Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993                   TAG: 9306110079
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Michael Finley
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DIAL-A-PORN BEHIND IT, 900 PHONE SERVICE FINALLY COMING INTO ITS OWN

But there is even better news. With dial-a-porn behind it, 900 phone service is finally coming into its own. Companies are using 900 numbers as a way of selling canned information, real-time, live-person advice, to conduct market research, and to provide customer support. It's also proving a boon to pollsters and fund raisers.

For me, the first time I really understood 900 service was 10 years ago when Eddie Murphy challenged "Saturday Night Live" callers to call in on one of two 900 numbers. Dialing one number voted to drop a live lobster, named Larry, into a pot of boiling water; dialing the other was a vote for clemency. Half a million people called in within an hour, voting narrowly to spare Larry. Murphy cooked him anyway, but not before consumers saw how a simple but powerful technology works.

A 900 business is a partnership between the owner, a service bureau and the local phone company. The service bureau, for about a dime a minute on each call, manages your voice messaging system and monitors incoming calls. The phone company does all the collecting for you -- automatically billing callers on their monthly phone bills and sending you a monthly check -- whatever you charge, minus about 30 cents per minute of calls, and another dime for collecting it. You keep 50 cents of every dollar.

People will shell out $1 or $2, even $4 a minute for the darnedest things, provided you successfully alert customers to your existence, that they perceive good value today and continue to perceive good value tomorrow -- repeat customers are critical to 900 success.

There are hundreds of examples of ideas which have succeeded:

For up-to-the-moment stock quotations, call Dow Jones Quick Call at 1-900-246-4444. If you want the latest currency exchange rates, dial currency brokers Noone, Astley & Pierce at 1-900-288-5858.

Need to know surf conditions? Ten-hangers can find out what the waves are like on any beach in the world by calling 1-900-USA-SURF. Or, for ski conditions around the U.S., dial 1-900-976-SNOW.

Having problems holding the ends of your life together? Call Whitehall Laboratories' stress relief line for ideas, at 1-900-329-STRESS. (They'll even send you some Anacin.)

For live advice from a registered veterinarian, call 1-900-PHONE-A-VET. Or, if your dog just swallowed something questionable, you can get quick emergency assistance by dialing the National Animal Poison Control Center at 1-900-680-0000.

There's a Nanny Hotline, connecting parents and qualified nannies, at 1-900-446-6269.

Dungeons and Dragons players can get help at how to get the torch from the hand of the dead dwarf on the sixth level by dialing 1-900-737-HINT.

And of course you'd be remiss if you failed to call Hulk Hogan and hear firsthand about his upcoming gladiatorial challenges, at 1-900-454-HULK.

(Note that numbers go in and out of business rapidly, and none are free, so dial at your own risk. Note, too, that the company you call may capture data about you, and come back to you at a later date, via direct mail or phone call, with follow-up offers.)

If you're in direct marketing, 900 lets you shift costs back onto your customers. In that sense it is the opposite of an 800 number, where you pick up the customer's tab. But this arrangement works best when you are selling exclusive items, and the only way customers can buy them is by dialing you. If you are vying for customers -- and who isn't -- 800 is still the way to go.

Or try Robert Mastin's 900 Know-How (Aegis Books, 401-849-4200). Mastin believes there are a million businesses yet to be born, as people realize they have information or expertise that people will pay a dollar or two to impart.