NRC Telephone Talking Clock
NRC runs two telephone numbers that announce the time of day. Voice announcements of Eastern Time are made every 10 seconds, followed by a tone indicating the exact time. This service is available to the general public by dialing +1 (613) 745-1576 for English service and +1 (613) 745-9426 for French service. The call is automatically cut off after 30 seconds or three announcements. Long-distance charges apply for those calling from outside the Ottawa/Gatineau area.
The English message, voiced by former CBC Radio announcer Harry Mannis, is in the following format, repeated every ten seconds:
| “ | "NRC, Eastern (Standard/Daylight) Time, x hours, x minutes, and x seconds." | ” |
The French service uses the voice of Radio-Canada news anchor Simon Durivage, with the following message format:
| “ | "CNRC, Heure (Normale/Avancée) de l'Est, y heures, y minutes, et y seconds." | ” |
This is followed by a single 800 Hz beep lasting 0.3 seconds. The word "exactly" (in French, "précises") replaces "and x seconds"/"et y seconds" at the top of the minute. Additionally, there is an 800 Hz "tick" every second in the background.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a modified version of the NRC Telephone Talking Clock was transmitted over television channel CPAC while the House of Commons was not sitting. The announcements alternated between English and French, and cycled through all six of Canada's time zones, as well as UTC.
Read more about this topic: National Research Council Time Signal
Famous quotes containing the words telephone, talking and/or clock:
“But even in a telephone booth
evil can seep out of the receiver
and we must cover it with a mattress,
and then tear it from its roots
and bury it,
bury it.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“For poetry, he’s past his prime,
He takes an hour to find a rhyme;
His fire is out, his wit decayed,
His fancy sunk, his muse a jade.
I’d have him throw away his pen,
But there’s no talking to some men.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down. For that reason, instead of freeing ourselves, we must try to save ourselves from being crushed by its rubble.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)