1-900/976 numbers.

Ever call a 976/900 #
The Internet pretty much killed them, but when I was a kid party lines....(phone sex, horoscopes, psychic friends, entertainment news)....were all the rage. I got put on punishment many a time for running up my mothers phone bill dialing them.

I remember in the movie Big Man on Campus, Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga was showing everybody all the stuff he'd learned since he was found living in the town's clock tower, and he said 'telephone call, 411 for information, 911 for help, 976 for good time', and we always laughed at that even though we didn't get it as kids. Then when we were a little older my mother explained those were for sex hotlines, and I never really got it.

But what I really never got was in an episode of the show, Sister, Sister, the girls want to answer an ad for receptionists at a hotline and the mother says 'look at the number' and they look at it and go 'ewwww', so what would that be about?

Nope - never called one. I remember as a kid trying to figure out what the big deal was when I saw references to them on TV. I didn't have time as a kid - lol! I was always too busy and had no interest in calling but I also didn't watch a lot of TV as a kid, so that could have been part of it. It wasn't until I got into university that I actually started watching TV, other than the odd show here or there.

Nope - never called one. I remember as a kid trying to figure out what the big deal was when I saw references to them on TV. I didn't have time as a kid - lol! I was always too busy and had no interest in calling but I also didn't watch a lot of TV as a kid, so that could have been part of it. It wasn't until I got into university that I actually started watching TV, other than the odd show here or there.

That fad was b4 my time coming up.

Oh God I remember when I was a teen, there was "The Laugh Line", where people would call this 976 number to hear some joke of the day. By the early 90s, 976 numbers morphed into credit card-based 900 numbers because many parents had complained to the FCC about their kids being able to run up their telephone bills.

I was watching TV the other night and they STILL run those chat line commercials. I was surprised. I never been interested in those and never tried it. Just seemed like a waste of time and you prob. wouldn't ever meet anyone decent from them.

RiteDiva wrote:Oh God I remember when I was a teen, there was "The Laugh Line", where people would call this 976 number to hear some joke of the day. By the early 90s, 976 numbers morphed into credit card-based 900 numbers because many parents had complained to the FCC about their kids being able to run up their telephone bills.

You mean they transitioned over to "toll free" 800 numbers....that then wanted a credit number for the call to proceed.

When I was about twelve, I called a 976 psychic line pretending to be older, just to see what they had to say. As I predicted, it was a bunch of bull. The 'psychic' woman on the other end just casually rambled on like I was a friend of hers. Kept me on the line for about thirty minutes (which was probably their protocol), and the call wound up being a ninety dollar charge that I had to explain to my parents.

Never again.

Never