ALTON - What many on Facebook are grieving as a beloved institution is no more.

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Time and Temperature, a service sponsored by OSF St. Anthony's Health Center, was discontinued recently. The service, which could be reached at (618) 465-4545, would update callers with the time, temperature and current weather conditions. For many in the era before cellphones, Google and the inevitable combination of the two, Time and Temperature dictated that day's clothing apparel and set several watches.

OSF St. Anthony's Health Center Media Relations Coordinator Libby Allison said in an email the service is gone because OSF St. Anthony's Health Center terminated a sponsorship with a company called ETC.

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"At OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony's Health Center, we continually evaluate the programs and services we offer, and have discontinued the sponsorship of the time and temperature service," Allison said in the email. "More often than not, people have instant access to time and temperature services via their smartphones, and our call volume over the last few years has certainly reflected that. We had been receiving less than 10 percent of the calls we received in years past. Because we strive to be good stewards of our resources, we believe those sponsorship dollars can be put to better use in the future."

There is an alternative to Time and Temp, however. WBGZ has a 24-hour time and temperature service, which can be reached at (618) 465-2272, Allison said in the email.

The sponsorship with ETC began in 1998, and the line had several sponsors over the years, including financial institutions, Allison said. One of the last banks wanted to stop its sponsorship, leaving the messaging and sponsorship solely the burden of OSF St. Anthony's Health Center.

When asked who the iconic soothing female voice was on the other end of the line, Allison said she did not know - all voice-over and recording work was done by ETC.

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