The end of the telegram: 2006

[Bill, KD0HG]

02/01/2006 DENVER (AP) - For decades, messages of joy, sorrow, and success came in signature yellow envelopes delivered by hand by a courier on a bicycle. Now after 154 years, the Western Union telegram is officially a thing of the past.

The company formed in April 1856 to commercially exploit the hot technology of the telegraph to send cross country messages in less than a day and is now focusing its attention on money transfers and other financial services, quietly ended its telegram service on Friday.
 
"The decision was a hard decision because we're fully aware of our heritage," Victor Chayet, a spokesman for the Greenwood Village-based company said Wednesday. "But it's the final transition from a communications company to a financial services company."
 
Several telegraph companies that eventually combined to become Western Union were founded in 1851. It built its first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861.
 
In 1994, Western Union Financial Services was acquired by First Financial Management Corp. which completed a $7 billion merger with First Data the following year.
 
Telegrams reached their peak in the 1920s and 1930s when it was cheaper to send a telegram than to place a long distance phone call. People would save money by using the word "stop" instead of periods to end sentences because punctuation was extra while the four character word was free, Chayet said.
 
Telegrams were used to announce the first flight in 1903 and the start of World War I. During World War II, the sight of a Western Union courier was feared because the War Department, the precursor to the Department of Defense, used the company to notify families of the death of their loved ones serving in the military, Cheyet said.
 
With long distances rates dropping and different technologies for communicating evolving -- including the Internet -- Western Union phased out couriers in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 
By last year, only 20,000 telegrams were sent at about $10 a message, mostly from companies using the service for official notification, Cheyet said.
 
Last week, the last 10 telegrams included birthday wishes, condolences on the death of a loved one, notification of an emergency, and several people trying to be the last to send a telegram.
 
"Recent generations didn't receive telegrams and didn't know you could send them," Chayet said.
 
Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse Code, sent the first telegram from Washington to Baltimore on May 26, 1844, to his partner Alfred Vail to usher in the telegram era that displaced the Pony Express. It read "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?"
 
"If he only knew," Chayet said of the myriad of choices today, which includes text message on cell phones, the Internet and cheap long distance phone rates.

[w1guh]

Yes...it's sad that telebrams are defunct.  How may important messages were sent via telegram?
I'm gonna post a joke about telegrams on "cuttin' up".

Paul

[WD8BIL]

Hello Home Grown stop
Yes the eras do fly by stop
Wonder ifn you can still "wire" some money to post my bail stop
Catch you on the air stop
Buddly stop (please)

[John Holotko]

Does this mean you can't send a Western Union "Candy-Gram" anymore ??  I remember during the 60'they used to advertise wiring "candy grams"to people.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Hello Home Grown stop
Yes the eras do fly by stop
Wonder ifn you can still "wire" some money to post my bail stop
Catch you on the air stop
Buddly stop (please)

LOL, Bud!

Actually, a lot of the courts around here take VISA/MC/Discover for bail.

I'm just about ready to get back on the air...This winter has been incredibly windy around here, we were getting weeks of chinook winds over 75 MPH and my wire antennas really took a beating. Broke two pulleys, took the 160M sloper down and bent a piece of 1" water pipe I was using for an outrigger supporting the 300' 75M double-zepp. Incredible.
I think there's only three wings left on the TV antenna up there.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to shorten the stick one of these days to make sure it survives long-term.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Does this mean you can't send a Western Union "Candy-Gram" anymore ??  I remember during the 60'they used to advertise wiring "candy grams"to people.

But you can still send a "Strip-O-Gram". I suppose they could bring a box of candy along.

[Ed KB1HVS]

--doorbell rings
Gilda:  Who is it?
at door:  Mrs. Robolohahe?  (mumbled)
Gilda:  Who is it?
at door:  Plumber.
Gilda:  Plumber?  I didn't ask for a plumber.  Who is it?
at door:  Telegram.
Gilda:  Oh, telegram.  Just a moment.
--Gilda opens the door and is eaten by the Landshark

--knock at the door
Lorraine:  Yes?
at door:  Mrs. Jarlsburg?  (mumbled)
Lorraine:  Who?
at door:  Mrs. Boroughyu?  (mumbled)
Lorraine:  Who is it?
at door:  Flowers.
Lorraine:  Flowers for whom?
at door:  Plumber, maam.
Lorraine:  I don't need a plumber.
           You're that clever shark, aren't you?
at door:  Candygram.
Lorraine:  Candygram my foot.
           You get out of here before I call the police.
           You're the shark and you know it.
at door:  Uh, uh, I'm only a dolphin, maam.
Lorraine:  A dolphin, Well, ok.
--Lorraine opens the door and is eaten by the Landshark

--doorbell rings
Jane:  Who is it?
at door:  Landshark.
Jane:  Oh, Walter.  Landshark, honest to gd.
--Jane opens the door and is eaten by the Landshark

[John Holotko]

Telegram Sam you're my main man

[wb1aij]

This will limit the number of ways that the shark on the old "Saturday Night Live" can try to get the girl to open the door. I guess he can still use "Flower Delivery" & "Pizza Delivery."

[W1ATR]

A friend gave me a couple of DVD's with a lot of the old SNL shows he recorded from his collection. It's that kind of timeless goofyness that keeps me popping those DVD's in once and a while. It's funny to see Chevy Chase doing the Landshark thing back 25 and 30 years ago.

73
Jared W1ATR