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Saturday, December 18, 2021

TX Radio: KGAF Hands Out $40K Thanks To Secret Santa Listeners


For the fourth year in a row, radio station KGAF 92.3 FM in Gainesville, near the Oklahoma border, has made it a brighter Christmases for 40 families thanks to donors who choose to continue their anonymous tradition.

"Are you ready? Take a deep breath," station manager Steve Eberhart said to fellow radio host Dee Blanton early Friday morning, as they opened a briefcase full of cash and opened the phone lines to listeners who had already sent letters and emails to the station. 

The heartfelt letters talked about cancer, COVID and other medical issues. One caller talked about their home burning to the ground this year.

"I'm on 12 different medications," one caller said.

"I'm struggling paycheck to paycheck, and I just can't keep up," said another.

This year, Eberhart and Blanton had a bigger response. 

"How would $1,000 do," Eberhart said to each caller.

"A thousand," one caller said incredulously. "Oh, my God, that's gonna [sic] help us," she exclaimed. 

Before the morning was over, KGAF handed out $1,000 to 40 different people: $40,000 cash all provided by those unnamed donors.


"You guys are just wonderful, you just don't realize what a wonderful thing you're doing," another caller said.

"I've cried the whole show," said Gainesville resident Glenda Hatten when she called the station. She is unable to work, and her husband is being treated for a brain tumor. 

The money comes from anonymous donors who ask each year for the radio station to find the Cooke County residents most in need.

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