Renee's clue this AM was "the year the modem was invented" -- depending on who you believe, that's either 1977 (which we did the other day) or 1955 (not gonna happen). So I'm guessing that was the wrong promo.
What a dumb clue. The technology dates back to the middle of the 20th century and possibly
earlier; the term
modem first appeared in the late '50s when their wide-spread by the
U.S. military began; and the first commercial modems were offered for sale in the early 1960s.
The closest thing would be the introduction of the Hayes Smartmodem, which occurred in 1981.