Family Gets Calls From Radio Listeners, Dad Promises Them Cars As Prizes After The Radio Station Refuses To Change The Way They Say Their Number
When was the last time you called the radio to request a song? Okay, let’s change the question – when was the last time you listened to the radio? It is likely that this was the time when you were driving a car or riding in a taxi – but many years ago, ordering a song for yourself, your friend or your love was incredibly cool.
We are talking, of course, about the eighties, when telephones were landlines (and some also had disks) and radio DJs were real superstars. Of course, the radio station managers felt like agents of the stars – and behaved accordingly.
Featured in the Reddit community “I Don’t Work Here Lady”, this story captures those good old days and has garnered almost 5.5K upvotes and over 200 comments to date. Yes, people love vintage narratives, especially if they’re as funny as this one.
More info: Reddit
This story goes back to the beginning of the 80’s when people used to call the radio to order songs
Image source: pxhere (not the actual photo)
So this was in the early eighties and the phone number at the Original Poster’s house was 555-5070. At the same time, the local radio station launched a direct line to 555-5700, and as a result, if someone wanted to order a song or just call live, they often got connected to the OP’s house.
Image source: Swifty-Dog9
The radio ads caused a mix-up with the OP’s home and radio station numbers
The problem was exacerbated by the fact that in the ads of the service for ordering a song, the announcer did not pronounce their phone number quite correctly. They said “Call us at Five-Five-Five, Fifty Seven Hundred” – and as a result, many listeners perceived it as 50-70. The first few wrong calls just looked funny, then it became annoying, and over time turned into real torture.
The OP’s father could not stand it – he called the manager of the radio station, explained the problem and politely asked them to re-record the ad’s text so that they would no longer call their house. We’ve said before that radio station managers felt extremely entitled at the time, didn’t we? This one was no exception.
Image source: Swifty-Dog9
After being rejected by the manager, the OP’s father told the next caller that they had won a free car
The man happily informed the next person who got the wrong number that they had become an anniversary listener, and for this they had received a gift – a free car. All they had to do was go to the radio station and say they were sent from the direct line.
If there were any questions about getting the desired car, said the OP’s father, you just needed to call that very manager – and he would definitely sort things out.
Image source: Swifty-Dog9
The OP recalls that his father managed to give away two cars, after which calls to their house abruptly stopped, and they did not hear anything more about that radio station.
Image source: bixentro (not the actual photo)
Commenters basically admired the smart way that OP’s father sorted things out
People in the comments, of course, were delighted with the resourcefulness of the OP’s father, and some remarked that he should have taken money from the radio station for call forwarding at all.
And, of course, the commenters also recalled many similar stories – not only with radio stations, but also with pizza ordering services, shops and others – however, not everywhere did it turn on the entitled manager so cleverly.
If you have come across similar stories, we will be very happy to read your comment. Unfortunately, it will not work to order a song, although you can write your favorite, and we will try to sing it to ourselves, at least.
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Share on FacebookI work as a optometrist and years ago, we had the same number as a brothel in the same city. You can imagine what kind of calls we got every week. Was quite funny..
How could there be two identical numbers in the same city? Did your city have two area codes?
Load More Replies...The OP is fine but a lot of the additional stories are punishing wrong numbers for no reason.
I had the same problem back when I had a landline. One day we started getting a TON of calls for a doctor's office. This includes other doctors and pharmacists. The worst part is that they would blame ME for their wrong number "oh you must of just moved and got this number" to which I would reply "I've had this number for over X years so no, no I did not" Turns out they misprinted their business cards, RX pads, everything, and the receptionists where also giving out the wrong number, as they went by the cards. Their number was 555-6071, while ours was 555-6017. We didn't figure it out until a pharmacy called us back to apologize and tell us why this was happening. My answering machine would literally tell people we are not a doctor's office and they will not get your message........ still so many people left messages that I convinced hubby to get a cell phone so we could ditch the landline
30 some years ago the local nursing home set up a “Tell Santa what you want for Christmas “ hotline. The nursing home residents would field the calls. However their hotline number was very similar to our number. I started getting calls from children. Luckily I had read about the hotline so I was able to tell the children the correct number.
For several years we kept getting phone calls from people trying to reach the 6th form of a local high school. Our number was not at all like theirs. What had happened was that someone, the secretary I think, had put our phone number on their information leaflets. Again, no idea why as we didn't know this person and had nothing to do with the high school. I complained and the headteacher promised it would stop. But it went on for several years, with the secretary giving the wrong phone number to each new intake. It eventually stopped and to this day, I have no idea why it happened. Oddly, we have almost the same number as the vets, with just one digit difference. And yet we never get calls for them.
In grade school we had a private number (unlisted) that was in my room. Apparently it was one number off the number of the school. Every time it would snow, I would get calls asking if school was closed, and of course I would say yes. Or I would get calls telling me some kid would be late or absent, and I would pretend to lookup their name, and then say, ok got it.
A commercial nursery used to have MY work phone number on their website (the website had a typo), and when I started getting calls for them, I sent them an email telling them they needed to fix their website. I kept getting calls for them, and sending them emails about once a week. After a couple of months of wrong number calls, I got tired of it and started taking orders for them, telling the customer their plants would be ready in a few days. The customers were commercial landscapers, and undoubtedly the orders were for thousands of dollars. I only had to take orders for a couple of weeks before the calls stopped.
Years ago, I started getting calls on my cell phone for a man I had never heard of. I always told the callers that I was sorry, but I didn't know the man and they had the wrong number. It was concerning something to do with his taxes, so I assumed it was collections agencies. This went on for a while until one day I got a message from the State Treasurer himself angrily demanding to speak to this guy! I assured them that I really was not him and never heard about it again, but I still wonder what he did. Yikes.
For.many years, we would get calls from people looking for a certain fancy restaurant here in my city. We had 3822-3297, their number was (probably still is) 3822-3298. Once in high school a rich classmate was asking people if we had the number of this restaurant in our contacts, I just said it from the top of my head and they looked at me "Do you also eat at Thaís?" (Which sounded like "OMG, I hadn't realized you have money!") I quickly explained that, no, I wasn't a client, I just had to pick up lots of mis-dialed calls
My dad’s cell’s first 3 is the reverse of a tax line. He gets calls sometimes for them. He’ll very nicely say “sorry you want xyx and I’m yxy” and most will apologize. The angry ones who insist he’s wrong will get “ok fine, you owe 10k” and they’ll finally stop arguing and call the right number.
When I lived in Luton (UK) my firm's number was almost the same as the main number for the airport just with two of the digits transposed. Since it was an innocent mistake, unlike the main story above, I had the airport's actual number on a post it above my desk so I could tell them no sorry you want [number]. I did used to get frustrated though because I literally answered the phone with the name of the firm - an accountancy firm where the name was the owner's name & co. It sounds nothing like London Luton Airport. People don't listen.
Before I was "merged" into another cmpany my work phone number was similar to the hotline of a health insurance company when you forgot to dial the area code first. The number of calls I recieved was overwhelming. And no matter if I said my company name people would start telling me details of their hip replacement surgery etc. Glad I got a new number after the merger.
I worked for an orthopedic surgeon's office and the 3 digit area code was the only number difference for the phone number to a local cable company. I can't tell you HOW MANY TIMES people would call, I'd answer with the typical "You have reached (Dr's practice). How can I help you?" and when I finally determined they were trying to reach the cable company, I had to politely ask them to redial the phone number but this time with 1-800 instead of our area code. Amazing how people would argue with me saying "I already did that!" and having to respond with "No, I'm afraid you have reached (Dr's practice) office. Please try and call again using 1-800. Have a nice day!" and hang up.
That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. If one of the "car winners" were anything like the modern day Karen, and over a car no less, I bet the battle of hollow skulls would be quite a spectacle.
I thought 555 numbers didn't exist...that's why they use them in movies. Am I wrong?
No I think you're right, that's the same reason OP used 555, to not give out their actual full phone number.
Load More Replies...When I was growing up, our home phone number was one digit different from a local drug store. We got tired of arguing with callers about who we were and what was the right number. 95% of the callers wanted to know when the store would close that evening or open next morning. So we posted the store's hours by our phone and got rid of callers by telling them exactly what they were calling to find out. (For the other 5% we gave them the store's correct number.)
We had a similar phone number as the local movie theater. Got called all the time. At first I would give them the correct number. Most the time they thought I was fibbing. So the people that were not nice got movie names and times that I made up.😜
I work at an 'Old School' radio station. We still have DJs spinning live music and also take song requests. People still listen to us on the radio while driving. We are not extinct dinosaurs. 🤣
Back in the day, my mother thought it was (and it really was) a good idea to get us new phones in a 2-for-1 deal. The thing was, our new cell numbers were one digit off. I would get calls meant for her and she would get calls meant for me. Hilarity ensued when they said well just Tel Mrs XXX that I called, thinking i was now my father. Of course i wasn't married yet, but it caused a ton of confusion. My sister and father got the exact same deal, and once again, their numbers differed by 1. more fun.
We had a number that was really close to one held by (judging from the calls) bad auto repair shop. The calls didn't come often, but the customers were sometimes spitting angry and sometimes went on a rant before we could even tell them it was a wrong number. When the place went under was a happy day
When I lived off-campus for one summer semester during college, the phone line we set up for the apartment (this was early 2000s--my parents wouldn't buy me a cell phone), it used to be the number of a towing company. I'd get calls at like 6am and the person wouldn't even say hello, they'd just say an address. I'd be like (groggily) "Hello?" and they'd be like, "1500 main street." And I'd be like, "what?" And they'd go, "isn't this XYZ towing?" And I'd say, "no, this is a private residence." And they wouldn't even apologize, they'd just hang up. Ugh.
I’ve had the same cell number for over an decade and a cabin rental company in the next area code over from me has the same base number. So people who didn’t bother to type in the area code (when you could do that) or didn’t confirm the area code would sometimes end up calling my number. I started telling people how to reach the cabin rental company when I bothered to answer, and will text people who call and leave a message. As technology has progressed, it happens a lot less now. Maybe 1-2 times a year versus once a week.
When I was in high school whenever I would call the local Chinese restaurant I had a habit of messing up the ending of their number and I would frequently call a residential home the family was really nice about it. In 11th grade when I met my (now ex) boyfriend and he gave me his number I realized it was his house I'd been calling for years. The last numbers of their phone numbers were switched of the restaurant and I have dyslexia
When I was first married, our phone number was exactly the same as our local womens shelter. The only difference is, you had to dial the area code first for that number while ours was just the seven digits. (This was in the late 90s) It didn’t take long for us to have to change our phone number because we were getting calls at all hours of the night from women in distress and my husband was usually the one who’d answer the phone. They’re not expecting a male voice, get spooked and hang up. It was much easier for us to change our number in this situation given that we didn’t want the shelter to have to deal with the mess it would have made.
I've been moved out for many years, and my parents have cells, but they still have a landline. The home phone number was one digit away from an old dine-in Pizza Hut. We usually just told them they had the wrong number, a couple of times we did mess with the caller. Three kids,
Years ago my mother had a phone number it was just one off! She got these calls in the middle of the night! For a radio station yes but most of the people calling for drunk! That's why they didn't get the number right! It was very Irritating!
Years ago, a pizza place opened that used the first name of their brand as the last four digits of their phone number. You'd think people could turn letters to numbers with them on the phone keys (years before cell phones) but no it got to the point I was telling them it was not 555-ATAT but 555-PAPA. Just lucky that AT&T didn't have a local number
I'm sorry but calling 555-50700 isn't the radio station's fault, it just shows you're an idiot because you don't know how phone numbers work.
Sadly, there are many idiots in the world. It's more constructive to change the way you do things so they won't misunderstand than to just call them idiots and let the annoyance continue.
Load More Replies...No the OP was being smart and not publishing his phone number on the internet. He used a fake number and the 555 to let people know its fake. If his parents are still alive and anything like my parents they will STILL have that landline (my parents have had the same one since they married in 1972).
Load More Replies...I work as a optometrist and years ago, we had the same number as a brothel in the same city. You can imagine what kind of calls we got every week. Was quite funny..
How could there be two identical numbers in the same city? Did your city have two area codes?
Load More Replies...The OP is fine but a lot of the additional stories are punishing wrong numbers for no reason.
I had the same problem back when I had a landline. One day we started getting a TON of calls for a doctor's office. This includes other doctors and pharmacists. The worst part is that they would blame ME for their wrong number "oh you must of just moved and got this number" to which I would reply "I've had this number for over X years so no, no I did not" Turns out they misprinted their business cards, RX pads, everything, and the receptionists where also giving out the wrong number, as they went by the cards. Their number was 555-6071, while ours was 555-6017. We didn't figure it out until a pharmacy called us back to apologize and tell us why this was happening. My answering machine would literally tell people we are not a doctor's office and they will not get your message........ still so many people left messages that I convinced hubby to get a cell phone so we could ditch the landline
30 some years ago the local nursing home set up a “Tell Santa what you want for Christmas “ hotline. The nursing home residents would field the calls. However their hotline number was very similar to our number. I started getting calls from children. Luckily I had read about the hotline so I was able to tell the children the correct number.
For several years we kept getting phone calls from people trying to reach the 6th form of a local high school. Our number was not at all like theirs. What had happened was that someone, the secretary I think, had put our phone number on their information leaflets. Again, no idea why as we didn't know this person and had nothing to do with the high school. I complained and the headteacher promised it would stop. But it went on for several years, with the secretary giving the wrong phone number to each new intake. It eventually stopped and to this day, I have no idea why it happened. Oddly, we have almost the same number as the vets, with just one digit difference. And yet we never get calls for them.
In grade school we had a private number (unlisted) that was in my room. Apparently it was one number off the number of the school. Every time it would snow, I would get calls asking if school was closed, and of course I would say yes. Or I would get calls telling me some kid would be late or absent, and I would pretend to lookup their name, and then say, ok got it.
A commercial nursery used to have MY work phone number on their website (the website had a typo), and when I started getting calls for them, I sent them an email telling them they needed to fix their website. I kept getting calls for them, and sending them emails about once a week. After a couple of months of wrong number calls, I got tired of it and started taking orders for them, telling the customer their plants would be ready in a few days. The customers were commercial landscapers, and undoubtedly the orders were for thousands of dollars. I only had to take orders for a couple of weeks before the calls stopped.
Years ago, I started getting calls on my cell phone for a man I had never heard of. I always told the callers that I was sorry, but I didn't know the man and they had the wrong number. It was concerning something to do with his taxes, so I assumed it was collections agencies. This went on for a while until one day I got a message from the State Treasurer himself angrily demanding to speak to this guy! I assured them that I really was not him and never heard about it again, but I still wonder what he did. Yikes.
For.many years, we would get calls from people looking for a certain fancy restaurant here in my city. We had 3822-3297, their number was (probably still is) 3822-3298. Once in high school a rich classmate was asking people if we had the number of this restaurant in our contacts, I just said it from the top of my head and they looked at me "Do you also eat at Thaís?" (Which sounded like "OMG, I hadn't realized you have money!") I quickly explained that, no, I wasn't a client, I just had to pick up lots of mis-dialed calls
My dad’s cell’s first 3 is the reverse of a tax line. He gets calls sometimes for them. He’ll very nicely say “sorry you want xyx and I’m yxy” and most will apologize. The angry ones who insist he’s wrong will get “ok fine, you owe 10k” and they’ll finally stop arguing and call the right number.
When I lived in Luton (UK) my firm's number was almost the same as the main number for the airport just with two of the digits transposed. Since it was an innocent mistake, unlike the main story above, I had the airport's actual number on a post it above my desk so I could tell them no sorry you want [number]. I did used to get frustrated though because I literally answered the phone with the name of the firm - an accountancy firm where the name was the owner's name & co. It sounds nothing like London Luton Airport. People don't listen.
Before I was "merged" into another cmpany my work phone number was similar to the hotline of a health insurance company when you forgot to dial the area code first. The number of calls I recieved was overwhelming. And no matter if I said my company name people would start telling me details of their hip replacement surgery etc. Glad I got a new number after the merger.
I worked for an orthopedic surgeon's office and the 3 digit area code was the only number difference for the phone number to a local cable company. I can't tell you HOW MANY TIMES people would call, I'd answer with the typical "You have reached (Dr's practice). How can I help you?" and when I finally determined they were trying to reach the cable company, I had to politely ask them to redial the phone number but this time with 1-800 instead of our area code. Amazing how people would argue with me saying "I already did that!" and having to respond with "No, I'm afraid you have reached (Dr's practice) office. Please try and call again using 1-800. Have a nice day!" and hang up.
That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. If one of the "car winners" were anything like the modern day Karen, and over a car no less, I bet the battle of hollow skulls would be quite a spectacle.
I thought 555 numbers didn't exist...that's why they use them in movies. Am I wrong?
No I think you're right, that's the same reason OP used 555, to not give out their actual full phone number.
Load More Replies...When I was growing up, our home phone number was one digit different from a local drug store. We got tired of arguing with callers about who we were and what was the right number. 95% of the callers wanted to know when the store would close that evening or open next morning. So we posted the store's hours by our phone and got rid of callers by telling them exactly what they were calling to find out. (For the other 5% we gave them the store's correct number.)
We had a similar phone number as the local movie theater. Got called all the time. At first I would give them the correct number. Most the time they thought I was fibbing. So the people that were not nice got movie names and times that I made up.😜
I work at an 'Old School' radio station. We still have DJs spinning live music and also take song requests. People still listen to us on the radio while driving. We are not extinct dinosaurs. 🤣
Back in the day, my mother thought it was (and it really was) a good idea to get us new phones in a 2-for-1 deal. The thing was, our new cell numbers were one digit off. I would get calls meant for her and she would get calls meant for me. Hilarity ensued when they said well just Tel Mrs XXX that I called, thinking i was now my father. Of course i wasn't married yet, but it caused a ton of confusion. My sister and father got the exact same deal, and once again, their numbers differed by 1. more fun.
We had a number that was really close to one held by (judging from the calls) bad auto repair shop. The calls didn't come often, but the customers were sometimes spitting angry and sometimes went on a rant before we could even tell them it was a wrong number. When the place went under was a happy day
When I lived off-campus for one summer semester during college, the phone line we set up for the apartment (this was early 2000s--my parents wouldn't buy me a cell phone), it used to be the number of a towing company. I'd get calls at like 6am and the person wouldn't even say hello, they'd just say an address. I'd be like (groggily) "Hello?" and they'd be like, "1500 main street." And I'd be like, "what?" And they'd go, "isn't this XYZ towing?" And I'd say, "no, this is a private residence." And they wouldn't even apologize, they'd just hang up. Ugh.
I’ve had the same cell number for over an decade and a cabin rental company in the next area code over from me has the same base number. So people who didn’t bother to type in the area code (when you could do that) or didn’t confirm the area code would sometimes end up calling my number. I started telling people how to reach the cabin rental company when I bothered to answer, and will text people who call and leave a message. As technology has progressed, it happens a lot less now. Maybe 1-2 times a year versus once a week.
When I was in high school whenever I would call the local Chinese restaurant I had a habit of messing up the ending of their number and I would frequently call a residential home the family was really nice about it. In 11th grade when I met my (now ex) boyfriend and he gave me his number I realized it was his house I'd been calling for years. The last numbers of their phone numbers were switched of the restaurant and I have dyslexia
When I was first married, our phone number was exactly the same as our local womens shelter. The only difference is, you had to dial the area code first for that number while ours was just the seven digits. (This was in the late 90s) It didn’t take long for us to have to change our phone number because we were getting calls at all hours of the night from women in distress and my husband was usually the one who’d answer the phone. They’re not expecting a male voice, get spooked and hang up. It was much easier for us to change our number in this situation given that we didn’t want the shelter to have to deal with the mess it would have made.
I've been moved out for many years, and my parents have cells, but they still have a landline. The home phone number was one digit away from an old dine-in Pizza Hut. We usually just told them they had the wrong number, a couple of times we did mess with the caller. Three kids,
Years ago my mother had a phone number it was just one off! She got these calls in the middle of the night! For a radio station yes but most of the people calling for drunk! That's why they didn't get the number right! It was very Irritating!
Years ago, a pizza place opened that used the first name of their brand as the last four digits of their phone number. You'd think people could turn letters to numbers with them on the phone keys (years before cell phones) but no it got to the point I was telling them it was not 555-ATAT but 555-PAPA. Just lucky that AT&T didn't have a local number
I'm sorry but calling 555-50700 isn't the radio station's fault, it just shows you're an idiot because you don't know how phone numbers work.
Sadly, there are many idiots in the world. It's more constructive to change the way you do things so they won't misunderstand than to just call them idiots and let the annoyance continue.
Load More Replies...No the OP was being smart and not publishing his phone number on the internet. He used a fake number and the 555 to let people know its fake. If his parents are still alive and anything like my parents they will STILL have that landline (my parents have had the same one since they married in 1972).
Load More Replies...
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