ugly-ass green.
Yeah, like a greeny-yellowMm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Ugly-ass green ass green.
Yeah, like a greeny yellow uglyass, yep, but I think my
friend's parents had the one inthe cradle there's.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
My grandparents was black and it was I like to play
because it would like yeah, thething would click there yeah oh,
the joys of the telephone in asimpler time, oh, my gosh, it's
so crazy that like to thinkabout it I mean the things that
entertain us, and it's not evenbeen that freaking long ago that
we used a rotary phone.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Well, it has been.
I was watching something todayand they said in 2002.
I'm like, all right, wait 23years ago.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Wow, I know that's insane.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
It's unbelievable how fast time has moved.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, and the older you get, the faster it goes.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
I know, you know it's so funny because when you're a
kid, everybody's like oh, whenyou get older, and oh, I don't
even remember how old I amanymore and I was like or when
my birthday is, and I'm like,that's crazy.
I'll never be like that, andnow I have to actually do math
to find out how old I am.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
I know kids when you know they're just pushing.
They can't wait to be 16 and or13 and 16 21 yeah, and I'm like
slow down, so that minute youhit 21, shoot.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
It's like you step on a banana peel and then you're
30, it's all over.
It really is this crazy.
Yeah, I think it's because youjust don't have anything to like
.
There's no milestone after 21.
Really, yeah, it's all justnumbers, don't?
Yeah, there's no like you'renot.
Maybe when the numbers just getbigger like yeah like yay

(28:34):
I'm 50 they just get sadder yeah, on the rotary dial the digits
are arranged in a circularlayout for those kids that don't
know what a rotary is, with afinger hole in the finger wheel
for each digit.
For dialing a digit, the wheelis rotated against spring
tension, with one fingerposition in the corresponding

(28:56):
hold, pulling the wheel with thefinger to a stop position, give
given by a mechanical barrier,the finger stop One, released
and cleverly named.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Very clever.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
The first patent for a rotary dial was granted to
Allman Brown Stoger on November29, 1892, but the commonly known
form with holes in the fingerwheel was not introduced until
about 1904.
While used in telephone systemsof the independent telephone
companies, rotary dial servicein the bell system in the United

(29:27):
States was not common until theearly 20s.
From the 60s onward the rotarydial was gradually supplanted by
push-button telephones, firstintroduced to the public at the
1962 World's Fair under thetrade name Touchtone.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
Touchtone phones were .
I remember that term.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah, touchtone technology primarily used a
keypad in the form of arectangular array of push
buttons.
Although no longer in common,use the rotary's dial.
Legacy remains in the verbiageto dial, or to dial a telephone
number, yep, because you don'tactually dial it, nope.
So my mom's number sheremembered.
I asked, so that tells you howyou know brain injury, my ass.

(30:11):
My mom's phone number was hufive, five, six, two, three,
what?
yeah, she remembers that from 70fucking years ago but calls me,
jess, 90 of the time, braininjury my ass hu how phone
numbers look like this in themiddle of the 20th century,

(30:32):
because of telephone exchangesthe hubs through which an area's
calls will be routed phonesubscribers were given a unique
five digit number within theirservice area.
These would be preceded by twodigits, were identified by
letters that don't detonate.
It Didn't that denoted thetelephone exchange you were
connected to?
Before the fifties, some citiesuse three letters and four

(30:56):
numbers, while others had twoletters and three numbers.
The two letter five numberformat, or two L five N, was
eventually standardizedthroughout the country.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Well see, now I really did learn something I did
not know.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
I always did know that, because she has always
said whenever you ask my momwhat her phone number was, she
will always.
And I was always like why isthere letters in front of?

Speaker 2 (31:17):
that?
Yeah, I don't think I realizedthe format and I didn't know
anything about that.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
Around the same time, area codes were introduced, but
they were used mostly byoperators and not customers.
In the late 50s and throughoutthe next two decades, us phone
systems began switching toall-number calling, which didn't
rely on archaic telephoneexchanges and can exponentially
add customers just byintroducing new area codes.
The change didn't happenwithout some resistance, however

(31:46):
, of course right, people hatechange.
Yeah, I know people love theliterary charm of their old
telephone exchange names andgroups like the anti-digit
dialing league and the committeeof 10 million to oppose all
number calling, which is a verylong name or form to protest the
switch.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
That's like so funny to me because I could see myself
joining one of these groups,because I would be very attached
to my number.
Like we said how we were madthat they changed our three
digit.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Well, I guess you're right.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah so it sounds crazy, but I mean, I guess it
was a big deal.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
I mean, yeah, probably because you know, if
you remember your number as HU,whatever.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, but that is hilarious though Committee of 10
million to oppose all numbercalling.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
That's a long ass name, it's intense.
They meant business, they didmean business so now let's talk
about the last 60 years.
Oh, lord.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, that's only nine years longer than I've been
alive, exactly.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Oh, that's why I picked in the 1960s, owning a
home phone was still a priceyaffair.
In 1968, a three-minutecross-country call would cost
about $18 in today's dollars.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Damn yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Americans would rent phones from AT&T, which owned
about 80% of the market at thetime.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
So like a cable box.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, On a monthly basis.
In 1963, the first commercialviable tone dialing phones went
on the market.
Introduced by AT&T astouch-tone dialing, they were
slow to replace rotary phones.
It wasn't until the 1990s thattouch-tone phones began to take
over the majority of the marketshare from rotary phones, I mean

(33:41):
people dug their heels in onthis.
I mean you have to think thatit's like the middle of the
country, or I can't imagine that.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know either.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
It's so funny, though there's 10 million people who
just didn't want to do it.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I thought of something oh yeah, I do remember
like you really couldn't callvery far without being charged
long distance.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
No.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, no, I don't even think you could call within
the same state.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
I want to say, like it might have just been county
by county, well in Delawareanyway, yeah, it was.
It was long distance to callLike.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Wilmington.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
Yeah, Kent County for me.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
That's what I thought .
Yeah, and it was reallyexpensive.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
The problem that I had was because we lived three
blocks from theMaryland-Delaware line.
So I went to school in Maryland, my bus stop was in Maryland,
everything I did in life was inMaryland because we were three
blocks from Ocean City.
So my bus stop was at themovies in Ocean City and

(34:49):
tattletale on my parents.
They smoked a lot of pot and mydad would forget us literally
all the time.
Yep, there was a phone booth atthe movie theater on the street
and we would have to go.
We would sit there for like 10minutes and be like he's not
coming, because we weren'tallowed to walk home, because we
had to cross a pretty decentlyand there were a lot of serial

(35:11):
killers back then I mean, Idon't think they cared about
that.
They just didn't want us gettinghit by a car.
They definitely didn't care,because then they would lose
help at the restaurant.
So right, there was no gettinghit by hospital bills.
Oh, yeah yeah, you couldn'tafford that they just have to
let you die, and then you can'tafford to just take out in the
yard.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, just don't cross it.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Yeah, doesn't dig a hole in the sand or something
seagulls, it's time to put youdown, so we would have to call
collect um and so I I I put thisin here as discussion um so,
yeah, we would have to callcollect.
And so what we would do is youwould you know, I'd like to make

(35:47):
a collect call?
And the lady would say you knowfrom.
And you would say dad, youforgot to pick us up.
And then, when it would, itwould call the house and they
would say will you accept acollect call from dad, you
forgot to pick us up that was sosmart.
And then he would say, oh shit,and then hang the phone up.
But you could hear his end ofthe because you're sitting there

(36:09):
waiting for him to accept the,so you could hear his side right
so he would either say, oh shit, I'm on my way, and then
everybody would hang up and thenthere was no collect call made
right because he didn't acceptthe charges, because you had to
actually say yes, I acceptedyou're such a little thug.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, that's what we did, and stealing from the phone
company every time we wouldhave to make a click.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
It would be uh, will you accept the charges from dad?
Seriously, where are you?

Speaker 2 (36:34):
oh shit, I'm on my way I've always had high anxiety
, so I tried to always havechange on me.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
But but just in case okay, but and and it was like 10
cents to make a phone call,right, right, but because we
were in maryland to calldelaware like 30 cents it was
more right.
And then I also remember thatyou could reverse the charges.
Do you remember being ablecould reverse the charges?
Do you remember being able toreverse the charges?
So if you were making a longdistance call from someone's

(37:02):
house but they didn't want youto make, like okay, so because
of the Maryland thing, we hadthis problem a lot, where it was
always a long distance call.
So if you're calling from yourfriend's house and they didn't
want you to make their longdistance phone calls, you would
call and and say I would like toreverse the charges.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Oh, so, and then they charge your, my mom and dads
for my phone call.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
I know I had to talk to the operator a lot when I was
crazy man, I know it was.
It's so nuts to think about andthat's what my little
discussion note in there is likewe had to call.
I mean, we called radiostations.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh my god that used to be my favorite and I loved I
would win contests all the time.
I did too.
There was 93, 7 uh, what was itcalled in georgetown.
I can't remember what the callletters were, I don't remember,
but back in day it was like popkind of stuff and rock and I

(37:59):
would like you know eighthcaller and I would be on that
phone so fast and I would calland I'd win Redial, redial
redial Yep, and then I would runand then I'd win and I'd like
go to the station and they wouldhave like a box of albums, yep,
and they'd be like pick one.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
That was your prize or you'd win like a gift
certificate to you know, getpizza, or something like that.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yes, yeah, but even when my kids were little, I I
made sure that they did that too, like riding to school.
One day, um, my son, he, heloved the song who let the dogs
out, uh-huh.
So on the ride in he called thelocal radio station and asked
them to play it.
And they played him on theradio, requesting it.
They played a song and he wasso excited it really was again

(38:47):
calling and requesting a song,especially if the dj put your,
your conversation on uh-huh.
Or even if they were just likesending Madonnas, like a virgin,
out to Nicole who called in andrequested You're like, oh,
that's me.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
I don't remember when it was, but they would have an
80s lunch every day on one ofthe radio stations and this was
when we actually did listen tothe.
You know, it's funny becauselistening to the radio at work,
we would listen to the radio, ofcourse, all day long and you
didn't have a choice of what wasplaying.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Right.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
So I remember the DJ and everything was Mike Bradley.
He did an 80s lunch and wewould listen to it every single
solitary day and we wouldrequest something every single
solitary day.
So he would be like going outto the girls at the Prague house
.
So he would be like going outto the girls at the Prague house
Because Jessica always liked ohshit, the train, come on, ride

(39:43):
the train.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yes, that's the whole reason she had a wedding was so
that she could do the train ather reception.

Speaker 3 (39:49):
So we would call in all the time and request songs
on the 80-inch.
It was just the best it was somuch fun and like having to
answer a phone blind, like thephone rang.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yeah, but when it rang you jumped yeah, You'd run
to go answer that phone and youdidn't know who was calling Nope
, so we had a system of coursebecause that's who we are,
because my dad will not answer.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
He still will not answer his phone.
So you would call the house andlet it ring twice, and then you
would hang up and you wouldcall the house again.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yes, if your parents weren't home.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
No, no, no.
Just to know your parents, tocall my parents.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Oh, okay, he wouldn't answer it.
It see, I was home alone a lotwith my little sister, yeah, so
we had to have a system likethat.
I wasn't allowed to answer thephone unless, like, the code
came in.
But yeah, I remember, Iremember creeper phone calls.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
I'd get heavy breathers and stuff I mean that
was really common back then yeahI mean, yeah, we would call,
because no way, there was no wayto track who was calling, who
was calling, or no idea who itwas calling, and it would ring
and it could just literally beanybody Our neighbor across the
street, my sister's best friendgrowing up, her dad, just the

(41:09):
greatest human being you'd everwant to meet and he would answer
the phone the county morgue andjust any number of different
things, and you would be, Ithink.
I still remember their phonenumber too and then the prank
calls I didn't.
I don't like pranks, so I neverdid I don't like pranks, but I

(41:30):
did do.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Just, you're very stereotypical.
Is your refrigerator?
Yes, yes, we did the argument.
Better go catch it.
Yes, we would do.
Calling up, is this domino'spizza?
And it was just so funny, youknow, we'd say that and hang up
and we would just laugh andlaugh one year um they printed

(41:55):
our phone number for some reasonin the phone book.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Our phone number was for the shortstop in Ocean View,
so for like six months we wouldget phone calls for the
shortstop who sold food sopeople would be like calling in
to get the.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
It was a mess did your dad take orders?
Yes, oh god.
He'd answered all kinds ofquestions and then at the end
he'd be like calling in to getthe.
It was a mess.
Did your dad take orders?

Speaker 3 (42:18):
yes, oh god he'd answered all kinds of questions
and then at the end he'd be likeyou got the wrong number it's.
I'm glad he told them anddidn't let them go into the
shortstop printed wrong in thephone book but yeah, and all
times because it was a 24-hourshortstop oh my god.
So the phone would ring in allhours of the day and night.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
So yeah it and nobody turned their ringers off back
then.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
No no.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
You always.
Your phone was always.
I don't even know if you couldturn the ringers off, you just
took it off the hook.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Oh, that's right and it would ring busy, oh my God.
And when you were trying tocall a friend or something their
parent would answer, or theirparents would answer yeah yeah,
oh, but we did learn manners.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Yes, hello, Mrs So-and-so.
This is Nicole.
May I speak with?
May I speak with?

Speaker 3 (43:00):
them Yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
May I speak with them ?
I still, you know, and I workwith teenagers now and you know
it's just different.
But you know they'll call meand they'll start talking and
I'll let them talk.
And when they stop, I'm likewho is this?
Even if I know who it is, or ifthey send me a text randomly
out of nowhere and just randomquestion, I'll text back.

(43:23):
I'm sorry, who is this?
Introduce yourself.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Somebody's got to teach them.
You had to call for pizza.
You actually had to pick thephone up and dial a number to
get your pizza to come.
And you had to know where youlived.
Yeah, and the poor pizza people.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Yeah, no GPS.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
No, they had to know where you live too.
There's no way I could havedone that job.
No, because I mean, well, in myarea there was so few people
that lived there in the winterthat we my mom was in a bowling
league, so Wednesdays we alwaysgot Domino's, and Domino's was

(44:04):
in 124th Street for a littlewhile, and in the wintertime, on
Wednesdays, when you would call, they knew who it was, because
I'd like to order a largepepperoni pizza, and they would
be like, oh, and they would saythe address and be like, yep,
but then they moved further downinto Ocean City so they
wouldn't come into Delawareanymore.
But in the wintertime themanager, I guess was the same

(44:26):
manager from 124th Street towhen they moved to it's down by
the bridge, so like 60-somethingStreet he would.
So you would call and be likeI'd like to order a pizza, and
then you'd give the address andthey'd be like, oh, I don't
think I do.
Hold on.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Oh yeah, we do, okay, and that was when it was 30
minutes or less too.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Yeah yeah, my mom used to be on a bowling league
too, actually, when my parentswere married.
That's one of the very fewmemories that I have because I
was like seven when theydivorced, right, but I remember
there being on bowling legs andI can.
It's one of those like memoriesthat incorporates a lot of
senses.
Like I remember what it smelledlike, I remember the sounds, I

(45:08):
remember laying on the likewooden bench and going to sleep
like wrapped up in my parentscoat Right and going because
they're bowling till likemidnight, yeah, and I'm like
four and I remember there was aguy on the team named red and
that just blew my mind that hisname was red.
Now, as an adult, I know itprobably wasn't his real name.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
He probably had red hair or something like that, but
I was, was just like wow, orhis last name was Red, something
I wish my name was Red, right.
I want to be named Red we hadone of the ads on the radio
again because we had to listento the radio.
So because Ocean City wastourist all summer long, they
played the same ads over andover.

(45:52):
And it's funny because we weregoing to order pizza.
I don't know, it was like ayear ago or something and I was
like, oh, we should get pizzatwo goes.
And uh, joe was like well, I'lllook up the number and I was
like 524-2922 and he was.
He just looked at me and helooked it up and he was like
you're right.
And I was like I can't believethey still have the same phone
number.

(46:12):
But I could sing that ad.
Boy, I knew that ad.
I can tell you that if youskydive for $195 and call
213-1319 in Ocean City, you canskydive for $195 and you can
order pizza from Pizza Tucos.
But those things just stuck inyour head like I just find it

(46:35):
funny that they still have thesame phone number.
That is funny and I'm sure thatthe kids working there would
not find it funny that theystill have the same phone number
.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
That is funny and I'm sure that the kids working
there would not find it asentertaining as I did.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
You should go in there and sing it to them,
sometimes 5, 2, 4, 29, 22.
Anyway, back to my story.
Yes, in the US, while Mother'sDay is the holiday with the
highest number of phone callsthe day, what the most collect
calls is father's day, so fuckedup, but verizon discontinued

(47:07):
calls on its landlines in 2016.
Yeah, really, yep no way yep.
At&t similarly discontinued itscollect call service for the
united states, but 1-800-COLLECTremains operational Get out.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
That's so crazy.
I haven't had a landline in solong.
I haven't even thought about it.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
I don't think you have to pay for long distance.
I don't think long distance isa thing anymore.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, I would hope not, but why is there collect
then?

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I don't know, maybe to call foreign Call from prison
.
Oh yeah, that is collect call.
Oh no, it's not.
It's not no, oh, I don't knowwhy you need to know.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
I know that but I know it's not, I'm not even
going to ask.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Just comes right to your cell phone Call.
Waiting was introduced toNorthica in the early 70s.
What?

Speaker 2 (48:02):
yep, and we didn't get it until I the 1995, I don't
know at least I don't know.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Uh, last call, return , automatic recall or star 69?
Yeah, it's, the provider shouldsubscribe.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
You had to subscribe to it yeah, yeah, I remember it
was an additional thing.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
Yeah, because it would cost so much every but
that if you start, if you hitstar 69, it would call back the
number that had just called yeah, and I don't think that was the
charge or was there.
Yeah, I think it was like 10,50 cents or something like that,
a call.
I think it would either tellyou what the number was or it
would just call it backautomatically.
I think at first it would callit back automatically and then

(48:47):
later it would tell you what itwas.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
I don't know.
I just know I always thought itwas funny that it was 69.
Because I have an immaturebrain like that?
Because you're 10.
I have the brain of a12-year-old boy sometimes.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
The general public tends to refer to the service by
telephone feature codeTelephone number it has for
their country, for example NorthAmerica, it will start 69.
On the UK it is 1471.
It's not as fun.
The New York Times describedcall return in 1992 as a new
service.
It can be paid per call orsubscribed to monthly.

(49:28):
Oh See, caller ID is a servicethat displays the phone numbers
of an incoming call.
It was first developed in theUnited States in 1968.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Initially available on You're not going to say his
last name, no.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Okay, it's very long, we'll just call him Ted.
Yeah, ted, ted.
Initially available on internalprivate branch exchange
telephone systems, it becamewidely available to residential
customers in 1989.
We did not get it until the 90s.
The system works by relayingcaller information from the

(50:04):
central office switch to whichthe wires were connected, and it
would come up in a littlescreen that was separate from
your phone.
And then remember when thephones came with caller ID on
them.
That was cool, but before thatyou have to have a little whole
other box.
Yep, the world's firsttelephone box called was opened

(50:34):
on january 12, 1881 at PotsdamerPlatz, berlin.
That one I knew Berlin.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Very good.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
That's Germany.
To use it one had to buy apaper ticket called Telephone
Billet, which allowed for a fewminutes of talking time.
In 1899, it was replaced by acoin-operated telephone.
William Gray is credited withinventing the coin payphone in
the United States in 1889, andGeorge A Long was its developer.

(51:05):
In the UK the creation of anational network of telephone
boxes commenced in 1920.
In the 40s, at military basesduring World War II, outdoor
booths started to appear.
In the 40s, at military basesduring World War II, outdoor
booths started to appear, but ingeneral they were most commonly

(51:26):
placed indoors as they weremostly made of wood and didn't
handle exposure to the elementswell.
And this all changed in 1954,when the Air Light Outdoor
Telephone Booth was introduced.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
I don't know if you remember but it was made of
glass and aluminum.
I do, and that's also whereSuperman changed his clothes.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
It is where Superman changed his clothes, which is
weird because it's completelymade of glass.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Maybe he was a little narcissistic.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
A little, I think he was.
His name was Superman.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
He was a bit of an exhibitionist.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
I always say they were designed especially for the
outdoors and originallyintended to serve motorists
traveling on the highway.
Starting in the 70s, paytelephones were less commonly
placed in booths in the UnitedStates.
In many cities where they wereonce, common telephone booths
have now been almost completelyreplaced by non-enclosed pay

(52:17):
phones.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
In the United States, this replacement was caused, at
least in part, by an attempt tomake the pay telephones more
accessible to disabled people.
Well, I mean, you reallycouldn't get in those little
booths.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Yeah, that is true.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
And then they were just out in the open.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
But you had no protection, no, and no privacy.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
No.
But, who are you talking?

Speaker 2 (52:40):
to that you need privacy.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
Oh, excuse me, like getting a telephone booth then
the one of the movies was atelephone booth and they would
have like a little phone boothconnected to like a little yeah,
I mean I remember, and therewas the little corner metal yeah
, and you put the phone book onthere yeah, you could call yep,
yep, and you had to put yourlittle 10 cents in there, yep.
Yep.
Beginning in the 90s, manylarge cities began instituting

(53:05):
restrictions on where payphonescould be placed, under belief
that they facilitated crime.
I don't know why, yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
Okay, because somebody did not have control
over their city and they wantedto blame it on something.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
It's the goddamn phone booth.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
What's the new thing here?

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Maybe they thought that because Superman changed
his clothes in telephone booths,that that's where crime
happened.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
So now there was no more vigilante superhero.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Because he didn't have anywhere to change.
Nope.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Then he had to become a billionaire, like batman yep,
and get his own shit.
Yeah, in 1999, there wereapproximately 2 million phone
booths in the united states.
Only five percent of thoseremain in service by 2018.
In 2008, at&t began withdrawingpayphone support, citing
profitability, and a few yearslater, verizon also left the

(53:59):
payphone market.
In 2015, a phone booth inPrairie Grove, arkansas, was
placed on the National Registerof Historic Places.
In 2018, about a fifth ofAmerica's 100,000 remaining
payphones were in New York, newYork City.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
New York City.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Only four phone booths remain in New York, new
York City, new York City.
Only four phone booths remainin New York City, all on
Manhattan's Upper West Side.
The rest have been convertedinto Wi-Fi hotspots.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
I'm happy there are still a few.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Why on the Upper West Side?

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Because they're bougie.
They're probably very fancy.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
They haven't had cell phones forever, though I would
think.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
So they can take Instagram pictures.
I think I've had cell phonesforever, though.
Yeah, so they can takeInstagram pictures.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
That makes sense For the tickety-tock.
Yes, incoming calls are nolonger available and outgoing
calls are now free, so if youfind a phone booth you can make
a call.
I don't know if you're going toremember anybody's phone number
.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
I don't know who I would call.
I'd have to pull out my cellphone and look up the number.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
Pizza Two Goes is the only one I'd be able to call
Now.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
I know a lot about germs and stuff.
No thanks, I'd only be able toorder a pizza.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
In February 2020, the city confirmed that, despite a
plan to remove dozens of payphones, the iconic booths would
continue to be maintained.
However, they were removed in2022.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Oh, damn it.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
Yeah, there are still phone booths in America, but
they are not as common as theyused to be.
They're usually found intouristy or historic areas.
Some people still use thembecause they like the privacy
that they provide.
In Philadelphia, an amateurphone collective called PhilTel
is doing more than justpreserving old pay phones
they're installing new onesminus the pay part.

(55:42):
The project aims to create anetwork of phones that make free
calls anywhere in North America.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
We are totally going to Philly after they do this and
looking for them and using aphone booth.
I'll just bring some wipes,okay.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
I guess we're coming Philly.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Yeah, we'll get a cheesesteak while we're there.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
Now let's talk about the thing that has undergone the
biggest and perhaps mostimportant change the cellular
device.
So we just took a littlebreaky-poo and I was complaining
because I don't think it'sright that snow boots do not
have any kind of arch support.
So you know, if you create snowboots, maybe make a.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
It really is a silly thing, because, I mean, a lot of
people are either working andhave them on or they're out
shoveling their yards or likeusually need some support.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Yeah, on snow boots.
I mean, my leg, my feet arekilling me from having to wear
this stupid ass thing.
What?

Speaker 2 (56:44):
about you've been skiing right.
Yeah, Do they have.
Is it like that in ski boots?

Speaker 3 (56:50):
Ski boots are weird oh.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Yeah, I've never.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
They don't bend.
Oh, so they don't have likethere's.
No, they don't bend like aregular shoe.
So you like kind of tromp trompalong.
I mean much like I have beendoing the last few days, tromp
tromping along, but like my.
So my boots have like a duckboot bottom, and then they're

(57:14):
like fleece lined.
The one good thing about mine,though, is that the insert comes
out, so that if my feet get wet, I can just toss them in the
dryer.
Yeah, I don't have to dry themout for 10 days, but yeah, they
have like no support at all, andit's just rude.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with that.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
Okay, so the cellular .
Let's go back to cellulardevices.
I'm not going to go into thetechnology or how they work,
because I don't know how theywork.
Okay.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
It's crazy to me Me too.
It's crazy that I carry acomputer around in my pocket all
day.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
I mean, you know, like when I don't really
understand how a telewound works, but like I can understand the
concept of like a wire and likesomehow my voice runs down the
wire but yes, you know, you'rejust talking to this little box
and it goes everywhere.
Yeah, yeah, it's a little crazy, it is, I agree.
The first true mobile phone was.

(58:07):
The first true mobile phonecall was made in 1973 by Martin
Cooper.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
That's the year I was born.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Oh, there you go.
Cell phones are as old as you,I'm as old as the first mobile
call there you go.
I mean, that's saying something.
He was a Motorola researcherand executive, but it took about
a decade for cell phones tobecome commercially available.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
A decade yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
The handheld device.
So you were 10.
The handheld device was shapedlike a brick and weighed about
22.4 pounds.
That little dot is very hard tosee and weighed about 22.4
pounds.
That little dot is very hard tosee.
Right there, 2.4.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I thought it was 24.
I was going to say that that'svery heavy.
Well, I do remember like Ithink the first ones were in
like cars, so it wouldn't havebeen that crazy to me if it
weighed 24 pounds, because itwas installed in your car, it
would weigh more than thePorsche that it was in.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
It was called the dynatac 8000x and it is
considered as the original cellphone.
The device only operated for amaximum of 30 minutes talk time
not worth it and that was a huge10 hours of charging.
Totally not worth it.
The very first call that wasmade by Cooper he called Dr Joel
Engel, an engineer at theirrival business, bell Labs.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
And said nanny, nanny , boo boo.
I did it before you did Prettymuch.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
But it was the very first mobile devices were not
cheap.
The cost of the Dynatac phonewas $39.95.
God damn $3,995, not $39.95,which is the equivalent to
$10,000 in today's money.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
To be able to make a 30-minute phone call and then
have to charge it for 10 minutes, 10 hours 10 hours.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Yeah, makes sense.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
It was clunky and heavy.
It served primarily as a statussymbol more than a functioning
cell phone.
It wasn't until 1989 that theMotorola Microtac, a flip phone
small enough to put in a shirtpocket, signaling the start of
phones getting smaller, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
That seems 89?

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
seems 89, because my ex had a large flip phone and he
got it in 90.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Well, 95, yeah, yeah, I mean 89 is only five years,
from six years from that, and Ithen we could.
Well, we couldn't afford it,but he wanted it, so we bought
it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
But my first one.
You had to go through theDelaware surf fishermen to get
it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
It might've been cheaper that way or something.
Oh yeah, and I still have thesame phone number you do.
Yeah, I know you do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Thank God, you've always had the same number.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
I always have the same, if I can't call anyone
else.
I know how to call you and thefunny thing is is joe's always
like we should just get rid ofthese numbers again.
I'm like no way I've had thisphone since I got that phone.
If you think I'm gonna be ableto remember another number,
you're crazy exactly.
Uh, in 1985 the mobiletelephone c looked like a

(01:01:22):
briefcase.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I'm sure you've seen it in movies and stuff, yeah, in
1987, mobira city man 900, thevery first nokia.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
The city man's movie, movie claim to fame, came in
1987.
Lethal weapon, oh where.
Multiple sequences, where thecity man 900 is prominently used
I don't remember seeing cellphones in lethal weapon you'll
have to go back and watch it nowI will.
In finland the phone was knownas gorba.
This was due to the fact thatMikhail Gorbachev, general

(01:01:57):
Secretary of the Communist Partyof the Soviet Union, called
Moscow during a news conferencefrom the hotel that has a lot of
letters, in October of 89,using a CityMan 900 that had
been given to him.
In 1988, samsung releases theirfirst phone.
Its display was so small thattext messages were impossible to

(01:02:18):
see.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
But they sold it anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
Only the dialed or incoming number was able to be
seen.
In 1989, the start of the flipphone era, motorola Microtac,
which was my first phone.
The Microtac pioneered arevolutionary flip design in
which the mouthpiece flippedover the keypad.
However, in later production,the mouthpiece and ringer were
actually housed in the phone'sbase.

(01:02:44):
The established.
They established the bar andserved as the prototype for
contemporary flip phones.
By 92 the antenna and phonebodies had both shrunk from the
days of the brick phone.
I remember the antenna too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
You had to both shrunk from the days of the
brick phone.
I remember the antenna too.
You had to pull it out.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
The next significant development was the Nokia 1011,
the first 2G phone to be massproduced, which was introduced
in 92.
The first text message was alsosent that year.
I know 92, like that's the yearI graduated.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Yeah, it just seems so early, but I'm thinking of
where we lived and that'sprobably.
It was where we got marriedthere, on Endover, that's when
he got it.
So, that was yeah.
Yeah, that would have been it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
Weird I know, the corporate director received the
first text message fromdeveloper Neil Papworth at
Vodafone's holiday office party.
Neil was asked to develop amessaging system.
The SMS message said MerryChristmas Home, mobile 1994.
Smartphones arrived many moreyears earlier than most people

(01:03:58):
realize.
The IBM Simon was, which wasintroduced in 94, is regarded as
the first smartphone in historybecause it was the first gadget
to include apps and atouchscreen.
Although the first smartphonefailed to catch on, normal cell
phone continued to become moreand more popular while being
smaller and more diverse intheir design After the

(01:04:19):
introduction of slider phonesand other flip phones.
Motorola innovated once againin 1996, the first phone with a
keyboard.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
I had the slider phone.
It was pink.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
I had the one that I had a slider phone.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
No, I did never have the slider one, yeah, and I
ruined that phone at.
Secrets because I was at abachelorette party and everybody
decided to go out to the raftsin that nasty water where oh
yeah, yeah and well, I was drunk, so and I walked out and my
phone was in my pocket.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
Do you know what story I just told my work bestie
?
What?
Speaking of bacheloretteparties, A bachelorette party in
Dover.
Oh God, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Oh God, that's a story for another day, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
Let's just say it was not good times.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
It was.
Oh, she had a blast I did.
I had until I got home, yeah,and I got tattled on.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Let's just say so.
I'm going gonna tell it.
I won't.
But what happened was it was anall-male review.
I did not want to go and shemade me because it was her, it
was her sister-in-law, yeah anduh.

(01:05:45):
She made me and then sheproceeded to get stinking ass
drunk well, what else am Isupposed to do?
I didn't so we are at thisall-male review and she thought
it was hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
I could not stop laughing and heather came
snatching me saying will youstop laughing at them?
But it was so funny, Like whofinds that sexy?
Seriously Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:06:12):
And then here's the worst part of the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
I don't know if you remember any of it Well before I
think yeah, I do, but I wouldalso stick dollar bills down
Heather's shirt, that's what I'mtalking about.
So the strippers would have tostick their heads under her
shirt to get them out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:32):
Awful, it was horrible.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
And then I puked in the limo and I was out the top
of the limo going down thehighway like I was some kind of
rock star, yeah.
And then one of the bitchesthat was there gets home before
we do and tells my husbandeverything I had done.

(01:06:58):
So, yeah, it's not a good nightfor nicole after that I do no,
but it was really fun before itwasn't, instead of sticking
dollar bills down her own shirt,she would just come.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
They would come out of nowhere and she'd run up and
stick dollar bills down my well,they didn't come out of nowhere
behind your head.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I would wave the dollar bill so they would head
to you, and when they got closeI'd shove the dollar down their
shirt.
But I did end the night for usbecause you didn't, we got to
another club.
I puked in the parking lot andeverybody decided to wrap it up
that was that was true.
You did it so I did get out ofit I was just.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
It was so funny because I was just telling him
about this story not that longago oh my gosh, that was what in
the 90s yeah, she got.
They got married in 2000.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
2000, because my middle child was a newborn.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
I remember.
Yeah, I was a mother then too.

Speaker 3 (01:07:58):
Of two Of two.
Yeah, Recently just had thesecond one because it was
October it was.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
They got married in October and she was born in
August.

Speaker 3 (01:08:11):
In August.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Good times, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
So back to cell phones.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
I don't remember where I left off, though the
first cell phone with a keyboard, the Nokia Communicator 9000,
included a keyboard.
It was Nokia's first smartphone.
Is it Nokia or Nokia, or Idon't know?
We'll continue.
I had a Nokia, a Nokia.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
I always said Nokia.
I'm sure, however, any of usAmericans are pronouncing this
wrong so just do your best,continue.
If I'm wrong, however, any ofus Americans are pronouncing it
is wrong, so just do your bestContinue.

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
If I'm wrong, sorry, yeah, I apologize.
Nokia company, the Communicator9000 provided a number of
business-related functions inaddition to a keyboard,
including email, web browsing,faxing, word processing and
spreadsheets.
And it accomplished this longbefore BlackBerry came to
represent the mobileprofessional.
1997, first phone without anantenna, wow, I know.

(01:09:15):
In 98, the Nokia 5110.
Oh, that's the first onewithout an antenna yes, because
I had the 5111.
That's the first one without anantenna.
Yes, because I had the 5111.
Ah, in 1999, it sponsoredLondon Fashion Week, which was
an immediate success and helpedestablish the trend for

(01:09:36):
customizing your phone.
That is why I had the Nokia,because it had the faceplates.
Oh yeah, the Nokia 5110 launchedthe early 2000s demand for
mobile phones withinterchangeable cases.
People wanted the ability tochange the color of their phone
without the need to buy acompletely new device.
I had many.

(01:09:57):
I could get them off of eBay.
The little case, oh yeah.
And you could change thekeyboard out too.
It would come different colors.
Yeah, I was fancy, yeah.
I didn't have kids, so I couldhave lots of disposable income
uh 1998 also saw the addition ofcolor to the screens, 3g

(01:10:17):
network, personalized ringtonesand the first downloadable
material was in 1998.
1999 saw the first time youcould use the internet with the
Nokia 7110.
Samsung released a phone thatfused an MP3 player and a phone.
The first phone with a GPS wasthe Benaphone.

(01:10:39):
Also the first camera in theKyocera.
My sister had a Kyocera Withfront-facing camera and the
ability to hold 20 photos.
Oh damn.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
I would choose that in like a minute.
Oh my God, yeah right, I was 99.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
So in 2001,.
Nokia had high-end capabilitieslike infrared and a fully
functioning calendar that wereused for phones at the time, and
it was the first Nokia phone tooffer GPRS I don't know what
that is and an FM radio.
Ericsson had the firstBluetooth in 2001.
Shoot 2002, the photo displayand cameras with flash came from

(01:11:21):
Sanyo.
Nokia upped the camera gamewith the one megapixel camera.
The first BlackBerry was in2002.
And the Sidekick was in 2002.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
I had a BlackBerry.
I had a BlackBerry, I don'tknow why, I don't know, just
because, just because I mean itwas fine.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
Yeah, but I didn't need it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:11:42):
Yeah, mine was purple .

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
I think mine was blue , but I'm glad that they went
away.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
I think they still make Blackberries, do they?
I know they still make Nokia.
I don't think they havefaceplates anymore.
In 2005, the fully waterproofphone came from Casio.
In 2007, the iPhone, and youcan learn more about the iPhone.

(01:12:10):
In episode five.
I explained that I had thatvery first iPhone.

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
It went on sale February 3rd 2007 at midnight
because it was my husband'sbirthday and I didn't care that
it was his birthday.
I wanted the iPhone.
So on his birthday I sat upuntil midnight so that I could
order myself one.
You had to go online and orderit, like right at midnight, or

(01:12:37):
something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Pretty exciting.
If you want to hear that storyand more about the iPhone, you
can listen to Bill and Steve'sNerdy Adventure, episode 5.
Yep, that's Episode 5.
Yep, that's plugged there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
Yeah, and it's also.
It was recently the anniversaryof the start of Apple, was it?
It might have been January 1st,it might have been New Year's
Day Maybe, but I heard it on NPR, oh.

Speaker 3 (01:13:04):
I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
They mentioned the.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
Steves, oh, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
I don't remember.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
They mentioned the Steves.
Oh, I wish I could.
I'd have to.
Yeah, I don't remember any ofthe episodes prior to this one.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
Yeah, me neither.

Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
And tomorrow I won't remember this one.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
You know, I was watching Jeopardy the other
night and something came up andit was something that we had
just done in the episode and allI could do was bust out
laughing.
My husband's looking at me likewhat?
And all I could do was bust outlaughing.
My husband's looking at me likewhat?
I'm like.
We literally just talked aboutthis and I cannot remember what
the answer is.
That's how I studied for testsin school, like get it all in

(01:13:37):
and once the test was done, I'mdone.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
No, reason to remember that.
Anymore Gone, but I can stillremember the phone number of
Pizza two goes exactly.
It's very frustrating.
Uh, 2008 is when the androidcame along.
Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm a liaryeah.

(01:14:02):
Okay, I read that wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:14:04):
So in 2008,.

Speaker 3 (01:14:05):
Android, which contained Google integration.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
Oh okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
In 2009,.
4g, samsung's first Galaxy.
That is when I went.
I got the first Galaxy and Ihave not gone to anything else.
I still have Galaxy, I have the.
Actually I did have the lastthe Note.
I had the note forever.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
I remember that.

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
Then they stopped making the note.
Now they don't make the noteanymore, but the Galaxy took
over all the cool stuff from thenote that I wanted, like the
little pen that I never used butI still insist on having it,
for whatever reason you likeaccessories.
I do and I don't need it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
You really like accessories that you don't need.
I do, I do.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
I do.
Motorola had its first GoogleMap and Apple had FaceTime in
2009.
I love FaceTime.
I've never used FaceTime.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
My husband was a Samsung until he converted to
Apple, I mean iPhone.

Speaker 3 (01:15:07):
It's been a little while, but it was just because
he wanted to be able to FaceTimeme Because I had an iPhone we
use because Joe is an Apple guyand I am not, so we just use
Facebook Messenger.

Speaker 2 (01:15:15):
Yeah, I don't know if that was a thing or if it was
really prominent.
When I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:15:20):
Well, samsung or Androids anyway have their own.
I mean, you can video callanother Android.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Yeah, anyway, have their own.
I mean, you can video callanother Android.
Oh, okay, yeah, okay, it's justcalled video call.
In 2010, the first Samsungwithout buttons, siri, was
invented and Motorola had thefirst fingerprint sensor.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
That reminded me Anytime.
So I have Siri on my phone.
I literally never use it.
I think it's so dumb.
I'd rather punch in a few wordsto Google and have it come up
for me than have to explain toher 75 times what I'm trying to
say so I never, ever use it.
But anytime I say I don't knowif she'll do it now, but
Sirianni, the head coach of theEagles, it'll pop up Bloop Like

(01:16:05):
no, siri, not you eagles.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
It'll pop up bloop like no siri, not you.
Now joe will use.
Use the siri for literallyeverything, except he doesn't
use it right.
It never works well.
First of all, he just he sayswonder if she'll do it.
He just says hey, siri, andinstead of just saying what you
needed to say because that'swhat you're supposed to do like
just say hey siri and then talkhe's, he waits for her to answer
.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
Like like she's a person just pops up and that's
how you know it's ready, okaybut uh fun fact okay that if you
do wait for her to answer, shedoes go.

Speaker 3 (01:16:39):
Hmm hello, because she's waiting like what's up?
Dumbass?
That's what she should say.
You rang Like hello.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
I mean when I very first got a phone with Siri, I
said like I'd cuss her out andcall her mean names and she
would say things back like itwas rude.
Yeah, but besides that, I likeAlexa.

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
for that, I use Alexa a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
I used to have an Alexa in the house and then I
got so freaked out by, likepeople listening in and I don't
know why.
I don't have anything to like.
I will literally like sit hereon my computer with the camera
open and be like somebody seesme.
Good for you, you're having fun, watch me sit here and work.
Good for you.
But I don't know, it justcreeped me out, I don't know why

(01:17:24):
I just creeped me out.

Speaker 3 (01:17:25):
I don't know why I gave my mom.
I bought my mom Alexa, thinkingthat she would be like never
use.
My mother talks to Alexa allthe time, really.

Speaker 2 (01:17:35):
All the time.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Her and Alexa have like whole conversation.
I don't, I don't know.
I don't think she'd ever be ableto use it.
Yeah.
But then I thought, well, maybeif she does, you know, just for
For music, she listens to musicall the time, right.
Ever since I have been a child,there has always been a radio
on in the house, always Right,or the TV in the background with

(01:17:57):
, like on the music channels orwhatever.
She always has it.
So I showed her.
I said, look, you just say,alexa, put on whatever Bruce
Springsteen, because that's whoshe's 98% of the time listening
to.
I'll call her and say somethingshe's like oh, you know what,
alexa, don't be that.
And I'm like I don't thinkAlexa is supposed to be telling
you things without you asking.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
Mom, definitely don't ever give her AI.

Speaker 3 (01:18:21):
So I just think it's funny because she just asks
Alexa, like literally, she usesAlexa to Alexa's full potential.
I'm so proud of her, I know,I'm so proud.
I think I even got her a secondone.

Speaker 2 (01:18:34):
And inspires me to get mine out.

Speaker 3 (01:18:37):
I think she has two now and I'm telling you she asks
Alexa for recipes, she asksAlexa for stuff.
All the time She'll say, oh, Ijust asked Alexa the other day
that question.
I'm like, okay, good stuff.
All the time she'll say, oh, Ijust asked alexa the other day
that question, okay, good foryou.
Mom, she's so cute.
I just think it's funny thatyou know, I loved it, I did so
proud of her and I do have the.
I have the alexa I have for ourhouse.

(01:18:59):
I had it for her with hers andthen I got my own and you can't
do it to two places but you candrop in on alexa, so.
So sometimes I would just dropinto her alexa and be like hey
mom and freak her out.
I guess she didn't like alexacalling her mom.
I don't know.
I like alexa.

(01:19:20):
I do it because you can playjeopardy with alexa.
Yeah, and name that song.
I like my Alexa.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
All right, maybe I'll get mine back.

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
Yeah, you should, it's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Okay, it's fun stuff, although I should probably buy
a new one because mine'sprobably like 10 years old.

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
Mine's pretty.
Yeah, you're going to need toupgrade.
Alexa's going to need toupgrade.
I have it on my phone.
I'm actually surprised ithasn't been making noise.
2014 Samsung's first heart ratemonitor.
2015 was the first curvedscreen.
Samsung has a.
It's a beveled edge.
Oh, and you can read your tech.
You can set it up so you canread the like if it's sitting

(01:19:56):
flat.
Not these anymore, but the onesthen, because I got that one
too, I like to get.

Speaker 1 (01:20:03):
I don't know why I don't ever use tech, but I did
get the first one.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
It would show you the text message on the side of it.
Oh yeah, and google came outwith its first phone, the pixel,
in 2017.
Um, apple has its face id, so Ididn't go any further, because
we all know what's happenedsince 2017 it's just like just
you know yeah and but all thatwas just crazy, because it just
happened so fast In 17 years,like I mean yeah, it was just
like boom, boom, boom, boom yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20:33):
Yeah, it took like a hundred years to get from a
switchboard to a rotary.
And then it just went nuts.

Speaker 3 (01:20:40):
Now we have AI and 2,700 cameras on this thing and
you can't live without it andyou have to take it everywhere.
You don't have to call forpizza anymore.
You know you just texteverybody and you know Then
video calling because I know Iremember going to Disney and
when they have the big globething, that's Jessica's favorite

(01:21:04):
ride they would, you know, dothe video calling.
And you know, when you were akid you were like what that's
crazy and then today we're usingit to to try and it's it's just
crazy what you can do with it.
Now it is, and then that's justbeen.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
It's crazy yeah, that was really cool.
When you told me this was goingto be your topic, I was kind of
like, okay, I mean not that Ididn't trust you would do a
quality show or anything, but Iwas just like A weird topic All
right.
But yeah, that was really cool.
I learned a lot, thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:21:36):
Yeah, I just think you know the phone is.
I feel like the phone was suchan integral part of our, for
different reasons, thanteenagers have phones today but
it was such an integral part ofour generation.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
Yeah, I remember you would just lay on the kitchen
floor and twirl the cord aroundyour finger and just talk for
hours.

Speaker 3 (01:21:58):
We had the really long cord, but then that one
would get all tangled.

Speaker 2 (01:22:03):
Oh my gosh, and you'd have to untangle it and your
parents would be screaming atyou for tangling it up, and and
then you can stay on the phonetoo long because somebody else
might be trying to call.

Speaker 3 (01:22:12):
Yeah, yeah it was oh, do you remember, though you
could break through.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
I don't know if you ever had to do that I feel like
I remember that I can't rememberwhat you would have to.
You have to call the operator,probably, and break in.

Speaker 3 (01:22:26):
Yeah, yeah, that was the thing that we did do.
I did do that too.

Speaker 2 (01:22:31):
Yeah, because I mean you had one number.
That was it, like there was oneway and if you were calling
your parent at work, there wasone number for you to call Yep,
and it's not like you could callsomebody at the next desk and
ask them to get your mom for you.

Speaker 3 (01:22:44):
No, well, and the thing of it was is like at home,
my mom, so my aunt, lived twoand a half hours near
Philadelphia and she was mymom's best friend and back then
they of course didn't havetexting and stuff.
So she would call and theywould talk for hours and if you
were trying to call and you keptgetting the busy thing, you'd

(01:23:10):
be like what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
like I gotta come home, or yeah, and and you would
have very long phone calls backthen, because that's how you
kept in touch with people therewasn't social media um.
I mean, you wrote letters.

Speaker 3 (01:23:15):
Yeah, you sent cards and you took the picture in it
and you talked on the phone soyeah, if you were talking to a
friend or sister, mother,whatever, you were on the phone
for a very long time hourssometimes I remember I would
have like 20 minutes and then Iwould have to hang up, yeah, and
wait, and then I could get backon the phone, yeah, I remember

(01:23:37):
we were not allowed to havephones in our room, and when I
got back from my year atUniversity of Delaware, I was
like, well, I'm an adult now mom, Like you can't tell me how to
live my life.

Speaker 2 (01:23:49):
Yeah, I'm going to get pink hair and pierce my nose
, yeah, and I did.

Speaker 3 (01:23:53):
She didn't care, she did, she pretended she cared.

Speaker 2 (01:23:56):
Those were the two things you weren't allowed to do
, and I did them both and shedidn't care.

Speaker 3 (01:24:00):
I dyed her hair pink.

Speaker 2 (01:24:01):
So I almost got in trouble with your mom that time.
She did not like that I wouldnever get in trouble with your
mom, but that was the closest Iever got.

Speaker 3 (01:24:08):
Then she started dyeing my hair because she said
you two are making a mess in mybathroom.

Speaker 1 (01:24:12):
So my mom just started doing it for me.

Speaker 3 (01:24:15):
It's no way to rebel with your mom doing your hair.
Yeah she, I forget what I wasgoing to say Talking on the
phone?

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
Oh, phone in your room.

Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So we weren't allowed to havephones in our room, so I had
said I would like a phone in myroom and she was like fine, but
you have to do it, so you wouldhave to put the splitter in
because we didn't have.
She wasn't paying for.

Speaker 2 (01:24:44):
Another line because the phone company had to come to
your house and run the wiring.

Speaker 3 (01:24:49):
She wasn't no more jacks in the house.
There was one jack, she had onein her room and there was one
downstairs and that was it.
So I had to run a splitter andI had to run a wire all the way
down the hallway into my room.
So my sister is five yearsyounger than me and threw a
temper tantrum because why did Ihave a phone in my?
Room and she and you know thatthey made me put a room one in

(01:25:10):
her room too.

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
No doubt that's really ignorant because it
really is a complaint.
Yeah, exactly exactly what youwere worldly you had gone away I
had gone to the university ofdelaware.

Speaker 3 (01:25:23):
I went all the way to the other end of the state.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
And lived by yourself .
Yeah, by myself.
We had regular phones.
When we went to UD?
Yeah, we did.
Yep, I would call you andremember answering machines Try
to make you do things.
You would tell me the BeastieBoys were over and you didn't
want to go out, that's because,I was drunk.
The Beasties always wreckedyour room when you were drunk.

Speaker 3 (01:25:48):
That was not the Beastie Boys that wrecked my
room.

Speaker 2 (01:25:51):
That was our boys yes Dale and Travis Dale and Travis
wrecked my room.

Speaker 3 (01:25:56):
Dale chipped his tooth.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
They were moshing.
They were moshing in my dormroom.

Speaker 3 (01:26:05):
No moshing in the dorm room, dale, never a never a
good idea.

Speaker 2 (01:26:09):
No, it's not.
You'll chip a tooth yeah, goodtimes, oh, such good times so
that was the phone.

Speaker 3 (01:26:18):
Um yeah, if you like that, you can like share rate
review, give us a thumbs up,whatever, anything any of the
things we'll take it yeah, tellyour friends, have them listen.
Yeah, yeah, so join theFacebook page join the Facebook.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
We have Facebook Instagram threads Blue Sky, blue
Sky we.
That's a new one this week andthat's taking off.
We're up to like 60 followers.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 (01:26:50):
Yeah so yeah, yeah, you can find us on all of those
things at LikeWhateverPod.
You can send us an email andtell us all about your telephone
adventures at LikeWhateverPod,at gmailcom or don't like
whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:27:09):
Whatever, bye, bye.

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