From: le@main.lekno.ws   
      
   Adam H. Kerman  wrote:   
   > David Samuel Barr  wrote:   
   >   
   >>>. . .   
   >   
   >>Unless the business model has changed in   
   >>recent years the Yellow Pages were always   
   >>an advertising medium, not a reference   
   >>directory; businesses had to pay to be   
   >>listed, with the majority also buying the   
   >>display ads which were the bulk of the   
   >>space of the book.   
   >   
   > Not correct. Every business subscriber of the incumbent phone company got   
   > a free listing per main telephone number at each location. He could request   
   > a classification or it would be assigned. The Yellow Pages were contracted   
   > to specific phone companies and telephone geography. If a business wanted   
   > to be listed not a subscriber to that telephone company and/or outside   
   > the geographical area, it had to be set up in the list provided to the   
   > Yellow Pages advertising bureau. Typically this required payment of   
   > foreign listing fee and the business would also appear in the white pages.   
   >   
   > The majority of business subscribers did not buy display ads as they   
   > were hideously expensive. In-column ads were cheaper, but even minimal   
   > advertising like use of bold print cost hundreds of dollars a year.   
   >   
   > There were of course business with nationwide advertising accounts that   
   > placed listings in telephone directories throughout the country.   
   >   
   >>It didn't matter which phone service the company used (and of course   
   >>for most of the past that wasn't even an issue).   
   >   
   > Yes, it did. If the directory publisher wasn't contracted to display   
   > listings of both white and yellow pages with a specific telephone   
   > company, the desired listing could be accomodated only as a foreign   
   > listing. In most states, there had been state laws imposed on incumbent   
   > telephone companies and sometimes cable telephony requiring distribution   
   > of phone directories. These laws did not apply to VoIP and these numbers   
   > are generally not included for free.   
   >   
   > When there were alternate directory publishers, the listings they   
   > included were under their own rules and not subject to state law.   
   >   
      
   My new (2023 edition) Yellow Pages have a white-page section yet   
   existing businesses are not all in it.   
   I note that the yellow-page section has fewer display ads than in   
   days of yore...the white-page section continues to have some highlighted   
   entries (I used to pay for that for my ISP).   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)