THOSE WORKING IN RADIO, or those covering it as journalists, are always preoccupied with what’s next technologically or what’s threatening radio’s future and how this old medium must change in order to persevere through the next century.
In our digitally-driven, iPod and sat rad world, we can get jaded when talking about plain ol’ radio. We take it for granted and it’s not often we stop and reflect on what radio is absolutely nailing and offering recognition for a job very, very well done. So, here goes.
Before Christmas, cartt.ca contacted all the major commercial radio groups in Canada – as well as several of the smaller ones – and asked them about what their stations are doing to help the less fortunate in their communities leading up to the holiday season. And boy oh boy, did we get buy-in on this one. We heard from stations from all over the country, 135 in total.
(Thanks to all the PDs, GMs, public relations and promotional types who helped pull all this information together for us)
And the grand total of cash, toys, food and clothes collected by those stations during the holiday season? Approximately $25,225,000.
It’s a jaw-dropping number. $25.2 million. And, it’s only a portion of what Canadian radio does over Christmas (we didn’t hear from all stations, of course, and we didn’t poll the CBC), let alone the entire year.
We received spread sheets, pdfs and e-mails outlining the many ingenious ways stations raised cash and collected toys, food and clothing for those less fortunate in their communities. Hundreds of thousands of toys for kids who really need a Santa Claus and well over a million pounds of food for families who really need to eat.
I wish I could break out the numbers exactly for everyone to see, but while many stations sent in the number of the toys collected, for example, others sent valuations. When it came to food, most sent in the weight of what was donated. (Since the Salvation Army values each toy donated at $20, we used that amount when figuring out the valuation there and as for food, we estimated its value at $2 a pound; for items of clothing, $25 each piece). So, the $25.2 million figure, of course, isn’t exact, but I went over the information sent in a number of times and am confident it’s very accurate.
As well, some of the companies told me their fundraising totals on the condition it only be included as a part of the overall figure, as they want the focus to stay on those folks who need help and not their radio station(s).
So, you won’t see any sort of winning radio station tally here since the real winners are Canadian communities and the charities doing so much good work in those towns and cities, as well as all those listeners who were moved to donate after hearing their local morning show or drive-time guy or mid-day host put out their calls to action.
The payoff, say the PDs and GMs who e-mailed me, are letters like this one, which was sent to Jack FM Orillia:
To whom it may concern,
On behalf of my family, I would like to thank each and every one who took part in filling our Christmas with kindness and love.
During the nights, when my young teenagers were sleeping, I finished wrapping their thoughtful gifts you donated to them. You honestly brought tears to my eyes, it was a very moving and touching experience. Not only will their wishes come true, you have taught them a very valuable lesson in caring about your fellow man. And, your generosity is felt with the heart, we cannot put a price on that!
May all the love and joy you share with others return tenfold to you… May your home be filled with happiness and love at Christmas and throughout the coming year. God Bless you all!!
Marianne Layzell
The power of radio emerged though other anecdotal tales, such as from CKSA Lloydminster, which reported that the Salvation Army asked them to stop their Christmas promotions because after giving out toys to all they knew needed some, they still didn’t have enough room to store what was left.
Buses and offices were stuffed full, too. (Check out the full bus from Rogers Radio Sa
ult Ste Marie. They said it was to the roof and they weren’t kidding).
With all due respect to TV, the Internet and newspapers, this is something that only radio can do. Newspapers are seldom willing to give up their front pages for a cause and TV stations tend to raise money on a large regional, or national basis (although the CHUM TV stations do a good job helping the CHUMCity Christmas wish, pictured below). The Internet is too fragmented to rally a community the way radio can.
John Derringer’s 13 days of Christmas (Q107 Toronto), brought listeners stories like those of 16-year-old Tina who fled an abusive home and was living in an unfinished house on a construction site – and not missing school. That fundraiser brought in over half a million dollars in 13 days and Tina gets a warm, proper place to stay.
Magic 99.9 in Thunder
Bay, heard the local food bank’s shelves were close to bare on December 17th and the on-air staff sprang into action, collecting four Hummer loads of food and $10,000 by December 23rd, completely refilling the shelves.
The examples are endless.
No other media has this kind of power and Canadian radio companies should be congratulated on how they wield that power, especially when its used to make Christmas a lot better for thousands of down-on-their-luck Canadians.
