ho@csrd.uiuc.edu (Samuel W Ho) (09/25/90)
I'm sure that many readers have noticed the proliferation of telephone books in recent years. I believe that it's not directly related to the Breakup, just that the LEC's are happily selling white pages information to whoever wants to pay 40c/listing or so. Anyhow, most major cities have at least a couple of third-party phone books. In Seattle, I noticed US West (the LEC), GTE (the other LEC; GTE buys some US West listings), the American Directory Company, Great Northwest Publishers, and assorted "neighborhood" directories. That all made sense, even if it did make for a lot of excess phone books for the recycle bin. In Champaign, Illinois, I notice that there is the Ameritech Pages Plus, which has the shape and thickness of an LEC book, and an Illini Country phone book from Old Heritage publishers, which has the letter-size shape and thinness characteristic of a third-party book. So far so good. But then, I notice that the Ameritech Pages Plus is published by Donnelly Directory, and Old Heritage, of Ballwin, MO, is a subsidiary of Ameritech. What's going on? Did Ameritech contract out their phone book, and then create some competition for their contractor? Is Ameritech trying to have its cake and eat it, too? Did Ameritech and Donnelly get into a fight? It's peculiar. Incidentally, Old Heritage's ad in their own Yellow pages claims advertising coverage in a dozen states, about half of which are in Ameritech country. Each of Donnelly and Old Heritage has a big ad in its own yellow pages and a tiny ad in the other's, all under "Advertising, Directory and Guide", for the curious. Our Chicago friends and Moderator might look around in the half-dozen phone books that they probably have lying around for any other Ameritech surprises. Insights on the soap-opera lives of telephone book publishers welcome. Sam Ho (ho@csrd.uiuc.edu)