The Southeast Missourian has been offering a special telephone dating service to its single readers for more than a month.

Unveiled Nov. 6, "Talking Personally" is the first local 1-900 service to help singles meet other singles of the opposite sex.

After a strong start, participation in the service has slowed a little, said Missourian classified advertising director Pat Zellmer.

Jo Rodgers, community liaison for the service, said the main reason for the slowdown in advertising is that Talking Personally has already proven itself extremely successful.

"Perhaps too successful," she said. "Many of those who were advertising in the first couple of weeks are now dating someone they met through Talking Personally.

"When I called one man to see if he wanted to resume his ad, he told me: `Things are a-popping, Jo. I've met this wonderful woman, thanks to you,'" said Rodgers.

"Of course, this is all very exciting," Rodgers said.

To help introduce the service to new participants, the newspaper has waived all charges for those who place an ad through Dec. 31. For those who respond to personals ads in the newspaper without placing one themselves, the charge will still be $1.50 per minute.

"The biggest challenge for many newspapers that initiate talking personals, especially for newspapers outside urban areas, is explaining to their readers how the telephone system works," Zellmer said. "It takes a while for them to get used to a telephone system."

Rodgers said: "A few of the people who have used Talking Personally have told me that they just feel uncomfortable with the voice messages. Many of these have advertised in our Find-a-Friend service, and they prefer writing letters back and forth to dealing with the telephone."

Rodgers explained that operating the telephone system is actually quite simple. "Few who have placed ads have had any trouble recording or retrieving messages," she said. "The only recurring problem is that we have to remind participants that the system only works for those calling in on a touch-tone phone."

"We'd love to help some more singles meet each other," said Rodgers. "It's really quite easy. All they have to do is give Talking Personally a try."

Zellmer said that beginning today Talking Personally will appear in the Southeast Missourian classified section three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.