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WBZ: 888 number?

Blackroc

Blackroc

I don't know if I missed this but 'BZ ended its two-generation tradition of pay-calls (out of area code 617)? Maybe they started earlier after New Years but I heard DRea mention it tonight.
Since the '60's the numbers have been 254-5678, 254-1030, and now additionally 1-888-9291030.

I remember Brudnoy saying he asked for this from the mid-80's --90's. He got nowhere.
 
Blackroc said:
I don't know if I missed this but 'BZ ended its two-generation tradition of pay-calls (out of area code 617)? Maybe they started earlier after New Years but I heard DRea mention it tonight.
Since the '60's the numbers have been 254-5678, 254-1030, and now additionally 1-888-9291030.

I remember Brudnoy saying he asked for this from the mid-80's --90's. He got nowhere.
Click to expand...

Back in the 80's when we were all paying long distance charges maybe it mattered. Does it anymore? I know my cell plan and my home phone all have unlimited long distance anywhere in the US.
 
Blackroc said:
I don't know if I missed this but 'BZ ended its two-generation tradition of pay-calls (out of area code 617)? Maybe they started earlier after New Years but I heard DRea mention it tonight.
Since the '60's the numbers have been 254-5678, 254-1030, and now additionally 1-888-9291030.

I remember Brudnoy saying he asked for this from the mid-80's --90's. He got nowhere.
Click to expand...


It was reported by Scott Fybush in this weeks Northeast Radio Watch.
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
Interesting... it's not required by law-- wonder why they do it now.
Click to expand...

WFAN in NY was another station that for the longest time never had a toll free number until moving into their new studios last year. It does seem unnecessary these days, so it must be some kind of sponsorship deal with Verizon or something. 98.5 The Sports Hub doesn't have one yet, but wonder if they will soon too.
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
Interesting... it's not required by law-- wonder why they do it now.
Click to expand...

If you pay for the call, you have the right to block caller ID either on individual calls that you place or on all outgoing calls you make from your number. If the call is toll-free to you, caller ID blocking does not work. The demographic information that stations with toll-free numbers can gather about all callers (not just callers who have not blocked caller ID) is obviously worth a nice piece of change--at least to major-market stations. Gotta be worth at least as much as it costs the stations to have the toll-free incoming service. Took a long time for CBS to realize this. They now have toll-free lines at most of their stations. Of course, the 888-WBZ-1030 number turned out to be not too smart. WBZ translates to 929 on most telephone keypads, so they wind up promoting a station owned by the company that owns WBZ's FM-talk competitor. Better choices might have been 888-4BZ-1030, US7-4BZ-1030 (US7 is 877), or even <any toll-free prefix> 254-1030 (taking advantage the fact that just about everyone knows the old number).
 
Years ago WRKO had something where you could call them for free by dialing star-68 on a Verizon (cell) phone. It stopped after some kind of scandal (Tom Leykis incident, 1994?)
Agreed about how "929" promotes the freq of a competitor.

WRKO accepts texts to 680680 and when someone like Howie reads one back he'll say
the area code of the text: "617 says... 978 says..." When you send them a text you get a text back thanking you for it and it promotes their site etc
Howie's phone line is toll free, an 877 number (think that's toll free)
 
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