The song, released in late 1981, initially gained popularity on the American West Coast in January 1982; many who had the number soon abandoned it because of unwanted calls. Asking telephone companies to trace the calls was of no use, as Charles and Maurine Shambarger (then in West Akron, Ohio, at +1-216-867-5309) learned when Ohio Bell explained: "We don't know what to make of this. The calls are coming from all over the place." A little over a month later, they disconnected the number and the phone became silent. In some cases, the number was picked up by commercial businesses and organizations, or acquired for use in radio promotions. • In 1982,
WLS radio obtained the number from a
Chicago woman, receiving 22,000 calls in four days. The number was subsequently assigned to the Rhode Island company Gem Plumbing & Heating, which registered it as a trademark in 2005. • A February 2004 auction for the number in a
New York City code was shut down by
eBay after objections from
Verizon; bidding had reached $80,000. The US
Federal Communications Commission takes the position that most phone numbers are "public resources" that "are not owned by carriers or their customers" but did not rule out the number being sold as part of a business. • A subsequent February 2004 auction for the number in
area code 800 and
888 listed Jeffrey Steinberg's Philadelphia business JSS Marketing for sale, including both numbers as part of the bundle. This circumvents eBay restrictions, which prevent selling the numbers on their own. • In 2004,
Weehawken, New Jersey, resident Spencer Potter picked up the number for free after discovering to his surprise that it was available in the
201 area code, hoping it would improve his
DJ business. Unable to handle the overwhelming volume of calls, he sought to sell the number on eBay in February 2009. Although bids reached $1 million, his inability to confirm the identity of the bidders led him to sell it privately to Retro Fitness, a gym franchise with a location in
Secaucus, New Jersey, that felt the 1980s origin of the number tied in with their business's retro theme. In 2007, Gem Plumbing & Heating brought suit against Clockwork Home Services, the parent company of Benjamin Franklin Franchising, alleging a violation of its trademark. Clockwork contended that Gem's trademark was invalid. Effective in May 2007, Clockwork was ordered by a court to stop using the number in
New England. According to Tommy Heath, lead singer of Tommy Tutone: "It's ridiculous. If I wanted to get into it, I could probably take the number away from both of them." • In 2009, nutrition firm Natrient LLC leased +1-800-867-5309 from 5309 Partners Ltd for $25 million as part of a radio ad campaign. • In July 2009, Jason Kaplan had +1-267-867-5309 assigned to a
Vonage phone line in the name of a small business and then listed the entire business for sale on
eBay. The auction closed at $5,500. • In January 2013, Five309 LLC announced plans to use 855-867-5309 and 888-867-5309 to promote the website JennySearch.com. • In 2013, Florida realtor Carrie Routt was still receiving fifty
prank calls daily at +1-850-867-5309. • A
Fort Collins, Colorado, restaurant, Totally 80's Pizza, uses +1-970-867-5309 as part of its 1980s theme. • In 2026, the Cancer Support Community and
Gilda's Club, co-signed by Tutone, adopted +1 272-867-5309 as the phone number for a cancer support helpline.
Springsteen controversy Singer-songwriter
Bruce Springsteen's 2007 single "
Radio Nowhere" features a set of guitar riffs at the beginning that many fans considered particularly similar to "867-5309/Jenny", although the lyrics and the tone of the two songs are quite different. Regarding legal action, Heath said, "I think it's close enough that if I wanted to, I could work with it... I don't really get into that sort of thing, but the kids do need braces, so maybe I will." He later clarified that he had no interest in suing and felt "really honored at a similarity, if any". == Charts ==