Fisher House Special Available For Memorial Day Weekend

Fisher House Foundation, the fifth-largest U.S. military charity now in its 25th year, is again offering news/talk radio stations long-form programming for air over Memorial Day weekend. "A Hero's Best Medicine" is a three-hour, highly-produced, PPM-friendly show honoring wounded warriors, veterans and their families.

The program offers all-new, compelling and diverse storytelling. The show shares the role that Fisher House plays in military heroes' recovery, giving family a safe place to stay just steps from their hospital rooms:

• We'll talk with Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, a Medal of Honor recipient, and his family in South Carolina. Carpenter threw himself on a grenade in Afghanistan to save a fellow Marine's life. His parents spent nearly three years in a Fisher House.
• We'll go behind the scenes with Marine Cpl. Jake Schick, a wounded warrior who attracted the attention of Clint Eastwood and landed a role in the blockbuster film "American Sniper." Schick met his wife in a military hospital. Throughout his recovery she stayed in a Fisher House.
• A Texas Army wife's husband sustained permanent brain damage in a grenade blast in his bunker in Afghanistan. Find out how Fisher House gave her strength for her new role as his around-the-clock caregiver.

Fisher House programming aims to spotlight news/talk radio's finest talent. The host of "A Hero's Best Medicine" is Doc Washburn, who spends weekday afternoons on the air at KARN Little Rock. Lonnie Perkins, whose signature voice is familiar to news/talk audiences across the country, reads in-show promos and teases.

Doc Washburn

"A Hero's Best Medicine" is offered to news/talk stations free, without contract, barter or other restrictions. "We want to make affiliation as easy as possible for program directors," said Marshall Adams, who writes and produces the show. WSM-AM's Jonathan Shaffer images the show from his Nashville studio.

Stations already committed to air "A Hero's Best Medicine" include WMAL Washington, WCCO Minneapolis, WBAP and KLIF Dallas-Fort Worth, KOA and KHOW Denver, WSB Atlanta, WJAS Pittsburgh, KTAR Phoenix, WISN Milwaukee, WBT Charlotte, WHAS Louisville, KSTE Sacramento, KQTH Tucson, WOWO Fort Wayne, WAKR Akron, WHBL Sheboygan WI and KPEL Lafayette LA.

Fisher House provides no-cost housing and other support for families of wounded warriors and veterans receiving treatment at military and VA hospitals, allowing loved ones to be together in their time of need. Fisher House maintains the highest financial standards -- earning it a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator for the eleventh consecutive year -- and spends 95 cents of every donated dollar on program initiatives.

"Fisher House radio programming is always respectful of stations' donated airtime," Adams said. "The show isn't a radiothon or a fundraiser. It's designed to raise awareness of our military, veterans, their families and the tremendous sacrifices they make on our behalf."

For affiliation details on "A Hero's Best Medicine," news/talk stations should send an email to radio@fisherhouse.org with the word "radio" in the subject line.

Fisher House Foundation offers separate long-form Memorial Day programming for country stations. For information, contact Sharla McCoy: sharla.mccoy@mccoyandassociates.biz.