Western Union Tries To Freshen Up The Singing Telegram

Snoop Dogg at the Snoop Dogg Supafest 2011.(Eva Rinaldi)

Western Union, the telegraph and global payment company, is bringing back its singing telegram. And they’re adding some glitz.

Instead of being serenaded on your birthday by a Western Union representative, now the likes of rappers Snoop Dogg or K’naan will wish you well–though they won’t actually show up on your doorstep, the greetings are delivered via email.

And the celebs aren’t singing alone– the person sending the telegram gets to add their voice too, creating a duet of sorts.

Singing telegrams first started in 1933 and Western Union ended the service in 2006 to focus on its money transfer business.

“We’re bringing them back in a virtual and social way, in tune with the times,” Diane Scott, executive vice president of Western Union in Englewood, Colo. told the New York Times.

Right now the telegrams are free, but Western Union plans to begin charging eventually.

Western Union: Send A Singing Telegram

Guest:

Pat Vialpando, who used to deliver singing telegrams the old fashioned way

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Ukeogram

I enjoyed this story. I just started a singing telegram company in the Lansing, MI area called Uke-O-Gram that delivers them the old-fashioned way; sung in person, played on the ukulele. http://www.ukeogram.com
http://www.soundsofconcord.org/ Steve Nester

Nice feature! I especially enjoyed it because I am an annual “Singing Valentine” deliverer in the Boston area. I sing in the Sounds of Concord barbershop chorus and almost all barbershop choruses are involved in this endeavor. It’s a lot of fun and my knees have stopped shaking. So live deliveries are still…alive @ http://www.singingvalentines.com