Telecommunications Pillows
Description: Southwestern Bell traces its roots back to The Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company, which was founded in 1882. It was consolidated under a single management unit of the Bell System with Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company of Texas-Arkansas, Pioneer Telephone and Telegraph Company of Oklahoma, and The Bell Telephone Company of Missouri—on March 1, 1912. These companies comprised the "Southwestern System" of the Bell System. The latter three companies were legally merged into Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company in 1917, which was renamed Southwestern Bell. This '70s design is a replica of a tee technicians were given to promote the company's customer service.
Description: In 1927, NBC-operated radio network was called the NBC Blue Network. It would later on become an independent radio (and, eventually, television) network known as the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1943. ABC later joined United Paramount Theatres forming American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres (later American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.). After its venture into radio and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s and the purchase of ESPN Inc. in 1982, the company would later be acquired/merged with Capital Cities, forming Capital Cities/ABC in 1985. The company ultimately sold to The Walt Disney Company in 1995.
Description: General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (GTE ), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company was founded in 1934, with roots tracing back well into the 1920s. GTE's groundwork was laid by Wisconsin-based Associated Telephone Utilities Company in 1926, going bankrupt in 1933 during the Great Depression, and reorganizing as General Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1934. While the company went through countless branding changes before being bought out by Bell Atlantic in 2000, this particular design is one of the most well-known logos that were in place throughout their last thirty or so years of operation.
Description: Before smartphones. Before apps. Before unlimited plans. There was ICE-T Mobile. Step back into the golden age of oversized cell phones, booming bass, and West Coast swagger with this vintage-inspired telecom advertisement featuring the one and only Ice-T. Styled like a forgotten 1980s cellular company promo, this design celebrates an era when mobile phones were the size of bricks and carrying one meant you were somebody. Featuring bold Old English lettering, a classic black-and-white aesthetic, the Los Angeles skyline, and Ice-T rocking the legendary brick phone, this shirt looks like a piece of authentic retro advertising pulled straight from the dawn of the mobile revolution.
Description: WorldCom was not just the biggest accounting scandal in the history of the United States, but it was also one of the biggest bankruptcies. Considered a telecommunications giant, the revelation that it had cooked its books came on the heels of the Enron and Tyco frauds, which had rocked the financial markets. However, the scale of the WorldCom fraud put even them in the shade. This spate of corporate crime led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July 2002, which strengthened disclosure requirements and the penalties for fraudulent accounting. However, WorldCom left a stain on the reputation of accounting firms, investment banks and credit rating agencies that has never quite been removed.
Description: Founded in Redmond, Washington in 1986, McCaw Cellular Communications was a cellular telephone pioneer that had been laying the groundwork for a cellular empire since 1981 while operating as a cable TV provider. Savvy licensing of cellular spectrum in the early '80s put McCaw Cellular in an extremely strong position, quickly outpacing the growth of the "Baby Bells" in the emerging market. Key acquisitions of mobile businesses gave them widespread access in all of the major US markets. In 1990, McCaw owned the first truly national cellular system. A national telecommunications company purchased 33% of the company in 1992, and arranged a merger in 1994 that absorbed McCaw Cellular Communications.
