Does anyone remember the Time of Day service phone number?

[BackinJax05]

358-1212

Back in the day you could call anytime, listen to an ad, and get the correct time.

Atlantic National Bank (which became First Union, which became Wachovia, which became Wells Fargo) was the 1st sponsor I remember. A pleasant sounding man and woman would answer, pitching a high yield savings account that paid interest TWO TIMES A MONTH! Then the lady would give the time in a seductive voice.

In later years First Federal Savings and Loan (remember them? Its great to be in the FIRST family!) sponsored Time of Day service. The same pitchman who did their TV commercials announced the correct time.

At Christmas, First Federal had sleighbells ringing in the background. Fireworks for the 4th of July. The sound effects made it difficult to hear the time, but they always got me in the spirit.

Today, like so much else, 358-1212 is gone. I called the number before posting this and its disconnected

[sandyshoes]

Yup, I remember dialing them up (the key word here is dialingthe phone, push buttons hadn't become popular yet - at least, not in our house.)  I remember the sleigh bells, too.  I used to feel so grown-up when mom would tell me to call the Time of Day for her so she could re-set all the clocks in the house correctly.  The good ol days!!

[Adam W]

It was a regular part of my life in the 80s. If the power went out during a thunderstorm, that's how you'd reset your clock radio.

[Dog Walker]

Blast from the past!  Had completely forgotten about it.  Thanks for the nostalgia trip!  Guess that cheap quartz watches killed it off.

[Debbie Thompson]

I miss 358-1212  :-) 

[finehoe]

http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/simpletime.html

[Debbie Thompson]

Of course!  A digital solution.

[dougskiles]

I remember it.  We used to play games with it as kids.  Prizes were awarded for how many times you could get through in one minute.

[sandyshoes]

   it was aggravating when you were trying to do that and got a busy signal, wasn't it? 

[WmNussbaum]

OMG, it's worse than you think. I see no listing in the 'phone book for Dial-A-Prayer. 

[ronchamblin]

Yes I remember well the use of the phone to determine the time.  Now of course one can get the time on the Internet, one place showing the time with an error of less than 0.2 seconds.

When I was for three years ('61 to '64) flying as aircrew Morse Code radio operator on a Super Constellation, 15 hour flights from Midway to the Aleutions and back, we had to set the chronometer at the start of each flight for use in determining our longitude via celestial sun or star shots.  I believe we also used the time while using the old fashion Loran navigation units.  Our primary navigation back then was Loran, secondary was our 250 mile radius radar, giving us our position relative to a ship, which hopefully knew were it was, so we could determine where we were.  Our last method was a celestial sun or star shot using the transit through a hole in the top of the aircraft.  I suppose our 4th method was the old ADF long wave transmissions.  You could tune to a Rock station in Waikiki and gain a reasonable idea of what degree line from the station you were located.  Then, upon tuning to another station, perhaps in Alaska or Midway, you would cross the degree lines, thus determining you location.     

In any case, I would tune to one of the shortwave stations which always transmitted the time.  I recall that it was 5 MH and 10 MH frequencies.  I have no shortwave now, but I suspect that the time is still transmitted for use by anyone needing the exact time.   

[Timkin]

Yes I remember well the use of the phone to determine the time.  Now of course one can get the time on the Internet, one place showing the time with an error of less than 0.2 seconds.

When I was for three years ('61 to '64) flying as aircrew Morse Code radio operator on a Super Constellation, 15 hour flights from Midway to the Aleutions and back, we had to set the chronometer at the start of each flight for use in determining our longitude via celestial sun or star shots.  I believe we also used the time while using the old fashion Loran navigation units.  Our primary navigation back then was Loran, secondary was our 250 mile radius radar, giving us our position relative to a ship, which hopefully knew were it was, so we could determine where we were.  Our last method was a celestial sun or star shot using the transit through a hole in the top of the aircraft.  I suppose our 4th method was the old ADF long wave transmissions.  You could tune to a Rock station in Waikiki and gain a reasonable idea of what degree line from the station you were located.  Then, upon tuning to another station, perhaps in Alaska or Midway, you would cross the degree lines, thus determining you location.     

In any case, I would tune to one of the shortwave stations which always transmitted the time.  I recall that it was 5 MH and 10 MH frequencies.  I have no shortwave now, but I suspect that the time is still transmitted for use by anyone needing the exact time.   

I remember the Short wave radio stations that transmitted the time. One was WWV in Colorado. remember that very well.

[BackinJax05]

Yup, I remember dialing them up (the key word here is dialingthe phone, push buttons hadn't become popular yet - at least, not in our house.)  I remember the sleigh bells, too.  I used to feel so grown-up when mom would tell me to call the Time of Day for her so she could re-set all the clocks in the house correctly.  The good ol days!!

Yes, I DIALED 358-1212 many times also. 

We had a rotary phone in the kitchen until 1997. It still worked perfectly when we took it out.

[BackinJax05]

It was a regular part of my life in the 80s. If the power went out during a thunderstorm, that's how you'd reset your clock radio.

Oh yeah. Been there, done that. What s ck d was if it was a major power failure (common for JEA). Time of Day would be busy for up to 15 minutes.

[BackinJax05]

I remember it.  We used to play games with it as kids.  Prizes were awarded for how many times you could get through in one minute.

My cousins and I would do the same thing. It was really hard to do with a rotary phone. Once I got through 4 times. What was your record?