People Did Very Weird Things Before Modern Inventions Came Along

Answering Phones To Tell People What Time It Was Used To Be A Job

Photo Credit: Ronald Dumont/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Growing up, you may remember calling a phone number to get the time right when you would reset your clocks. An automated message with a nice voice would say, “the time is…” Before automated messages existed, it was a real person who would answer the phone and tell you what time it was.

The first “speaking clock hotline” started taking calls in 1933. The service was active 24 hours a day, and you would always be greeted by a real person on the other line. The job was so popular that phone companies would hold competitions to find, “the girl with the golden voice.”