PRT Ra se

on * NEWS photo Neil Lucente |

STARTING THIS.Sun J day, April 29, your: fingers can do the
-walking In:searsh of a mate thanks: to the Narth Shere News’
Talking Personats. ° —

=F OUR NEW ADDRESS WILL BE
| #17, 949 West 3rd St.
North Vancouver:

ARUSONEDED Tee Poe

Art thou lonely, O my brother?
Share thy little with anoiher!
Stretch a hand to one unfriended,
And thy loneliness is ended.

—John Oxenham’s Lonely
Brother

SINCE THERE is roughly the
same number of women as
men in the world, it is not
unreasonable to expect a part-
ner.

Robert Gaister
Contributing Writer

However, from time to time,
most of us have lived through peri-
ods in our fives when we couldn't
buy a date, never mind nourishing a
long-term relationship.

The °90s reasoning for times like
these, is that in today’s society we

“are simply too busy to meet people.

There are two underlying prob-
lems with this explanation.

First, it implies that in the past
(the °70s and ’80s) we had more
time; and second, if we had more
time we would meet a lot more peo-
ple, including potential partners.

People have always been busy
(the ’80s didn’t get the decade-of-
greed label from its leisure activi-
ties) and more free time would

- increase the amount of time people
. spend alone. Probably watching TV.

As far as dating, or lack of there-
of, is concerned, there is only one

unique~"90s qualifier: the fact that

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66 Voice ads will
appear in the Voice
Personals of each
Sunday's paper. 99

* we are trying to cope.

The difference today is tha! we
are Starling to come up with solu-
tions for overcoming the barriers
single people encounter when trying
to meet potential partners.

On Sunday, April 29, the North
Shore News will introduce one of
these solutions, cutled Talking
Personals...

This interactive voice technolo-
gy is a marriage of computer tech-
nology and the household tele-
phone.

“Basically, it is a voice mail sys-

tem supported by print ads,” said.

Chery! Carter of the Vancouver
Area Newspaper Network.

Readers interested in matching
themselves with a mate can simply
call the voice Personals System at
1-800-466-6856 and place a free
print ad.

These ads then appear in the

Voice Personals section of each
Sunday’s paper.

Interested suitors then call 257-
1425 and place their free voice
greeting.

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The system asks a a few questions
about the caller's characteristics.
and in turn, preferences.

Questions range from inquiring
about the’ caller’s sex, age and reli-
gion, to their preferences in a part-
ner’s age.

These answers are tabulated and-
matched with other Voice Personals
‘singles.

The singles that fit the “Instant

Match” criteria will automatically
be placed in each other's voice
mailbox.

Users can check their: messages
as often as they like by using their

secret access code. An option to

have the system cal! people. and Iet-:
them know they have new messages
is also available. :

As part of an introductory offer
individuals can. listen: without
charge to messages that others have
left. A charge of $2 per minute is
collected for listening io matches
made via the “Instant Matches” fea-
ture. The same’ charge is levied ‘on
users leaving a message.

“Besides, adding an interesting,
new reader element to our newspa-
pers, Talking Personals will allow
our readers to interact with each
other through our system,” says
Carter. “Interactive Voice Response
systems are part of our journey on
the information superhighway.”

Whether or noi the Talking
Personals are the meeting place of
the "90s remains to be seen, but one
thing is certain: finding that match °
is‘never easy.

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Sunday April 24, 1994. Some Quantities may be Limited