Jens von der Heide <jens@mot.com> (04/05/91)
The other day my roomate received a strange call: "Hi, I'm calling from Channel 2 News. Could you tell me if you see a building on fire next door ?? Are there a lot of fire trucks around?? Are you sure?? Could you look out your window ?? Well, OK, bye." Needless to say, there was no fire activity around. Later that night the mystery was explained. We recently moved, and, kept the same phone number. The apartment next door to our previous address was on fire. Apparently, the local news station looked up our phone in a phone directory that lists numbers by address and probably wanted to see if the activity was worth covering. I don't what eventually happened, except that some former neighbors are out of an apartment. jens@corp.mot.com Voice: (708) 576-3312 UUCP: uunet!motcid!jens
"Mark D. Fisher" <gt6392b@prism.gatech.edu> (04/17/91)
In article <telecom11.271.4@eecs.nwu.edu> jens@mot.com (Jens von der Heide) writes: > "Hi, I'm calling from Channel 2 News. Could you tell me if you see a > building on fire next door ?? Are there a lot of fire trucks around?? > Needless to say, there was no fire activity around. Later > that night the mystery was explained. We recently moved, and, kept > the same phone number. The apartment next door to our previous > address was on fire. Apparently, the local news station looked up our > phone in a phone directory that lists numbers by address and probably > wanted to see if the activity was worth covering. I once had a very similar experience: I had moved taking my old telephone number with me. Then several months later I received a call from the local tv news. He asked me about the fire in my building. Before I was in a complete panic, we realized what had happened. My old roommates were soon looking for a new place to live :-) Mark D. Fisher