United States
In the United States, this service was typically known as the "Time of Day" service, with the term "speaking clock" never used. Occasionally it would be called "Time and Temperature." However, the service had been phased out in most states (California, Nevada and Connecticut still maintain service). AT&T discontinued its California service in September 2007, citing the widespread availability of sources such as mobile phones and computers.
For all area codes in Northern California, the reserved exchange was 767, and was often indicated by its phoneword, POPCORN. In other locations, different telephone exchanges are or were used for the speaking clock service. In these areas, the numbers were usually quoted with the -xxxx, -2525, -1212, or -1234 ending. For example,
- 853 was the reserved exchange in Southern California.
- 622 was the reserved exchange in Florida.
- 637 (MEridian 7) is the reserved exchange in Boston and New York City.
- 846 is the reserved exchange in Philadelphia.
- 844 (TIm e 4) was the reserved exchange in Washington D.C., with the officially published number of TIme 4-2525. This clock was usually the most accurate of the clocks operated by the local telephone companies.
- 936 (WEather 6) was used in Boston, Washington D.C., and Toledo, Ohio for weather information.
- In Washington, the officially published number was WEather 6-1212.
Various other numbers were used in other localities.
- In Wisconsin, the former Wisconsin Bell reserved the ending numbers -0123 in the dominant exchange for a city for time and temperature information.
- (203) 777-4647 (203-SPRINGS), New Haven, Connecticut is still an active time of day service.
Many shortwave radio time signal services provide speaking clock services, such as WWV (voiced by John Doyle) and WWVH (voiced by Jane Barbe), operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology from the United States of America. To avoid disruption with devices that rely on the accurate timings and placement of the service tones from the radio, the voice recording is "notched" clear of some of the tones.
The time as provided by WWV is also available by telephone, by calling +1 303 499-7111. WWVH (an auxiliary location in Hawaii) is available at +1 808 335-4363.
In addition, the United States Naval Observatory operates two speaking clocks: in Washington, D.C. at +1 202 762 1401 or +1 202 762 1069, and in Colorado Springs, Colorado at +1 719 567 6742.
The time as provided by Tellme (Powered by Bing) voice portal is available by dialing toll-free 1-888-247-2425 (say time when prompted).
Electronic speaking clocks and wristwatches are available, many marketed to the visually impaired.
Many telephone answering machines and similar devices include a speaking clock capability so they can announce the time when a message was received.
Read more about this topic: Speaking Clock
Famous quotes related to united states:
“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“The professional celebrity, male and female, is the crowning result of the star system of a society that makes a fetish of competition. In America, this system is carried to the point where a man who can knock a small white ball into a series of holes in the ground with more efficiency than anyone else thereby gains social access to the President of the United States.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn’t need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder—in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“It was evident that, both on account of the feudal system and the aristocratic government, a private man was not worth so much in Canada as in the United States; and, if your wealth in any measure consists in manliness, in originality and independence, you had better stay here. How could a peaceable, freethinking man live neighbor to the Forty-ninth Regiment? A New-Englander would naturally be a bad citizen, probably a rebel, there,—certainly if he were already a rebel at home.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)