Radio Gears Up For Radiothon Week

This week is indeed a significant one for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, as more than a hundred radio stations, primarily from the country format, will host their annual radiothons. ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude, refers to this period as “Push Week,” which coincides with their “This Shirt Saves Lives” campaign.

The goal is to secure new Partners in Hope, individuals who commit $19 each month to support St. Jude's mission to cure childhood cancers. This year's Push Week also aligns with Giving Tuesday, a national day of giving that started in 2012.

Jessica Turri, ALSAC’s Senior Advisor, Artist and Music Industry, mentioned that radio stations will be pushing on-air for Partners of Hope, while favorite artists will be promoting the cause online.

Turri expects many of the more than 200 celebrities who have agreed to participate in this year’s This Shirt Saves Lives campaign to have already blocked out space on their social media calendars to post about St. Jude on Tuesday.

“When we talked to our artists last year, we asked them to post any time from mid-November through the end of December,” she says. “This year was more targeted, so it’s any time December 2 through 6.”

More than 60 country stations from Springfield, MA, to San Diego will begin their radiothons on Thursday. One of those — Hubbard Broadcasting “98.9 The Bull” KPNW Seattle, which returned to a country format this spring — will participate for the first time.

Other participating include:

• From iHeartMedia: WCOL Columbus, OH (92.5); WPOC Baltimore (93.1); “94.9 The Bull” WUBL Atlanta; “96.9 The Kat” WKKT Charlotte, NC; “The Big 98” WSIX Nashville; “KJ97” KAJA San Antonio, TX; and KASE Austin, TX (100.7).
• From Audacy: “US99” WUSN Chicago; WYCD Detroit (99.5); “Y108” WDSY Pittsburgh; and “US101” WUSY Chattanooga, TN.
• From Beasley Media Group: “92.5 XTU” WXTU Philadelphia.

Radiothon week is a national event, Turri notes, “so we align nationally with companies like iHeart, Audacy, Univision and Cumulus. They go all in to bring the joint group power.”