Mary Moore (Time Lady)

In the United States of America, Mary Moore was the first national voice of the Bell System's standardized speaking clock[1] and also provided the voice behind many telephone company recordings on equipment manufactured by Audichron.

Moore's voice was often recognized for the distinctive two-syllable pronunciations of 9 ("NY-un") and 5 ("FY-vuh").[2] This was a required of telephone operators at the time, because "nine" and "five" can sound very similar on a poor-quality line.

Prior to Moore's recordings and Audichron equipment, an operator would sit in a room and read the time every 10 seconds. Callers reaching a disconnected number would be informed by the operator personally. Moore had one of these reading jobs herself before she was formally recorded.

References

  1. ^ David Lazarus. “Time of day calling it quits at AT&T”. © Los Angeles Times, 2007. Newspaper. Los Angeles Times. 29 Aug 2007.
  2. ^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgoIJ9UDm5E&6m12s
Preceded by
Post created
Voice of AT&T
circa 1934 - 1 January 1963
Succeeded by
Jane Barbe