This amusing sketch from Balmer in 1986 ends with the words “$99! Order today!.. Except in Nebraska”
I googled why, and it turned out to be quite funny. For many years, there were a whole bunch of things that were available “except in Nebraska”.
During the Cold War, when telephone systems were a Bell monopoly, there simply weren’t enough phone lines… except in Nebraska, where, it is said, the Strategic Air Command insisted on a huge number of them in case of nuclear war. Evidently, the nuclear war did not extend beyond Japan and certainly didn’t reach Nebraska, so most of the time these lines remained unused. Another theory suggests that this was facilitated by the state’s location and infrastructural capabilities.
A whole bunch of mail-order companies set up call centers there because it was one of the few places where you could come and order a whole bunch of lines for business.
However, according to Bell company rules, you could not use an 800 number simultaneously for calls out of state and for in-state calls. Therefore, companies had two options — either set up two numbers, one for 98% of US residents calling out of state, and one for locals… or simply indicate (as required by advertising law) that the particular offer was not available in Nebraska. Many did just that, and the meme became so entrenched that Balmer used it in this sketch.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 