Western Union Resurrects Singing Telegram

But will anyone pay for them, 'Time' wonders?
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2011 12:47 PM CST
Western Union Resurrects Singing Telegram
A Western Union singing telegram advertisement from 1955.   (Photo: Business Wire)

Why send an email when you can send a singing telegram? Western Union is bringing the old-timey method of communication back, but with—of course—a modern twist. Sadly, Western Union operators will not actually deliver the telegrams or sing in person. But starting tomorrow, when wu-singingtelegram.com goes live, you can send electronic singing telegrams featuring yourself—or, if you don't trust your singing voice, artists such as Snoop Dogg and Timbaland.

The audio messages, which will be sent via email, will be free for the rest of the year; Western Union will start charging in 2012. The company sent its first singing telegram in 1933, and continued offering telegrams until 2006. Other companies have come up with things like candygrams and strip-o-grams, but nothing else quite caught on like singing telegrams, Time reports—although it remains to be seen whether modern consumers will actually pay for such a service. (More singing telegram stories.)

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