In the 1980s, you could go to Radio Shack and get some cool things. One thing that I found was a cassette tape that featured celebrities' impersonations to spice up your answering machine. The impersonations weren't all that good.
These tapes were to be funny and encourage people to leave messages. I have a couple of different cassette tapes in my collection. I don't know why I felt the need to buy a series. As I recall the tapes cost about $5. They were placed near the phones and answering machines.
In the late 1990's one of the late-night infomercials was Video Professor. They produce training CDs on how to use the computer. In the half-hour-long Infomercial, they were promoting the ability to try out their videos in any subject that people want. All you had to do is pay for shipping and handling.
What Video Professor didn't talk much about is the "fine print." Customers would be signed up for a subscription service where future videos would be charged to the credit card on file. They wouldn't get charged if they canceled their subscription. Some of the videos would cost between $50 to $399.
Due to various lawsuits and lagging sales, the company folded in 2002.
Here is a clip of the commercial that I recorded on April 24, 1999 - nearly 22 years ago.
This week, I decided to feature some classic New England Commercials.
These I had digitalized in 1998 on my Macintosh Centris 660AV computer. I may still have the orginal DVDs and could create a better quality version in the future.
In this week's video:
Bank Of Boston - Great Tune!
Ames - Classic Department store. (I remember the one in Acton, Massachusetts.)
Breakfast Mate - Not Really New England, but on a VHS tape that was New England.
Eastern Airlines - This one is pretty old. Not exactly sure of the date. Care to guess?
Here are a couple of scam voice messages that I got in the past few months. These don't actually seem to be real people but just computer-generated messages. I guess they want to see if I am gullible and will respond to the voice messages to get more information.
Enjoy!
Capital One
Missed Call from 800-258-6019. This isn't a Capital One phone number and I don't even have a Capital one Credit Card.
Hello. This is Elizabeth calling from the underwriting department regarding your Capital one credit card account based on your recent payment activity and balance you may be eligible for an interest rate reduction to as low as 1.9% and there is additional information. I need to confirm your eligibility or so please return my call directly in the underwriting department at 1-800-258-6019. Once again 1-800-258-6019 and will be the only notice you receive and this offer is only valid for three business days. Thank you.
Student Loan Processing Department
Missed Call from (617) 380-3109. Note the caller never mentions the actual name of the company, just as "student loan processing department."
Hey, sorry, I missed you. This is Andrew of on with the student loan processing department. I'm following up because there's a lot happening right now with the new year and the new President and since you have been completed your student loan forgiveness application with us we really need to finish it now. So please give us a callback today at this number before 6:00 PM if you're no longer interested that's fine too just call us and let us know you're not interested. I will remove you from our follow, up list and cancel the pending application, thanks and happy new year.
Back in 2000, there was a bomb scare by the "Gold Building" in Downtown San Jose. Many streets were closed off because they didn't know how dangerous the package was.
Watch the 6 pm coverage by KRON TV. The video features Pete Wilson at the anchor desk, Sgt. Steve Dixon, and Jim Goldman reporting from the field.
Fun Fact
I was there!
The interesting thing about this story is that I was actually n the building when this was all going on. I had arrived at work really early that morning. There wasn't an announcement to the people in the building to leave.
I remember calling co-workers letting them know what was happening.
Back in the late 1990s I lived in San Jose, California. One of the shows that I loved to watch was the 11 pm KRON news.
I had a VCR recorder, and every once in a while, I would record the news.
The following are a couple of clips from the year 2000. The first clip features the "Internet Phone" - a phone in the desert. The second clip is a classic "From the File" funny that Pete Wilson would do.
There seems to be a lot of scammers trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic. Back in September, I got this strange voice mail:
Apple Transcript
This is the transcript done by Apple:
'Hello please listen carefully the new law CV 19 - makes a current credit card balances in certain price of the loans and lines of credit, not a collectible and not enforceable so um do the current situation that we're all facing the new laws helping to stop predatory banks and lenders what we all get back on track if you want to find out how much of your debt will be your race please just call me back at 619-900-2845 again 619-900-2845 thanks take care''
Fun Facts
As of today, there has been no law about loans or credit card debt not being collectible or enforceable.
The phone number: 619-900-2845 is the same number on the caller id. It registers to no person or organization - at least nothing found online.
Notice that the voice message never indicates the company/financial company that they represent.
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