Calling POPCORN | TheaterFire

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elcheapodeluxe@reddit

I remember with PacBell in Norcal you could actually dial POP-anything. 767-7777, 767-0000, etc - all worked as well as 767-2676. Although the face I know it's 767-2676 without looking at a keypad tells you all about what occupies my braincells that you need to know.

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-Julya-@reddit

In my area it was 555-1212, which I always thought was cool because 555 was the prefix in all the TV shows.

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bgva@reddit

I just looked to see if POPCORN spelled out was the number, but it wasn’t. Ours was 622-9311, and we got the exact time every 10 seconds.

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AdelleDeWitt@reddit

At the tone, daylight savings time will be... 5:38 and 30 seconds... BEEEEEEP.

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thats0Ktoo@reddit (OP)

Yessss

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lavasca@reddit

It was 853-1212 for us so not POPCORN.

At the tone the time will be…!

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a_solid_6@reddit

Here in Memphis, it was (and still is) JAM JAM 1 -- or 526-5261, for time and temperature. I'm 43 and it's been there my whole life.

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FriedBreakfast@reddit

875-4000 was the number we called. It belonged to the bank though. They would tell time and temperature and give today's weather forecast.

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alwaystheocean@reddit

I loved calling POPCORN. It was the best aay to reset your clocks. (In California)

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CheesyRomantic@reddit

We dialed 411 It gave us the time and date and for other information there was a directory.

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analogthought@reddit

770-455-7141

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ThisIsACompanyCar@reddit

210-226-3232

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beautifulcheat@reddit

I did! My boss at my first seasonal job encouraged me to set my watch by it every year 😂

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aweedl@reddit

I assume most places had their own version. I’ve never heard of POPCORN, but where I grew up (Winnipeg, Canada), the time and temperature number was 783-2119. It’s burned into my brain and I still use it as a fake phone number when signing up for shit online.

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SuCzar@reddit

It was popcorn for us in my part of Northern CA

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IMayBeOnlyOneMatch@reddit

I was in the Bay Area. It was popcorn for me too.

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TheJasperCollective@reddit

This reminded me that I had a number I'd call as a kid and it was like a storytime number. You'd pick a genre and a voice would tell a short story. I always liked hearing the spooky stories. I think it may have been the local library number?

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jackfaire@reddit

There was a line to call about the time but it didn't spell anything it was just a number.

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donutseason@reddit

Jersey checking in with 777-FILM “he-LO and welcome to movie done if you know the name of the movie you’d like to see press one now…”

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nighteyes_fitz@reddit

First time I heard of phoning somewhere to get the time was watching the Simpson's and Lisa doing it 😂

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bransanon@reddit

It was actually just POP-XXXX, you could dial anything after pop and it would tell you the time.

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fubo@reddit

If you were at a phone, but you didn't know what its phone number was, you could dial 1-800-MY-ANI-IS and it would tell you the phone number you're calling from.

(ANI stands for Automatic Number Identification, and no it's not the same as Caller-ID. Notably, it can't be blocked, because your ANI number is the number used for billing the call.)

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BraveLittleToaster8@reddit

I think ours was ME7-2323 in Boston. It would tell you the temperature and time.

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madsci@reddit

ANI stands for Automatic Number Identification, and no it's not the same as Caller-ID

Yeah, I found out about that after a sleepover where we stayed up late dialing 1-800-BIG-BUTT, 1-800-HOT-GIRL, or any other naughty-sounding combination we could think of. A lot of them were, unsurprisingly, phone sex lines and we'd giggle at the recorded advertisements, but sometimes it'd be a respectable business. Some of those numbers, though, would get your billing information and put you on a mailing list and you'd start getting rather explicit junk mail.

Of course, once we figured that out we made the most of it by pranking our friends (and probably the school) by calling the number from their phone to get them on the mailing list.

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NotAnotherThing@reddit

No idea what the number was for us but it certainly wasn't called popcorn.

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PersonalityAlive6475@reddit

https://i.redd.it/3mw3eirlct4h1.gif

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Tall-Introduction414@reddit

In Houston, we had 713-HOUSTON. It said the time, had weather, and some other services. I think it even a phone message board for a bit.

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lecoqmako@reddit

When the popcorn service ended, I knew I was not long for this world. I’d already sacrificed VHS and 8 bit gaming. I was forced to enter the new world of cell phones that replaced my alarm clock before I could I could even download the right tune. I had to upgrade NT to Vista? I still jolt awake every morning just before the harsh tune assails me while I question my existence is this godforsaken dimension so different from my childhood.

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OhTheHueManatee@reddit

For a good time call popcorn.

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anchises868@reddit

It wasn’t popcorn for us. We just dialed 853-1212. (I grew up in Southern California for what it’s worth.)

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snarkerella@reddit

Same. That was the number we always called for time in SoCal.

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madsci@reddit

922-8111 was the local number in my town. It's just a regular phone number now.

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Individual-Schemes@reddit

Californian. We used POPCORN.

And MOVIE PHONE

Hello and welcome to movie phone.

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notnotwatchinthis_00@reddit

Central CA and it was POPCORN for us!

At the tone, Pacific daylight time will be....

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Outrageous_Way_4258@reddit

I also remember there was a sex line spoof number your could call that would tell the time “after the moan” where she would moan, say the accurate time and then say “after that I need a cigarette.”

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sheepsies@reddit

moaning mona. 676-1111 if I recall correctly

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thats0Ktoo@reddit (OP)

😆

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blamberr@reddit

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LoveYouNotYou@reddit

From the snooping I did (on the thread lol) it appears that they are talking about dialing a number (in this case: The digits that spell out POPCORN) to get the time.

We had a number too, but it wasn't popcorn. I forgot it though.

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Reportersteven@reddit

What?

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