Telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause.
For the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode, see Telethon (Space Ghost Coast to Coast).
Most telethons feature heavy solicitations for pledges (promises to donate funds at a later time) by masters of ceremonies or hosts, who are often local celebrities or media personalities combined with variety show style entertainment such as singers, bands and instrumentalists. In some cases, telethons feature content related to the cause being supported, such as interviews with charitable beneficiaries, tours of charity-supported projects, or pre-taped sequences. The equivalent term for a radio broadcast is a radiothon; most radiothons do not include live entertainment.
In the United States, the first telethon used for political outreach occurred in 1960.[1]
History[edit]
United States[edit]
In 1949, Milton Berle hosted the first-ever telethon, raising $1,100,000 for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation over the course of 16 hours.[2][3] The first published appearance of the word "telethon" was in the following day's newspapers.
One of the first continuing annual telethons in the United States was the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) telethon. Television executive Leonard Goldenson and his wife had a daughter with cerebral palsy, and with the help of other affected parents, launched the UCP Telethon in 1950, with early television personality Dennis James as host. He continued to host New York-based segments on the telethon through the 1980s. The telethon is now defunct, as UCP raises funds through other means, including its website. By 1955 televised telethons had become a familiar enough part of American culture to be parodied that year in the film noir Tight Spot as comic relief.
The oldest continuing annual telethon in the United States on the same channel is Green Bay, Wisconsin, station WBAY-TV (channel 2)'s local Cerebral Palsy telethon,[4][5] which helps provide financial support for equipment for Cerebral Palsy, Inc., that began broadcasting as a 22-hour event on the first weekend of March 1954. As of 2016, WBAY has presented the telethon for 62 years.
Close behind the Green Bay telethon in longevity is the WHAS Crusade for Children in Louisville, Kentucky, which began in October 1954 on WHAS-TV (channel 11) and WHAS radio (840 AM).[6] It is still broadcast on the two WHAS stations despite their being owned by different entities for three decades, and has expanded to radio and TV stations in other parts of Kentucky and Indiana, as well as a live stream on the internet. The Crusade is famous for the legions of firefighters who collect money at roadblocks at intersections throughout the area each May and June.
The most-broadcast telethon to date was January 22, 2010, Hope for Haiti Now telethon, to aid the victims of the January 10th earthquake. It offered the possibility for viewers to text donations on cell phones and raised a reported $58 million by the next day. It was designed to show viewers a stark divide between them and the people surviving this catastrophic event.[7][8]
Australia[edit]
Melbourne's Good Friday Appeal, which began in 1931, started its telethon in 1957 after the Seven Network joined as a sponsor.[9]
Adelaide's first telethon was held at the Tynte Street, North Adelaide, studios of NWS9 in December 1960. One fundraiser was Barry Jones, then famous as a quiz champion. Viewers could, for a fee, attempt to "stump" him with their favorite question.[10]
Prior to the establishment of their annual telethon in 1968, Perth station TVW broadcast one-off telethons for bushfire relief in 1961, and to raise funds for Christmas care packages sent to Western Australian soldiers serving in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967.[11]
Other types[edit]
Similar to telethons, but considerably shorter, are nationally televised benefit concerts following major disasters such as the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. These are generally three-time broadcasts meant to spur immediate humanitarian contributions, not part of the annual donation drives of the charities involved. Typically a phone number or website will appear on screen during the entire concert for donors to make pledges, though there may not necessarily be a live host announcing.