Phone Book

[ytowner]

I am proud to say I am on the front cover of the phone book! Play Where's Michael to find me.

[northside lurker]

I thought they sold windows, but a quick google search shows they sell vinyl windows, vinyl siding, roofing and insulation.

[Why?Town]

I bet I haven't heard it for 30 years.  About the time I started listening to my own choice of radio stations instead of my parent's.

Since you've heard it more recently maybe you could tell me what the commercial is for. In addition to that jingle I also have "Hey Culligan Man!" embedded in my subconcious but I don't think they go together- aside from the fact that I smell sulfur every time I think about either of them. I used to hear them both while driving past the Briar Hill works on the way home from grandma's house.

[northside lurker]

I'm just old enough to remember

Garfield, one. Two three, two three!
Garfield, one. Two three, two three!

And on my neighbors landscaping business truck LI5-3982

I think they still use that jingle. (I remember hearing it within the last couple years while home.)  The Youngstown TV market has been increasingly separated from the Cleveland market, and that's a Cleveland area company/commercial.  The Akron/Canton area was always part of the Cleveland market area, and never had their own market, so they get all the Cleveland news and commercials.

[Why?Town]

I'm just old enough to remember

Garfield, one. Two three, two three!
Garfield, one. Two three, two three!

And on my neighbors landscaping business truck LI5-3982

[northside lurker]

Westsider I found this page from an old Youngstown phone book.

http://www.oldtelephonebooks.com/images/LocalCalls/Youngstn1961OH.pdf

Does it bring back any memories?

Thanks!  I was born after the switch was made to the 7-digit system, so it doen't bring back memories.  It's just something I've had an interest in.  Where my mom grew up, in Massillon, the prefix was TEmple.

[Towntalk]

Westsider I found this page from an old Youngstown phone book.

http://www.oldtelephonebooks.com/images/LocalCalls/Youngstn1961OH.pdf

Does it bring back any memories?

[Towntalk]

Riverside was also for the North Side. Sweetbrier (SW) = West Side. Sterling  (ST)= South Side. I don't remember any of the others.

[northside lurker]

I don't think we'll have to worry about a universal switch to only cell phones any time soon.

Incidentally, I have coworkers who still use rotary dial phones at home.  One guy still has the original phone "hookup" in his house.  He doesn't have a jack, but a block with 4 posts that the individual wires--from a single phone line--tighten into.

Getting further off-topic, I've always wondered what Youngstown's phone "names" were before we switched to the 7-digit system.  I assume it was Riverside for the central business district?  (i.e. RIverside 4-4021 instead of 744-4021 that we would use today)

[Towntalk]

  Just wait until the phone companies do away with landlines and go exclusively with cell phones just like they did wit the other older phone technologies (number please operators; crank phones; rotery dials). 

Does anyone seriously think that the companies that employ folks to call us to sell us something will quietly go out of business, or will they adapt to the newer technologies?

When cell phones become the only game in town and adopt a universal numbering system what then?

[northside lurker]

I only have a cell phone, and I don't get many unwanted calls.

This is the closest thing to a telemarketing call I got, and I think they got caught.
http://talesfromtherustbelt.blogspot.com/2009/11/who-is-rachel-at-cardholder-services.html

[Towntalk]

You are right Connie ... with all the cell phones the phone book may very well go the way of the horse and buggy.

Think about this though, we all hate those sales pitch calls on our landlines but at least they don't cut into our minutes, but what about those who have cell phones exclusively? Do they pay for all those unwelcomed calls from people trying to sell them something?

If the day ever comes when the phone companies do away with landlines, we'd all be in a pickle with those pesky sales pitch calls. Sure there is caller ID, but wouldn't  the companies that do those sales calls find a way around caller ID?

I'm not against people making an honest living but not on my dime.

[connie254]

In a couple of years there may not be a phone book at all. You can get whitepages.com and yellowpages.com

What I find hard is sometimes I remember part of the name and then won't be able to find it on the internet because I used to look at the listings and find it.

People who choose not to get a computer and pay for internet will be SOL 

People who have their cellphone exclusively and no landline won't be in the phonebook anyway.

[Rick Rowlands]

What is a phone book?  Oh yeah, I think I remember. Don't they call those anachronisms nowadays?  A big waste of resources, of which the Green party should use its considerable political clout to have banned.

Dang, I just looked around in my office and see four of them, none of which I have touched since they landed on my back porch.  Really gotta clean the office!

[Why?Town]

If you don't call and ask for one, you let them win.