You've Got Podcast: A Political Farewell To AOL Dial-Up Internet Service C-SPAN's The Weekly podcast

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You've Got Podcast: A Political Farewell to AOL Dial-Up Internet Service

4d ago 17:57

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There was a time, decades ago, when politicians where astounded every time they went online and discovered – to their glee – they had mail.

Like Harry Reid – here's the Democratic Senator from Nevada on October 27th, 1999:

"Today, it's hard for me to comprehend what has taken place in the advancement of science. At home at my computer, I go home at night and see if I have received any e-mail on my computer. It is easy to do. I open my computer, and it says, ‘'You’ve got mail.' I open that up and find out who has contacted me by email, and it is like magic. I press a button, and I can reply to that person as quickly as I can type that message out. That message is sent quicker, of course, than the speed of light. It is gone."

Senator Reid said getting mail online was like magic -- suggesting powerful forces summoned by the supernatural.

But it really was just dial up internet service provided by America Online. Now AOL is shutting down that relic of the 1990s … and with it goes that once ubiquitous phrase -- "You've got mail." … It may be officially gone, but for C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" – "You've got mail" lives on – No mourning here, just celebration…Which we'll do in this week's episode – as we remember a brave new tech world decades ago, when politicians were dazzled every time they dialed up and discovered – They had mail.

Who were these politicians – and what did they say?

Find out in C-SPAN's "The Weekly."

Find C-SPAN's "The Weekly" wherever you get podcasts.

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