Abstract: A communication system (10) uses commercial, mass market paging transmission facilities (16) to deliver messages (18′) to a population of reception devices (22). Each reception device (22) includes a display screen (48) at which lines (72) of national and local news and advertising, a banner advertising box (74) and a clock (76) are displayed. Line buttons (54′) are aligned with the displayed lines (72). The reception device (22) is configured so that a user may press a line button (54′) aligned with a particular line (72) scrolling on the display screen (48) to view additional details related to the subject matter of the particular line (72). Selected lines (72) include alert activating codes (42) which signal the reception device (22), when enabled, to activate an alert which attracts the user's attention to those selected lines (72).