This Day in History (1982): All Set for Changeover

From the Nov. 24, 1982 edition of The Arabian Sun

Communications Operations technician Hasan A. Al-Akkas makes final adjustments to the Central Office switching system in Dhahran in preparation for the changeover from five-digit to seven-digit dialing on Nov. 26.

Aramco telephone users are reminded that as of 0001 hours on Friday, they will be required to dial the area prefix as the Aramco number in order for their call to go through. 

The prefixes are as follows: 87 for Central Area (Dhahran); 67 for the Northern Area (Ras Tanura); 57 for the Southern Area (Abqiq and 'Udhailiyah); and 37 for Safaniyah. Yanbu' has a slightly different pattern and callers should consult their new directory for information.

When dialing al-Khobar and Damma, the prefix 91 will no longer be necessary, nor will 92 for dialing Madinat Abqaiq or 95 for Hofuf.

The caller need only dial the Saudi telephone system seven-digit number. The 110 emergency number is not being changed, and all 100 lines will remain open as usual throughout the changeover.

Also on this day:

2016 — American actress famous for her role in The Brady Bunch dies at 82

2009 — The Avdhela Project, an Aromanian digital library and cultural initiative, is founded in Bucharest

1989 — Communist rule comes to an end in Czechoslovakia after a week of mass protests against the party, and is called the Velvet Revolution

1973 — A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany, but only lasts four months

1971 — D.B. Cooper, a mysterious hijacker, parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom money, and then disappears.

1963 — John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, and is killed

1877 — Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" is published

1859 — Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species"

1642 — Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land. It is later renamed Tasmania.