1-800-257-1234. Anyone recognize that number? I grew up during the 60's and 70's in rural Ms. We never had cable TV in our home. It simply wasn't available and as a result we never had more than 3 or 4 TV stations; CBS, NBC, PBS and sometimes ABC. So it was a bit of culture shock when I went off to college and discovered that there was life beyond the networks.
Ted Turner's WTBS opened a whole new world of old movies, sitcom reruns and Atlanta Braves baseball. In those days, WTBS didn't get the traditional advertisers like laundry soap, toilet paper, car manufacturers or Alka Seltzer (plop,plop,fizz,fizz).
Ted made much of his fortune by advertising Ginsu Knives, and forming a symbiotic relationship with Ron Popeil who brought us the Chop-o-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Inside the Shell Egg Scrambler.
In those days,800 numbers were also relatively new and not that common. It seemed every product sold on TV could be purchased by calling 1-800-257-1234. My college roommates and I would make jokes about what we could buy by calling that number and whenever the end of a commercial approached we would mimic the announcer in unison when he said: "Call Now 1-800-257-1234."
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