Dial-a-Disc

[Chaeo]

You dialled 16 (I think it became 160 later on) and you heard a song
being played in a loop, a new tune every day I think.

Anyone have any links or information on this?

[Heather74]

Re: Phone 16 (0)

Dial a disc (just pop into google) you'll get more info.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3000907AAP1ZDY

[joybee]

Re: Phone 16 (0)

Here you go - same question you asked and answers from some folk that remember !!

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Music...ion116558.html

I remember it too, but I was the mum keeping kids OFF my phone !!

[zofo1961]

Dial a Disc

I Remember you phoned 16 on your phone to hear a chart song

[Richard1978]

Re: Dial a Disc

I remember the back pages of the phone books in the 1980s used to show all the BT provided information services.

Dial A Dish was another I can remember.

[Popsicle]

Re: Dial a Disc

I can remember "Dial A Disc"-we always used to find a call box and have a listen before we went to the disco on a Saturday night! I can recall hearing The Sweet's "Blockbuster" and thinking how much it sounded like David Bowie's "The Gene Genie".

My mum used to listen to an inspirational speaker called Dick Saunders in the 70s. We children nicknamed his telephone service "Dial-A-Dick"!

[smurfie1]

Re: Dial a Disc

I remember the back page of the directory as well, I used to love the Care Bears bedtime story line although I think I only got to ring it once.

[Richard1978]

Re: Dial a Disc

I can remember there was a whole host of information lines by the end of the 1980s.

My brother had a card for Club Call, which had a different number for the latest info on all the top division clubs.

They got a bad reputation because the information played on a looped tape & wouldn't disconnect until you hung up, so if you left the phone off the hook for too long you would run up a massive bill.

[Megawitch]

Dial-a Disc

I didn't dial this much but I'm sure I once listened to The Osmonds Crazy Horses on it !

[The Low Country]

Re: dial a disc

I used to listen to dial a disc too. It was also something that was regularly used where I worked. One person would ring the number, listen to the song, then transfer it to another person in a different dept on another extension, they would listen to it and then they'd forward it on and so on. I'm sure we'd be connected for hours! It was a large company! Goodness knows what their phone bill was like. During the cricket season i think it used to change to the cricket score - boring - not much transferring done then, we'll not between the female staff but maybe that's when the male staff did the same sort of thing, who knows

[Richard1978]

Re: dial a disc

There was also a recipe hotline called Dial A Dish.

In the 1980s & 90s there seemed to be all sorts of information services on the phone, but I guess after the worry about dodgy 0898 numbers, stories of people running up massive bills by not hanging their phones up properly & the internet they lost their niche.

[moonvisage]

Re: Dial-a-Disc

I loved listening to dial a disc.I remember kids talking about it,and didn't really believe them.I went home,convinced it wouldn't work for me,and dialed.Boy,i was thrilled when i realized i could hear what everyone else at school had been raging on about.

[PC66]

Re: Dial-a-Disc

You dialled 16 (I think it became 160 later on)

The number depended upon where you were. In director areas (London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester) these "special" numbers had to be three digits long due to the way the equipment worked, and Dial-A-Disc was on 160. Elsewhere could use 160 in some cases, but in many areas the switching arrangements were such that the two-digit code 16 was all that was necessary. And yes, the same 16/160 number was used for test-match cricket scores during the day at the appropriate times.

As for the other recorded services, they were generally on 80xx numbers at the exchanges which hosted them. 8091 was the weather forecast for a particular area, 8021 motoring information in selected cities, and 8071 doubled up as recipes during the day and children's stories in the evenings (at one time it switched from recipes to gardening information at the weekends). From some smaller exchanges you would need to dial a routing digit in front of these, so they might become 9 8091 etc.

Again, in the director areas (London etc.) it was a little different and seven-digit numbers in the 246 exchange were used, so London weather, for example, was 246 8091. While Dial-A-Disc, recipes, etc. were the same nationally, weather forecasts were regional, so if you were in London and heading down to the southwest you could get the Devon & Cornwall forecast on Plymouth (0752) 8091. Some of the regional forecasts for the Home Counties were on London numbers, using other 246 809x codes (01-246 809x from outside the area, of course).

London & Edinburgh each had recorded tourist information on 01-246 8041 (London) and 031-246-8041 (Edinburgh), but the Edinburgh number was switched over to skiing information during the winter.

There were other recorded services at different times, but I can't recall the numbers off the top of my head!

The other well-known service was "Tim" - The speaking clock. By the 1970's, it was generally on 8081, but in London and the other director areas it had its own special code - 123.

[PC66]

Re: Dial-a-Disc

Here's a list of recorded information services - This page is from a 1979 dialling code booklet for the Isle of Wight, from which the local 80xx services were located in Portsmouth, reached with the routing digits 95.

[DSCOMAN]

Re: Dial-a-Disc

Hi Everyone, been a 'looker' for a while, but finally joined up (can have my shilling ?)
EXCELLENT Thread - this brought back memories - standing in a pay phone box listening to a tinny sound from the ether / some sort of magic - only did it in summer holidays, or if you had found some money, or earned it by taking empty lemonade bottles back for the 'deposit' money.

I thought that there was a choice of songs ? - that must have been later ?