The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon''
was an annual
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.
Most telethons f ...
held on (starting the night before and throughout)
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
in the United States to raise money for the
Muscular Dystrophy Association
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that works to support people with neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, it works to combat neuromuscular di ...
(MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in 1950 with hopes of gaining the American public's interest. The show was hosted by comedian, actor, singer and filmmaker
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
from its 1966 inception until 2010.
The history of MDA's telethon dates back to the 1950s, when the ''Jerry Lewis
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
Party for MDA'' raised funds for the organization's New York City area operations. The telethon was held annually on Labor Day weekend beginning in 1966,
["MDA's 'Love Network' has a rich, vital history,"]
from ''Quest'', 7/1/2005 and raised $2.45 billion for MDA from its inception through 2009.
[
The telethon would broadcast for up to 21 hours,][ starting on the Sunday evening preceding Labor Day and continuing until late Monday afternoon on the holiday itself. MDA called its network of participating stations the "Love Network". The show originated from ]Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
for 28 of the years it was broadcast. Beginning in 2011 (and coinciding with Lewis' departure) MDA radically reformatted and shortened the telethon's format into that of a benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...
, shortening the length of the special each successive year.[ The 2011 edition was seen on the Sunday evening before ]Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
for six hours. This edition was syndicated to approximately 160 television stations throughout the United States on September 4, 2011.
Nigel Lythgoe
Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...
, Jann Carl
Jann Carl is a co-host and part owner of the syndicated TV show ''Small Town Big Deal''. Carl and her co-host, Rodney K. Miller, report on uplifting stories about people, places and events throughout communities big and small across the United S ...
, Alison Sweeney
Alison Ann Sweeney (born September 19, 1976) is an American actress, reality show host, director and author. Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Brady on the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', a role she played under co ...
and Nancy O'Dell
Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show ''Entertainment Tonight'' from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019.
E ...
were brought on as co-hosts and shared hosting duties for the 2011 edition. Successive telethons from 2012 to 2014 ran under the new title ''MDA Show of Strength'' and further reduced the show's airtime. The 2012 edition aired on Sunday, September 2, 2012; the job of renaming the new show was given to MDA's advertising agency E.B. Lane (now LaneTerralever). Executive creative director Mark Itkowitz came up with the name MDA Show of Strength, and it quickly gained internal approval. The 2012 edition was reduced to three hours as a primetime-only broadcast.[MDA Press Release: "MDA Names R.A. Clark as Executive Producer of 2012 Show", February 10, 2012.]
The telethon aired at 8 p.m. Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and Pacific Time
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
, and was seen live in the Eastern and Central time zones.[Pe]
MDA Show of Strength website
The 2012 edition did not refer to itself as a "telethon."
The 2013 ''Show of Strength'' discontinued the long-standing format of being syndicated to individual stations of varying network affiliation
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or al ...
and aired on major national network, ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
on Sunday, September 1, 2013, and running two hours. The final edition aired on ABC on August 31, 2014, again as a two-hour special, beginning at 9PM ET/PT. It was announced on May 1, 2015, that the MDA would discontinue the annual event. The MDA would revisit the national telethon concept on October 24, 2020, with a new social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
-based telethon, ''The MDA Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums.
After winning se ...
Kids Telethon''.[MDA Press Release: "Muscular Dystrophy Association Announces Relaunch of Iconic Telethon Hosted by Actor & Comedian Kevin Hart"]
/ref>
History
Prior to 1966
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
began hosting telethons to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America (MDAA) in 1952 after a plea from a staff member who worked with Lewis and Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
on ''The Colgate Comedy Hour
''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series ...
''. Lewis had previously taken part in what has been described as the very first telethon, a marathon 1951 broadcast benefiting a cardiac hospital that was organized by Budd Granoff, which featured the Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy duo, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis. They met in 1945 and debuted at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 25, 1946; the team lasted ten years to the day. Before they teamed up, Martin w ...
comedy team, who were his clients at that time.
The MDAA benefit broadcasts first originated from a variety of locations in New York City in 1954, as local telethons seen exclusively on WABD (later WNEW-TV and now WNYW
WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
) or WABC-TV
WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...
, who would donate their broadcast time for the event. Lewis would host several four-hour shows in the New York area and elsewhere to benefit MDAA and promote the battle against muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...
during the later 1950s and early 1960s. By the mid-1960s, the success of those shows convinced MDAA to stage a 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.
Most telethons f ...
to support MDA's New York efforts, with Lewis agreeing to host the big event when approached by the organization.
According to the MDA's website, on December 28, 1951, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis concluded their popular NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
show with a special appeal to support muscular dystrophy research. MDA's website additionally states that the second national appeal was during its January 4, 1952 network radio program.
MDA's website lists five early local MDA telethons: Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
on March 7, 1952; Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
on June 6 and 7, 1952; Washington, D.C. on December 26 and 27, 1952; Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...
, on June 27 and 28, 1953; and Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
on September 12 and 13, 1953. These telethons did not star or feature Jerry Lewis, but were hosted by other stars such as Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage.
Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...
, Robert Alda
Robert Alda (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo; February 26, 1914 – May 3, 1986) was an Italian-American theatrical and film actor, a singer, and a dancer. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. Alda was featured in a ...
, Virginia Graham
Virginia Graham, born Virginia Komiss, (July 4, 1912 – December 22, 1998) was an American daytime television talk show host from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. On television, Graham hosted the broadcast syndication, syndicated programs ''Fo ...
, and Al Hodge
Albert E. Hodge (April 18, 1912 – March 19, 1979) was an American actor best known for playing space adventurer Captain Video on the DuMont Television Network from December 15, 1950, to April 1, 1955. He played the Green Hornet on radio f ...
in character as Captain Video
''Captain Video and His Video Rangers'' is an American science fiction television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network and was the first series of its genre on American television.
The series aired between June 27, 1949, and Apri ...
.
On June 29 and 30, 1956, Martin and Lewis hosted an MDAA telethon called ''The Martin and Lewis Roundup'', live from Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
. The pair ended their comedy partnership a month later, and Lewis was named national chairman of MDAA later that year. Lewis went on to host Thanksgiving Day telethons in 1957 and 1959.
1966 through the 1970s
By the mid-1960s, organizers of the telethon chose Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
weekend to stage their event, as it was the only time frame made available to hold it. Many, however, expected the Labor Day broadcast would fail, as many people would have traveled out of town and/or be away from their television sets during the holiday weekend; even New York City officials were skeptical that it would succeed, which made them reluctant to issue a fund-raising permit to the MDAA, though one would indeed be granted at the urging of Robert Ross, MDAA's then-Executive Director.[
The first ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was held the weekend of September 4 and 5, 1966. Broadcast by local ]independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
WNEW-TV
WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship ...
, the event was staged at New York's Americana Hotel
The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel is a , 51-story hotel located near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It faces 7th Avenue, 52nd Street, and 53rd Street. It is one of the world's 100 tallest hotels, and one of the talle ...
, with a stage featuring a talk show-style desk and seating area for Lewis and performers, a performance area for a 19-piece jazz band, phone banks, and a large tote board to keep track of donations received. Proving the doubters wrong, the event was so successful that Lewis had to climb a ladder and paint a seventh digit, a "1," on the six-digit tote board
A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
when the final total reached $1,002,114.[ The show repeated its success in 1967, raising $1,126,846.
Emboldened by positive word of mouth generated from the telethon's success in attracting both donations and celebrity appearances, the event's organizers would seek out a wider audience in 1968 by offering a live broadcast to stations outside the New York City market. Before that, however, approval needed to be gained from the Theater Authority, an organization that represented theatrical-related talent unions whose permission was required before their membership could perform at benefits, such as telethons, without reimbursement. MDAA would gain the Theater Authority's permission and proceed to form a family of stations that would later be billed as "The Love Network."][ Joining WNEW-TV in that 1968 telecast were:
*WGR-TV in ]Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
(known today as WGRZ
WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill ...
)
*WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Rochester, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester and a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill in ...
in Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
*WKBG-TV in Boston, Massachusetts (known today as WLVI-TV
WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and W ...
)
*WTEV in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...
(known today as WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Providence, Rhode Island area. The station is owned by Standard Media, and maintains studios in the Orms ...
)
*WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, broadcasting ABC programming to most of New Hampshire. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on South Commercial Street in dow ...
in Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
Buoyed by the Love Network's reach, the 1968 Labor Day Telethon would generate $1,401,876 in donations. Though the original intent was for the stations to carry the entire 1968 telethon broadcast, breaking only for mandatory station identification
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...
s, WHEC-TV chose to break away for a few minutes every hour to show Rochester area volunteers taking donation calls. As a result, WHEC-TV generated more proceeds than the other Love Network stations. With WHEC's move, the "local cutaway" was born: from that point forward, every ''Telethon'' broadcast granted local stations cutaway time, usually five or ten minutes per hour, to allow local celebrities, volunteers, and sponsors to highlight fundraising efforts and the services MDAA provided at the local level, with the intention of building local goodwill toward MDAA, its local chapters, and the Love Network stations. The cutaways would become an integral part of every MDAA Telethon broadcast during its syndication run, an approach later duplicated by other nationally-syndicated charitable telethons.
By 1970, the ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was seen nationwide on 64 stations, including the addition of Los Angeles and San Francisco stations to the Love Network roster, making the 1970 event the first telethon seen from coast to coast. Proceeds from the 1970 event totaled $5,093,385. The show continued to gain popularity and major stars through the next two years, helped in part by the Theater Authority permanently lifting its ban on nationwide telethon performances by its members in 1970 (at the MDA's appeal).[
In 1973, with 150 Love Network stations in tow, the telethon moved to ]Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, where it originated at the Sahara Hotel
Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...
. That year, Lewis explained the mission of the MDA with his comment: "God goofed, and it's up to us to correct His mistakes." The 1973 telethon was also when the event broke the $10 million mark for the first time (the final tote being $12,395,973). Co-host Ed McMahon
Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer, and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game sh ...
made an on-air prediction that donations would surpass $10 million (one digit more than the seven digits the Solari tote board could accommodate); at the moment it did, he came on stage to tell Lewis, "I have a brush, and I have some paint..." and Lewis repeated his 1966 stunt by painting a "1" on the board, this time punctuating it by wiping the paintbrush up and down the front of his tuxedo in celebration.[ An additional Solari number flipper would be added the next year, allowing a display of under $100 million.
In 1976, the Love Network grew to a peak of 213 stations, effectively making it America's fourth major television network, if only for 21 hours. The 1976 telethon was also perhaps the most memorable one in the MDA's history, highlighted by the emotional reunion of Jerry and his former partner, ]Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
, arranged by frequent telethon guest and mutual friend Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
. It was the first time Martin and Lewis were seen together publicly since they separated their act in 1956. The 1976 telethon also was one of the most-watched, drawing more than 85 million viewers, according to the A.C. Nielsen ratings service.
1980s–1990s
During the telethon's Las Vegas years in the 1970s and 1980s, the show originated at the Sahara until 1982 when it moved to a bigger space at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks.
Caesars P ...
. The show continued there until 1989 when it originated from the Cashman Center
The Cashman Center or the Cashman Field Center is a complex on a site in Las Vegas, Nevada. Operated by the City of Las Vegas, it includes Cashman Field and a permanently closed convention center. The center was mostly used for local events, ...
in Las Vegas – the only time it was broadcast from a Las Vegas-area venue that was not a hotel and the first time it originated from a venue physically located within the city of Las Vegas itself. Lewis always anchored the entire broadcast which ran 21 hours ever since 1973. That said, in 1983 he rested for a few hours offstage, having undergone cardiac-bypass surgery the year before, but he returned to full force in 1984. In 1986, the telethon had a three-way live simulcast during the 8:30 a.m. half-hour, including ''Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' on NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and ''Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' on ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. In 1990, the telethon originated from the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, then returned to Las Vegas and the Sahara Hotel
Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...
until 1995 when it moved again to Southern California, to CBS Television City
Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and Ch ...
for nine years and then in 2005 to Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
. In 1998, MDA's all-star landmark show became the first to be broadcast on the Internet by RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of artificial intelligence and computer vision based products. RealNetworks was a pioneer in Internet streaming software and services. They are based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The company also p ...
on the association's website. During this time, Lewis would get annoyed when local station cut-ins would come back late or when WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
would pre-empt part of the telethon for a Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
game.
After the telethon, the site featured a special highlights reel of the telethon for that year. Lewis still continued to host at least 16 hours of his telethon until 1999 (a year when he would have various medical issues), where he would appear for the first five hours and the last five hours of the telecast, with an extended pre-recorded segment presented during late-night hours, and other celebrities filling in for Lewis and Ed McMahon during the morning hours. Co-hosts have included talk show host Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
, comedians Norm Crosby
Norman Lawrence Crosby (September 15, 1927 – November 7, 2020) was an American comedian born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was often referred to as "The Master of Malaprop".
Career
Crosby went solo as a stand-up comedian, adopting a friendly, ...
, Elayne Boosler
{{Orphan, date=July 2021
Elayne is a female given name of French origin, which means "light". The name can be a variant of Elaine or Elena. Elayne may refer to:
People
* Elayne Angel
*Elayne Arrington
* Elayne Boosler (born 1952), American comed ...
, Bob Zany
Bob Zany (born Robert Earl Tetreault; September 11, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for performing with his trademark cigar on stage. According to an article found on his web page, he "stuff a cigar into a plastic b ...
, television personalities Chad Everett, David Hartman, Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...
, Jann Carl
Jann Carl is a co-host and part owner of the syndicated TV show ''Small Town Big Deal''. Carl and her co-host, Rodney K. Miller, report on uplifting stories about people, places and events throughout communities big and small across the United S ...
, Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Kim Gibbons (born March 26, 1957) is an American talk show host. She is best known as a correspondent and co-host for ''Entertainment Tonight'' (1984–2000) as well as for having her own syndicated daytime talk show, ''Leeza'' (1993–20 ...
, John Tesh
John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. He hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 2014, he has hosted ''Intelligen ...
, veteran singers Tony Orlando
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...
, Julius LaRosa
Julius La Rosa (January 2, 1930 – May 12, 2016) was an American traditional popular music singer, who worked in both radio and television beginning in the 1950s.
Early years
La Rosa was born of Italian-immigrant parents in the Brooklyn borough ...
(who began co-hosting for Lewis from remote locations in 1975), and many others.
2000s–2010s
The telethon returned to Las Vegas in 2006 at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa
South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa (formerly South Coast) is a resort located along Las Vegas Boulevard in Enterprise, Nevada, south of the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, the founder of Coast Casinos. It includes a c ...
(which was the "South ''Coast''" its first year there), a complex owned by a friend of Lewis, Michael Gaughan, and remained there through the 2011 telethon. In 2007, Lewis caused a stir when he used a gay slur during the 18th hour of the telethon apparently believing his microphone was off. Lewis later apologized. In 2009, the telethon extended its coverage to social media, with followers on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
and YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
receiving additional information and behind-the scenes material. Beginning in 2010, viewers could also text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
their pledges for an automatic $10 donation, aside from texting charges. Through 2010, the national segments of the telethon were not broadcast in high definition, though some stations broadcast their local segments in HD. The 2010 edition was syndicated to approximately 190 Love Network affiliates throughout the United States.
2011 cutback, overhaul and Lewis' departure
On October 6, 2010, the MDA announced that the telethon would be trimmed back considerably, to six hours, beginning with the 2011 edition televised on September 4, 2011. This new version of the telethon, broadcast from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight local time on the Sunday preceding Labor Day only, was in response to lagging donations, stations showing only part of the telethon or dropping it altogether, and the less-than-stellar talent in recent telethons – as well as Lewis, whose career as a film star and comedian, was dwindling, was now in his mid-80s and devoting less and less time appearing on-air due to his age and health. The telethon, seen live in the Eastern Time Zone and tape-delayed in the rest of the country, was revamped in order to attract more stations to the Love Network (which had shrunk from its peak of 213 stations in 1976 to 190 in 2010), as well as to attract more top celebrities and talent to the show, resulting in more viewers and donations. The other aspects of the telethon, such as corporate donations, stories from those who relied on the MDA's help, and local segments, remained, though local segments were restricted to two 7- to 8-minute segments every hour.[ Stars featured in the first short-form version included ]Lady Antebellum
Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar) ...
, Martina McBride
Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material.
McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocat ...
and Darius Rucker
Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Ca ...
, in pre-taped segments from the Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
,[ the judges of '']American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' (Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
, Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...
, and Randy Jackson
Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013.
Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...
), Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
, Jon Secada
Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez (born October 4, 1961), better known as Jon Secada, is a Cuban-born American singer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. His music fus ...
, Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...
, Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...
, Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst ...
, Michael Feinstein
Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for cele ...
, Maureen McGovern
Maureen Therese McGovern (born July 27, 1949) is an American singer and Broadway actress, well known for her renditions of the songs " The Morning After" from the 1972 film '' The Poseidon Adventure''; " We May Never Love Like This Again" from '' ...
, Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks-Thomas (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debu ...
and Greyson Chance
Greyson Michael Chance (born August 16, 1997) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He rose to national attention in 2010 with his performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a grade school music festival which went viral on YouTube, ga ...
. The 2011 telethon was the first edition to broadcast the national segments in high definition; the broadcast of local segments in HD remained optional for the station.
On May 16, 2011, it was first announced by the MDA that the 2011 edition of the telethon would be Lewis' last as host, and that he would continue his role as MDA's National Chairman, still appearing at the close of each telethon, to sing his signature closing song, "You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...
". In a press conference with the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in late July 2011, Lewis denied that he ever said it would be his last telethon, would not elaborate on his role in the current telethon (stating that it was "none of your business"), and announced he would indicate his future plans the day after the telethon broadcast, citing "I will have plenty to say about what I think is important."["Jerry Lewis tight-lipped on telethon role"]
. Reuters. Retrieved July 31, 2011. At the same conference, Lewis criticized the reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
shows his telethon co-hosts were involved in – Lythgoe's ''American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'', which Lewis said featured contestants who were "McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
Wipeouts"; and Sweeney's ''The Biggest Loser
''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show ''The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash prize. ...
'', a series which Lewis claims is about contestants "knocking their brains out trying to see how we beat the fat lady at 375 pounds, and in four months she's going to be 240. Who cares? It's ridiculous."
The MDA announced on August 3, 2011, that Lewis had "completed his run" as both host and national chairman, effective immediately, and that Lewis would not appear in the 2011 telethon.[ The wording of the release left it ambiguous whether he had been fired or if he had resigned. The MDA also confirmed that Lythgoe, O'Dell, Sweeney, and Carl, all slated to be co-hosts under Lewis, would share hosting duties; the MDA would leave the position of national chairman unfilled.][ Numerous celebrities came out in support of Lewis and opposed to his dismissal from the MDA shortly after it was announced; Lewis himself was mostly silent about the issue, saying that the controversy is "very difficult to get into."][Clarke, Norm (August 21, 2011)]
MDA telethon reinstates Lewis
''Las Vegas Review Journal''. Retrieved August 21, 2011. On August 21, 2011, the ''Las Vegas Review-Journal
The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area.
The ''Review-Journal'' ...
'' released a report stating that the MDA reinstated Lewis as host of the telethon;[ however, Lewis' publicist denied that report. The following day, on August 22, 2011, the ''Review-Journal'' retracted the report, saying that Lewis had not been invited back to the telethon; the source close to Lewis said that the MDA had ''reconciled'' with Lewis, not ''reinstated'' Lewis.]
In addition, admission to the telethon by the general public was severely restricted, due to the cut in the length of the telethon, and the cut in the length of the local segments; in previous years, the telethon used the local segment time to swap audiences. Most of the attending audience members were representatives and invited guests of sponsors and major donors.
Despite Lewis' departure and anything that took place backstage, the 2011 telethon's hosts paid tribute to Lewis with a one-minute montage of clips of him hosting the telethon over the years. During the presentation, the hosts said that Lewis "retired" from his position as host.[America's Review: "Lythgoe: Lewis welcome on MDA telethon anytime", September 5, 2011.]
Following the telethon, Lythgoe commented that he was sorry that Lewis did not take part, but that the show had to move on to ensure its survival, and added that he was welcome to make an appearance on the telethon anytime, saying that the annual event was "his baby." Lythgoe also said that the orchestra had contingency plans in place in the event Lewis did show up, either live or pre-recorded, to sing his signature song, "You'll Never Walk Alone", but never showed up at the venue. Lewis' publicist Candy Cazau would not comment to the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
about contingency plans, but had said earlier that Lewis did not agree to make any appearances on the show.[ The song used at the close of the show was "]God Bless America
"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The later version was notably recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature s ...
", sung by a large children's choir, all the hosts and performers from the show, following renditions of "America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two neve ...
", " Strike Up the Band", and "The Stars and Stripes Forever
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is a patriotic American march written and composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896. By a 1987 act of the U.S. Congress, it is the official National March of the United States of America.
History
In his 1928 autobi ...
".
2012 edition: The "Show of Strength"
On February 10, 2012, the MDA announced that the 2012 edition would be cut to three hours (from six hours the previous year), airing during primetime on Sunday, September 2, 2012, still syndicated to the Love Network stations. The 2012 edition, renamed the ''MDA Show of Strength'' (moving away from its heritage as a telethon), was executive-produced by R. A. Clark, a producer and son of Dick Clark
Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...
.[ The show was also seen first-run in the ]Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, Eastern and Central time zones at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, with the special tape-delayed in the Western time zones at 8 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT.[ The venue segments and hosts varied, depending on the local networks airing it. The majority of the pre-produced performances were taped in Los Angeles and New York City, airing on various broadcast and cable channels in 150 markets around the United States. While there was not a traditional ]tote board
A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
tallying donations from local hosts in their respective cities, the overall event urged national phone, text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
and website pledges toward funding efforts to find treatments and cures for neuromuscular disease
A neuromuscular disease is any disease affecting the peripheral nervous system (PNS), the neuromuscular junction, or skeletal muscle, all of which are components of the motor unit. Damage to any of these structures can cause muscle atrophy and w ...
s.
Performers and guest appearance included Brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
, Maryse Ouellet
Maryse Mizanin (; née Ouellet; born January 21, 1983) is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress, and glamour model. She is currently signed to WWE, appearing on the Raw brand alongside her husband The Miz, under the ring name Maryse. After ...
, The Miz
Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name The Miz.
Mizanin first gained fame a ...
, Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...
, Luke Bryan
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...
, Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...
, Lou Ferrigno
Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (; born November 9, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles; and appeared in the documenta ...
, Eva Simons
Eva Maria Simons (born 27 April 1984) is a Dutch singer-songwriter from Amsterdam. She is best known for her song "Policeman" and collaborations with artists such as Afrojack; in 2012, Simons broke through internationally after being featured on ...
, Max Adler, Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...
, Khloé Kardashian
Khloé Alexandra Kardashian (; born June 27, 1984) is an American media personality and socialite. Since 2007, she has starred with her family in the reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''. Its success has led to the cre ...
, Alison Sweeney
Alison Ann Sweeney (born September 19, 1976) is an American actress, reality show host, director and author. Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Brady on the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', a role she played under co ...
, Diana DeGarmo
Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in 2004 as the runner-up of the third season of ''American Idol'', releasing her debut studio album, '' Blue Skies'', later that year. The ...
and B.o.B
Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons was signed to Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainment imprint in 2006. Two years late ...
, among others.[ Additional guests appearing in pre-recorded segments from ]CBS Television City
Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and Ch ...
in Hollywood, taped August 7 to August 9, 2012, included OneRepublic
OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellis ...
, Brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
, The All American Rejects
The All-American Rejects is an American rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, formed in 1999.[Hot Chelle Rae
Hot Chelle Rae ( ) (formerly known as Miracle Drug) is an American pop rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005. The band currently consists of Ryan Follesé (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Nash Overstreet (lead guitar, backing vocals), a ...]
, Karmin
Karmin was an American pop duo consisting of Amy Renee Noonan and Nick Noonan. Starting as a novelty act that released covers on YouTube, they signed in 2011 with Epic Records. In May 2012, Karmin released their debut EP ''Hello'', which spa ...
, will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas.
...
, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from Southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played at the Super Bowl XXXIII ha ...
, Silhouettes
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
, Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
, Reagan Imhoff, Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
, Gavin DeGraw
Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album '' Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...
and Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...
, among others. Portions with country artists were recorded at the Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
.
The majority of the program was pre-recorded. ''Entertainment Tonight
''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...
'' co-anchor Nancy O'Dell
Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show ''Entertainment Tonight'' from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019.
E ...
and KKGO
KKGO (105.1 FM, "Go Country 105") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters and airs a country music for ...
(Los Angeles) deejay introduced the majority of national segments. For the second straight year, the show closed with a different song. Carole King performed her song "You've Got A Friend
"You've Got a Friend" is a 1971 song written by American singer, songwriter, and musician Carole King. It was first recorded by King and included on her second studio album, ''Tapestry'' (1971). Another well-known version is by James Taylor f ...
" with a montage
Montage may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films
* Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing
* ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film
Music
* Montage (music), or sound collage
* ''Montage'' (Block B EP), 201 ...
of the featured patients with muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...
in her background. The local segments were also mainly pre-recorded, and check presentations from companies which sponsored MDA were replaced by public service announcements from those companies, which, in previous years, had often been part of the presentations.
2013 ''Show of Strength Telethon''
On June 17, 2013, the MDA announced on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that the "Show of Strength" would air on Sunday, September 1, 2013. For the first time, the show aired nationally on ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, in effect bringing an end to the Love Network of individual stations (the majority of which were ABC affiliates). The show was cut from three hours to two, airing beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The local segments were discontinued (phone pledges were accepted solely through a national toll-free number, instead of being collected directly by each station for the individual local or regional chapters of the MDA). The 2013 edition was the first to be broadcast with commercial interruption, although breaks consisted primarily of promos for ABC shows and local advertisements on ABC's stations, however many stations carried spots mentioning donations made by corporate entities during the breaks.
The show included appearances by Darius Rucker
Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Ca ...
, Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack Liddell (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, " I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 ...
, Austin Mahone
Austin Harris Mahone (; born April 4, 1996) is an American singer, songwriter and professional wrestler. Mahone gained popularity performing covers of pop songs on YouTube. He released three albums to date. Famous releases include " Say Somethi ...
, Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
The gr ...
, Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...
, Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...
, Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...
, Matthew Morrison
Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television show ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2009–2015). He has s ...
, Vintage Trouble
Vintage Trouble (sometimes abbreviated as VT) is an American rhythm & blues band. The band formed in Hollywood, California, in 2010. They have released four albums: ''The Bomb Shelter Sessions'' (2011), ''The Swing House Acoustic Sessions'' (201 ...
, Kenny Loggins
Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...
and the Blue Sky Riders, Chris Mann, Jessica Sanchez
Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez (born August 4, 1995) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence following her finish as the runner-up on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''.
Early life
Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez was born in Chula ...
, Jann Carl
Jann Carl is a co-host and part owner of the syndicated TV show ''Small Town Big Deal''. Carl and her co-host, Rodney K. Miller, report on uplifting stories about people, places and events throughout communities big and small across the United S ...
, Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...
, Bart Conner
Bart Wayne Conner (born March 28, 1958) is a retired American Olympic gymnast. As a member of the US men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Conner won two gold medals. He owns and operates the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in N ...
, Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10. ...
, Dr. Richard E. Besser, and Jabbawockeez
The Jabbawockeez is an American hip-hop dance crew that rose to prominence as the winner of the first season of America's Best Dance Crew in 2008. Established in 2003 in San Diego, California when dancers Kevin "KB" Brewer and Joe Larot pu ...
. Performances were taped in early August at CBS Television City
Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and Ch ...
in Los Angeles. The show also featured the 2012 performances from Luke Bryan
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...
, Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
, and Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
.
The show's theme song was the instrumental from "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" is a song by American recording artist Kelly Clarkson and the title song from her fifth studio album, '' Stronger'' (2011). Originally titled as "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)", the song served as the album's ...
" by Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...
. For the third straight year, the show ended with a different number; this time, with a performance of Bill Withers
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...
's " Lean On Me", led by Jessica Sanchez
Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez (born August 4, 1995) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence following her finish as the runner-up on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''.
Early life
Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez was born in Chula ...
and Chris Mann featuring MDA patients and families present at the show's taping.
2014: the last ''Show of Strength Telethon''
The 2014 edition aired on Sunday, August 31, on ABC. Taping for the 2014 Show took place during May and June 2014, at the Palladium in Los Angeles and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. It is the earliest time of recording for the telethon in show history.
Performers included Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter. , Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
, Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...
, Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks-Thomas (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debu ...
, R5, Bret Michaels
Bret Michael Sychak (born March 15, 1963), known professionally as Bret Michaels, is an American singer and musician. He gained fame as the frontman of rock band Poison who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and 15 million records in the U ...
, Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the '' Billboard'' country songs ch ...
, LeAnn Rimes
Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at age 13 with 1996's "Blue". She has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Chris ...
, Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar", " The Man", which topped the charts in th ...
, Matt Nathanson
Matthew Adam Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of Folk music, folk and rock and roll music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (sometimes a 12-string) and electric guitar, and has play ...
, and American Authors
American Authors (formerly known as The Blue Pages) is an American Rock music, rock band based in New York City, currently signed to Island Records. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Zac Barnett, bassist Dave Rublin, and drummer ...
. Others who appeared were Kesha
Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...
, Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive.
Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...
, Brad Paisley
Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album ''Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashvil ...
, Laila Ali
Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the World Boxing Council, WBC, Women's I ...
, Nancy O'Dell
Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show ''Entertainment Tonight'' from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019.
E ...
, Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...
, Kevin Frazier
Kevin Timothy Frazier (born May 20, 1964) is an American television host, widely known as co-host of ''Entertainment Tonight'' and the founder and owner of the urban entertainment website HipHollywood.com.
Career
Frazier was the first to host both ...
, Terry Fator
Terry Wayne Fator () is an American ventriloquist, impressionist, stand-up comedian, and singer. Born in Dallas, Texas, he developed an interest in ventriloquism from a young age, developing both this and a talent for singing. After initially per ...
, Victor Ortíz
Victor Ortiz (born January 31, 1987) is an American professional boxer and film actor. He held the WBC welterweight title in 2011, and was formerly rated as one of the world's top three active welterweights by most sporting news and boxing web ...
, Dr. Richard E. Besser, Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...
, Chip Esten
Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), also known professionally as Charles Esten, and Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician and comedian.
Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the ABC/ CMT drama ''Nashvi ...
, Tom Bergeron
Thomas Raymond Bergeron (born May 6, 1955) is an American television personality, game show host, comedian and actor, best known for hosting ''Hollywood Squares'' from 1998 to 2004, ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' from 2001 to 2015, and ''Danci ...
, Chris Powell and Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama ''All My Children'' during that show's entire network run from 1970 ...
.
One of the main themes of the show was the organization's partnership with the International Association of Firefighters, who celebrated their 60th anniversary in supporting MDA, mainly through their annual ''Fill the Boot'' campaign. IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger announced on the show that the IAFF has donated over $561 million to the MDA over the 60 years, including $28 million for this year's show.
This year's show closed with a tribute to the firefighters, with LeAnn Rimes performing her song '' Give''.
Cancellation
On May 1, 2015, MDA announced that the 2014 ''Show of Strength'' would be the telethon's last broadcast. In announcing the end of the telethon's 49-year run, MDA President and CEO Steven Derks noted the move was influenced by "the new realities of television viewing and philanthropic giving", noting the viral success of the Ice Bucket Challenge
The Ice Bucket Challenge, sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving the pouring of a bucket of ice water over a person's head, either by another person or self-administered, to promote awareness of the disease amyo ...
that built awareness and funds to combat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...
. Instead, MDA will focus on "new, creative and organic ways" to raise support for the organization and its mission, including mobile and digital media.[
]
2016 endorsement
In 2016, Lewis broke a five-year silence by appearing in an online video endorsing MDA's redesigned web site, declaring that the work MDA started must go on. It would turn out to be his final MDA appearance, as he passed away on August 20, 2017 at the age of 91.
2017: Return to local telethons
Following the cancellation of the national telethon, some stations continued the tradition producing local telethons, bringing such use in full circle, as the MDA telethon originated as a local program. One of these include former Love Network affiliate KSDK
KSDK (channel 5) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis, and its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, ...
in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, which began broadcasting their own telethon in 2017 under the ''MDA Show of Strength'' name, following the cancellation of the ABC telethon; KSDK's telethon was produced as a benefit on behalf of the MDA's St. Louis chapter. Unlike the telethons of years past, KSDK's telethon was only 90 minutes in length as of its 2020 edition, which aired Sunday, September 6, 2020 from 10:30 p.m. to 12 midnight CDT.
2020: MDA Launches Social Media Telethon
On September 9, 2020, MDA's national executives announced plans for a global, multi platform streaming broadcast, titled ''The MDA Kevin Hart Kids Telethon''. The new two-hour telethon featured comedian Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums.
After winning se ...
as host of the program. Unlike traditional telethons, which were broadcast via television stations and networks, the ''MDA Kids Telethon'' was broadcast only through social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
platforms. Coinciding with several weeks of charity gaming
Gaming may refer to:
Games and sports
The act of playing games, as in:
* Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming"
* Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
* Playin ...
events entitled ''MDA Let’s Play For A Cure'', the first telethon was seen October 24, 2020 at 8 p.m. EDT.[ This was MDA's resumption of a national telethon since its final broadcast edition in 2014, and the first transmitted exclusively online (the last several years of the telethon during the Love Network years were simulcast both on standard television and online, beginning in 1998). The telethon was a dual-charity event, with proceeds going towards both MDA and Hart's own charity, "Help From The Hart", which used their portion of funds raised to "support education, health and social needs programs targeting under-served communities and servicing youth through education scholarships".
]
Ed McMahon
Ed McMahon
Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer, and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game sh ...
was Lewis' longtime co-host. McMahon began his involvement with the telethon in 1968 and every year since then participated in some way. Early in 1973, Lewis asked McMahon to be his co-host for the entire show – his right hand man – and so the pair united and never separated. Similar to his regular position as announcer and sidekick of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'', McMahon was Lewis' announcer, voicing the intros and outros of each segment, welcoming corporate and charitable sponsors with their donations, and calling for a roll of a timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
drum for each million dollar mark passed on the tote board (Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
himself, a longtime friend of Lewis, surprised viewers by opening the 1970 telethon with a ''Tonight Show''-style monologue while Lewis stood backstage – a role that Carson repeated in 1971 and 1972, until the telethon moved to Las Vegas). McMahon, borrowing from Carson's prognosticating character "Carnac the Magnificent
Carnac the Magnificent was a recurring comedic role played by Johnny Carson on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. One of Carson's most well-known characters, Carnac was a "mystic from the East" who could psychically "divine" unknown an ...
", also made predictions on what the final total of funds raised would be, and from 1970 though 1979, he was spot on many years, missing by as little as thousands of dollars, considering the final tallies. The practice was abandoned after the 1982 telethon raised $2 million less than the previous year (which Lewis attributed to the severe 1980–1982 recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
that had gripped the U.S.). The trend of taking a break during the telethon was started in 1985 by McMahon. Much like his role with Carson, McMahon would co-host only when Lewis was hosting, with his duties as co-host filled in by others when Lewis was away. McMahon died June 23, 2009. The 2009 edition of the telethon paid tribute to McMahon with a special video tribute narrated by Lewis, which played during the first hour of the show. Following the tribute, Lewis introduced McMahon's wife, Pamela, who was in the audience. During the telethon for that year, Jann Carl assumed McMahon's duties during Lewis's hours on-air, while Shawn Parr billboarded the start and end of each segment.
Scheduling
For most of its run, the telethon ran live for 21 hours, ending at 6:30 p.m. ET on Labor Day Monday. During the 2000s, the telethon would end its national segments shortly before 6 p.m. ET, with any remaining time going to the local stations. In recent years, more "Love Network" stations opted not to show the entire telethon, opting to join the show in progress after the 11 p.m. / 10 p.m. local news, or even on Labor Day morning, after the network morning shows.
In 2010, the last year of the full-length telethon, the telethon ran live for 20 hours, from 9 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET, though the actual start and end times varied by station. However, the MDA still considered 21 hours as the official length of the telethon, turning over the final hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET to its affiliate stations for local wrap-ups (some stations would elect to end at 6 or 7 p.m. ET instead (or even later), depending on the option of the station).
On September 4, 2011, the telethon was shortened to six hours, and broadcast from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight local time in each time zone, with stations in the Eastern and Atlantic Time Zones broadcasting the event live.[ However, as with the previous format, some stations scheduled the telethon as they saw fit – in the case of ]Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
's WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
, the 2011 telethon was scheduled from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET (5 p.m. to 12 midnight CT),[Per TV schedule a]
zap2it.com
for September 4, 2011. with the first hour produced locally. In addition, some network affiliates would delay the telethon to start later than 6 p.m., so that their evening newscasts and some of their network shows, such as CBS's ''60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'', would be seen as normally scheduled.
The telethon was again shortened in 2012, from six to three hours.[ Though intended to be aired at 8 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone,][ at least one Eastern Time station, ]WMAZ-TV
WMAZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Macon, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Gray Highway on the northeast side of Macon; its transmitter is l ...
in Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...
, broadcast the ''Show of Strength'' from 9 p.m. to midnight.
Conflicts with sports
Some stations broke from the coverage during the afternoon of Labor Day to show sports, such as CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
' coverage of the US Open, and subsequently beginning in 2007 NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
covering the Deutsche Bank Championship
The Dell Technologies Championship was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Norton, Massachusetts, Norton, Massachusetts, United States, held annually in late summer over the Labor Day weekend. The 2018 edition was the last time the ...
. One such station is WGN-TV, which, from the 1970s to 2012, pre-empted the afternoon segment of the telethon for Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
or Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
baseball (except for the 1994 telethon, due to the baseball strike). Meanwhile, in Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, KING-TV
KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...
delayed the afternoon segment of the 1984 telethon because of a telecast of an NFL game between the Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...
and the Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
, in which NBC only aired limited coverage of the game. The game was to have taken place the day before (September 2, 1984), but the Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...
were scheduled to face the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
that day.
In another case, some used a sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
affiliated with either The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
or MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
or was an independent station to show the telethon start, and/or air the station's network programming while the telethon station continued to air the telethon; this was the case with CBS affiliate WDJT-TV
WDJT-TV (channel 58) is a television station in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its inception (and is the company's only CBS affiliate), and is sister station, s ...
in Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and its independent sister station WMLW-CA, which in 2007 aired the first four hours of the telethon during CBS prime time, then aired U.S. Open coverage on Labor Day to allow WDJT to carry the telethon. In Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, WPXI
WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsbur ...
carried the telethon, while sending NBC's coverage of the Deutsche Bank Championship
The Dell Technologies Championship was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Norton, Massachusetts, Norton, Massachusetts, United States, held annually in late summer over the Labor Day weekend. The 2018 edition was the last time the ...
golf tournament to independent station WBGN-LP.
While the 2011 reformat resolved sports conflicts on Labor Day itself by ending before the actual holiday, the telethon was still subject to delays the night before in some areas. On September 4, 2011, right before 6 p.m., the Baltimore Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT was an IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series race for 3 years held on a street circuit in Baltimore, Maryland. The inaugural race was held September 4, 2011. ESPN said it was the best inaugural ...
was scheduled on ABC, Deutsche Bank Championship golf on NBC, and U.S. Open tennis on CBS. WGN carried a Pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
-Cubs game that was scheduled to end before 5:30 p.m. ET, though it could have run over if extra innings, long innings or rain delays were involved.[
In 2012, the ]Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
game against the Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
ran late on MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains ...
in Philadelphia. The show was shown in its entirety immediately after the game ended. The show in Philadelphia started around 8:40 p.m.
Markets with no Love Network affiliate
In some markets, no local station carried the telethon for various reasons. In some cases, the MDA would refuse to renew a contract with a station, leaving a market with no Love Network affiliate if another station was not found in time. During the last year of the old telethon format, 2010, one example was KAME-TV in Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, which was dropped by the MDA that year, due to economic conditions and a decrease in pledges. Other notable markets with no Love Network affiliate in 2010 included Dothan, Alabama
Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...
; Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...
; Yuma, Arizona
Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515.
Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...
; Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
; Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
; Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
; Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North M ...
; Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
; Greensboro
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
, Greenville and Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
; and the Tennessee Tri-Cities.
Viewers in these markets could watch a simulcast of WGN-TV's broadcast of the telethon nationally on its WGN America
WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...
superstation feed (which included the local telethon segments featuring WGN-TV personalities) or the telethon's broadcast on a television station in a neighboring market, as well as online from MDA's site. In some areas, satellite television and the internet were the only ways to view the telethon, as WGN America is not seen in all areas, and many cable systems carry only stations within their own market.
All ABC affiliates carried the telethon beginning in 2013. Since the telethon was available in all markets with an ABC affiliate, the number of markets where the broadcast was not available was greatly reduced. The WGN America simulcast was discontinued because WGN-TV, then a CW affiliate, was no longer broadcasting the show. It previously had been pre-empting the later hours of the telethon for Chicago Cubs games.
Station changes with new formats
While the new telethon format in 2011 was designed to attract new stations and markets into the Love Network fold, the MDA still found itself dropping some stations, resulting in a net shrinkage of the network to just over 150 stations – its smallest size since 1973. In May 2011, the MDA dropped WABI-TV
WABI-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Hildreth Street in West Bangor, and its transmitter is atop Peaked Mountain in ...
in Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121).
Modern Bangor ...
from the Love Network after 30 years, citing potential economic costs resulting from the new format. The move left WGME-TV
WGME-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Waterville-licensed Fox affiliate WPFO (channel 23) under a loc ...
in Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
as the only Love Network affiliate for the state of Maine,[ which is not available on ]Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
in most parts of the Bangor market. In addition to Bangor, stations in Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
; Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...
; Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
; Panama City, Florida
Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee and Pensacola. It is the more populated city of the Panama City–Lynn Ha ...
; Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
; Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
; Alpena and Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...
; Austin, Minnesota
Austin is a city in, and the county seat of, Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River and has two artificial lakes, East Side Lake and Mill Po ...
; Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...
; Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...
; Utica, New York
Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...
; San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...
; Bluefield, Clarksburg and Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...
; Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistical ...
; and the entire states of Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
, and Vermont were also dropped from the Love Network fold, with no replacement. This is in addition to markets that did not carry the telethon in 2010, in which no stations were added in these areas in 2011.
The new format had also led to the telethon being moved to other stations, due to scheduling conflicts – longtime Love Network station KXAS-TV in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, announced that it would no longer carry the telethon, due to the station being an NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
owned-and-operated station, and the fact that the telethon would be pre-empting NBC's Sunday night schedule (which was otherwise in reruns that year).[ Independent station KTXA picked up the telethon and used personalities from CBS-owned sister station KTVT for local segments.][
Other new Love Network affiliate changes included WITI (TV), WITI replacing ]WDJT-TV
WDJT-TV (channel 58) is a television station in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its inception (and is the company's only CBS affiliate), and is sister station, s ...
in Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
(thus returning to the station that had originally aired the event); WNCF replacing WAKA in Montgomery, Alabama; KOCB replacing KWTV-DT in Oklahoma City; KICU-TV replacing sister station KTVU in San Francisco; KZJO replacing sister station KCPQ in Seattle, Washington; KXMN-LP replacing KSKN in Spokane, Washington; WNYF-CD replacing WWNY-TV in Watertown, New York; and KXXV replacing KWTX-TV in Waco, Texas (KBTX-TV in Bryan, Texas, Bryan, however, still carried the telethon until it moved to KRHD-CD in 2013 as a result of the telethon's move to ABC).[
For the 2012 ''Show of Strength'', the MDA dropped KODE-TV in Joplin, Missouri from the Love Network in May, stating that the market was too small for the event] (KODE-TV would air the 2013 telethon as part of the broadcast's move to a network-televised broadcast on ABC). In nearby Springfield, Missouri, KGHZ, KSPR broadcast the show after years of telethon coverage by KOLR. In addition, KTLA in Los Angeles replaced KCAL-TV. Meanwhile, in Seattle, KCPQ returned to the Love Network fold, replacing sister station KZJO, after that station carried the 2011 telethon.
Theme songs
* From the show's inception until the 2012 edition, its opening theme was "Smile (Charlie Chaplin song), Smile", a song from Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film, ''Modern Times (film), Modern Times''.
* The telethon's toteboard theme song was an instrumental version of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" (1965). It was used from 1970 to 1989 in different arrangements. At the show's 25th anniversary in 1990, it was not used, but returned for the 1991 edition. In 1992, the song was replaced by various orchestral fanfares to give the show a fresh effect, but it returned in 1996 at Lewis' request. The 2008 and 2009 versions used the song only for the final tote while a generic fanfare marked the others; the 2010 edition used a generic fanfare for all totes, including the final tote, with "What The World Needs Now Is Love" relegated to a medley of songs that played during the closing credits.
*The song Jerry Lewis perennially sang to conclude the event, "You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...
", was originally written for the 1945 Broadway theatre, Broadway musical play, ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'' by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Lewis has given conflicting accounts on the air as to the origin of his use of the song. According to his account at the end of the 2007 telethon, the song was suggested to him in 1964 by a disabled child who walked with a cane; it was suggested to Jerry as a song that would specifically represent physically disabled children. In the 2010 broadcast, however, Lewis mentioned that he knew the song by heart, and was singing it that year for the "59th time", which would mean he had been singing it annually since he began hosting MDA telethons in 1952. Also, a recording of Lewis singing the song for a poster child was released as a cardboard record in 1959; that year, Rodgers and Hammerstein gave the MDA permission to use the song as the official theme for the organisation.[ When Lewis was removed as telethon host in 2011, the song was retired.
*Between 2011 and the final telethon in 2014, there was a different song used each year to close the show.
]
Canada
Through the 1980s, there were also Canadian "Love Network" affiliates, whose telethon presentations there benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Canada, Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada (MDC), an organization unrelated to the American MDA, but used Lewis' U.S. telethon for fundraising. The telethon also helped launch a new station – in Winnipeg, CKND-DT, CKND-TV's first program on August 31, 1975 was the MDA telethon. The telethon was also the last program for the station that CKND-TV replaced: KCND-TV in Pembina, North Dakota, which simulcast CKND's coverage.
The final Canadian-based local broadcasts of the telethon aired from Ottawa in 2001 on area Community television in Canada, community television channels. After this, MDC officials cancelled the local broadcasts, claiming the move was done in order to save costs. The Ottawa broadcasts were first hosted by CFRA (AM), CFRA radio's Ken Grant, who expressed concern that there would be fewer donations due to the loss of local broadcast features. Ottawa's telethon broadcasts were conducted for 31 years, most of which originated from the Skyline Hotel (later known as the Citadel Inn).
After the Ottawa edition ended in 2001, no Canadian station or network aired the telethon since then, though it was available on cable and satellite from WGN-TV (through the superstation feed until 2007, then from the station's Chicago area signal thereafter), as well as from border U.S. stations (such as WMYD in Detroit/Windsor). This continued to be the case after the telethon's move to ABC, with the program seen on ABC stations in cities near the Canada–U.S. border that are available over-the-air and on cable and satellite (such as WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, KOMO-TV in Seattle and WXYZ-TV in Detroit), the broadcast aired free from simultaneous substitution, as no Canadian station or network carried it.
As of 2011, Muscular Dystrophy Canada continued to operate pledge call centers during the telethon to collect Canadian donations.
Through 2010, the corporate donation segments of the telethon occasionally mentioned their Canadian donors, and WGN's telethon included a number for Canadians to call to make a pledge, 1-800-567-CURE, which connects to the pledge center in Toronto. In 2010, WGN's telecast also included a texting address for Canadian viewers to text in their pledges to MDC for an automatic $10 donation, aside from texting charges; this coincided with the MDA's launch of their own text-to-pledge service. Most border stations would also show either the local pledge number for the Canadian portion of their viewing area (as WMYD did), or the national Canadian number.
When the MDA reformatted the telethon in 2011, it no longer allowed its border Love Network affiliates to display any pledge numbers for Canadian viewers. However, the MDC still had a pledge line open, but only on Labour Day itself, with the MDC relying on other ways to get the message out.
A French-language telethon for MDA Canada was televised in Quebec concurrently with the American show in the late-1980s on the Radio-Québec network (now Télé-Québec); first televised in 1987, this telethon was hosted by entertainer Michel Louvain.
Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, WKAQ-TV presents their own local telethon for MDA, ''Sentimiento Telemaratón'', generally broadcast the first or second Sunday after Labor Day, usually from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Atlantic Time Zone, Atlantic Time. As with the English version, the telethon features local and international celebrities, plus information on the organisation, the diseases and the people that rely on MDA's help. Despite the changes in the English-language version, WKAQ will continue the long-form format of their version of the telethon. While WKAQ does not show the Labor Day telethon, it was considered by the MDA as part of the Love Network.[
]
Hurricanes and other shortfalls
Telethon tote board pledges for 2004 were down nearly 2%, to $59,398,915 (from $60,505,234 in 2003). Hurricane Frances had struck through most of the Florida peninsula late on September 5, during the telethon, significantly reducing pledges from the southeast United States. As many Florida stations devoted their air-time to coverage of Hurricane Frances, most Love Network stations in Florida cancelled the local segments of the telethon and either aired only parts of the telethon, moved the telethon to a digital subchannel, or did not broadcast the telethon at all. On a Saturday afternoon in early December 2004, some Florida Love Network stations showed a special three-hour telethon, as a way to recoup some of the lost pledges. Telethon pledges were down another 7.5%, to $54,921,586 in 2005 due to significant Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts in New Orleans and throughout the region in 2005. That year, Jerry and his guests urged telethon viewers to also give donations to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.
The MDA itself donated $1 million to the Salvation Army for hurricane relief efforts. Prior to the hurricane-affected results of 2004 and 2005, the only other time the telethon raised less than the previous year was in 1982 ($28,400,000), during the Early 1980s recession, recession of the early 1980s. One source said, however, that it was due to Jerry sitting out most of the telethon, due to his heart attack earlier (even though the heart attack did not occur until December of that year). However the next year – 1983, the telethon succeeded again in raising more money than its previous year and by 1984 was back to its record breaking pace. In 2006, the final tote board tally was $61,013,855 as five major regional stations knocked out during the previous telecast came back online. It was the first time since 2003 that the telethon raised more money than the previous year. In 2007, the telethon again raised more than any previous year, closing the show with tote board pledges totaling $63,759,478.
On Labor Day in 2008 (September 1), Hurricane Gustav struck the coast of Louisiana. Some Love Network affiliates in the affected area cancelled the telethon for safety and informational purposes. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans, the local telethon segments on WNOL-TV were also postponed, with WGNO, the local producer (as well as WNOL's sister station) urging those wanting to give to do so through "the national telethon". Nationally, Jerry Lewis mentioned Hurricane Gustav and wished those in the affected area, especially his "kids", luck.
Neither he nor his guests made pleas for donations to The Salvation Army, contrary to a press release that said he would, although guest host Tom Bergeron
Thomas Raymond Bergeron (born May 6, 1955) is an American television personality, game show host, comedian and actor, best known for hosting ''Hollywood Squares'' from 1998 to 2004, ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' from 2001 to 2015, and ''Danci ...
did make a plea for donations to the Salvation Army during his hosting stint on the morning of September 1, as Gustav made landfall. However, with less than 10 minutes remaining in the 2008 telethon, the tote board update reflected an increase from the 2007 total, racking up $65,031,393 in donations, exceeding 2007's tote. Lewis had spoken about his concern at not making his goal of "one dollar more" due to Late-2000s recession, economic conditions and Hurricane Gustav. When the tote board updated to show they'd gotten over 2007's total, he screamed three times, "I got it!" On Labor Day 2009 (September 7, 2009), the telethon only raised $60,481,231 in pledges, more than 2005, but lower than the final 2003 results. Lewis mentioned that the effects of the downfall of the American economy may have played a role in that year's shortfall, but was still amazed by the amount amassed nevertheless.[ In addition, no hurricanes threatened the United States around Labor Day weekend that year.
The 2010 telethon saw a further reduction by several million dollars. The final tote was $58,919,838. Lewis noted, "I'm heartened by the unique ability of Americans to help others in need, when they themselves are likely struggling financially."]
Tote board
* The telethon's tote board
A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
s varied from year to year; in the 1970s it was operated on a Solari-board, consisting of seven (later eight) number flippers using a white background and black numbers. Instead of using blank numbers, all flippers began with zeros. This tote board was discontinued after 1989 and replaced with a new tote board, first operated with the Text display#Eggcrate displays, "eggcrate" display common on game shows, then later to an LCD-type Text display#Vane displays, "vane" display. By 2003, the tote board was changed to a screen display. The 2011 edition was the first not to use a tote board at all during the national segments, due to the show airing live only on most stations in Eastern Time, and on a tape delay in other time zones and on some Eastern Time stations.
* Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin Watches was the sponsor of the telethon's toteboard as the "Official Timekeeper of the Telethon" in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at least during the telethon's New York years. From the mid-1970s to the early-1980s, Jules Jurgensen, Helbros was the toteboard sponsor. Since the early-1980s, the tote board had no dedicated sponsor, though some local stations continued to have a sponsor for their local tote boards.
* Figures are from the final tote board number at the end of each telethon. For years 1967 on, increase or decrease is given compared to the previous year and to the previous record. , the telethon has broken its previous record every year except for 1982, 1983, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011; 1983 and 2011's telethons improved over the previous year's totals without breaking the all-time record.
* Through 2010, the final totes did not take into account any pledges that are made after the final tote is announced live – many stations would continue with their local segments afterward, with some stations delaying the final national tote until the very end of the telethon; some stations would also keep the pledge lines open for a short period of time after the telethon ended and the station resumed regular programming, thus making the final local totes inaccurate as well. As the 2011 telethon was not live outside of Eastern Time and could not keep a running national tote during the show, the final national tote for that year was not announced until the following day.
* The publicly stated total counts only pledges and does not indicate the actual amount donated, which is published on the MDA's Form 990. In 2009, the telethon drew approximately $45,000,000 (three-fourths) of its pledges; in 2010, $48,000,000 (nearly five-sixths). However, despite publicly stating a higher pledge total for the short telethon in 2011, the actual amount raised by the telethon was much smaller, with only $30,683,816 – slightly less than half – of the publicly stated total coming in, a steep drop-off from the last years under Lewis' stewardship.
* No obvious tote boards were used in the 2011 and 2012 telethons, although the 2011 edition announced a total after the special had aired. Those totals, however, included corporate sponsorships that had never been included in the tote board totals. That allowed MDA to claim the new format collected more than the old. Donations via phone, text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
and MDA's web site were urged by local network affiliates. In the final two telethons, viewers had visited MDA's website to view the online tote board.
Documentaries
* ''The Kids Are All Right'' is a 2005 documentary about a former 1960s Jerry's Kid, Mike Ervin, who later became a Disability rights movement, disability rights activist critical of Lewis' and the MDA's tendency to paint people with disabilities as, "pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them."
* ''Telethon'' is a 2014 documentary about the preparation of the 1989 edition of the ''MDA Telethon'' in Las Vegas, consisting of Found footage (appropriation), found footage originally shot for a report for ''A Current Affair (U.S. TV series), A Current Affair''.
Criticism
''The New York Times'' wrote in 1992 that "some people with muscular dystrophy .. are criticizing (Lewis) for what they call his 'pity' approach.[
The Jerry Lewis Telethon had one goal—to raise as much money possible for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and to do this the telethon predominantly featured young children leading to the campaign slogan "Save Jerry’s Kids."] In addition to the criticism of the use of disabled people as a fundraising tool, critics argue that focusing the public's attention on medical cures to "normalize" people with disabilities fails to address issues like providing accessible buildings, transportation, employment opportunities and other civil rights for people with disabilities. The picture that was painted with "''Jerry’s Kids''" pulled at the heartstrings of millions of viewers, and in return accomplished the goal of earning as much money as possible. One individual who was previously a "''poster child''" for Lewis explained that since two-thirds of people with MD are adults, yet the telethon solely promoted children, it did not fully represent the real lives of people who lived with MD.
A group named Jerry's Orphans, formed by former Jerry's Kid Mike Ervin, protested the telethon in 1991 and 1992 and criticized the small percentage of MDA's funding going to supporting people with muscular dystrophy, the use of pity by the telethon, and the lack of disabled representation in the MDA. They made a documentary about this in 2005.
Criticisms against Jerry Lewis himself revolved around Lewis valuing disabled children as "poster children," yet ignoring those same "poster children" as they grow up and need genuine help rather than pity. Lewis' 1990 "If I Had Muscular Dystrophy" essay,
published in ''Parade (magazine), Parade'', Jerry Lewis imagines himself as an adult with MD. He writes, "I decided after 41 years of battling this curse that cripples children of all ages, that I would put myself into that chair, that steel imprisonment that has long been deemed the dystrophic child's plight." His statement "I realize my life is half, so I must learn to do things halfway. I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person…" was rejected by some, like Chris Matthews, cofounder of "''Jerry’s Orphans''", who in 1992 rallied a group to protest that year’s telethon in 16 different cities.
Another criticism was that only 30% of the money MDA raises in a year comes from the telethon, which proves that they can feasibly provide help without objectifying the subjects of that help. Former poster child Cindy Jones said "No other symbols of disability play up pity more than charity telethons and their poster children."
Evan Kemp Jr., an adult with muscular dystrophy, claimed that "By arousing the public's fear of the handicap itself, the telethon makes viewers more afraid of handicapped people. Playing to pity may raise money, but it also raises walls of fear between the public and us." Kemp, a White House official, was accused by an MDA official who has had muscular dystrophy since age 8, of "making a 'vicious attack' on the association and 'misusing the power of his Government office' in attacking the charity."[
]
Disability and commercialism
Professor Christopher Smit has argued that the MDA Telethon operated as present-day equivalent to the historical American freak shows which ran during the height of their popularity in the United States from 1840 to 1940.
*The physical staging of the individual: Historical American freak shows grabbed an audience's attention through their staging of physical abnormalities. While the historical freak show audience's perception of difference was easily garnered "due to the presence of an actual stage performance,"[ it is claimed that the MDA telethon's ability to communicate those differences was dependent on how individuals were positioned in relation to each other while on camera.][
* During telethons, MDA's spokesperson Jerry Lewis generated both hilarity and probity; some saw this as at the expense of those for whom they are raising money.] Repeated use of telethon mantras such as ''"You can make a difference"'' and ''"Please send your donation now."''[ were seen by some negatively.
*The written, personal narratives of the individual performers:] An important item for spectators to collect were promotional visitor cards containing pictures and biographical information on freak show performers.[ Deliberately written as sensationalistic, thought-provoking narratives, these cards gave spectators added insight into the performer's lives while imbuing the entire process, from the point of view of the spectator, with a greater sense of shared intimacy.] The content and conventions of the MDA telethon's personal story vignettes—often accompanied by sentimental music and words describing the lives of people with muscular dystrophy—opened wider avenues of shared intimacy for the home-viewer to experience. According to author Sheila Moeschen, these vignettes "invited spectators to voyeuristically experience life stories of the dystrophic," with their standardized narrative structures "constituting the telethon's affective core around which discourses of sympathy, pity, fear, or hope revolve(d)."[
Smit backpedals, cautioning the importance of delineating differences between freak shows and the motivations of the MDA: "MDA distributes monies among patients in need of new wheelchairs and scientists working to cure MD itself. Put succinctly, the MDA event is charitable, while the traditional freak show is personal-profit oriented."][
]
Miscellaneous
* Don Francisco (television host), Don Francisco, the host of ''Sábado Gigante'' (1962–2015), is MDA's spokesperson on behalf of Hispanics with neuromuscular diseases – he generally appeared in the telethon in a pre-recorded message, appealing to Hispanics in Spanish to donate. Don Francisco is also known in his native Chile as host of that country's ''Teletón (Chile), Teletón'', for disabled children.
*Game show announcer, Johnny Olson was the telethon's announcer for the first five years, from 1966 to 1970 before Ed McMahon took over the role in 1973, and held it until his death in 2009.
* 7 Up was the telethon's first corporate sponsor, in which they would raise money through special promotions and issue cheques in installments with multiple stage appearances used as advertising to Jerry during the course of the telethon. 7 Up was also the longest corporate sponsor (under current owner Dr Pepper Snapple Group), supporting the telethon since 1974.
* Prior to 1974, sponsorship was generally limited to trade unions and civic organizations – the most durable being the International Association of Fire Fighters, who supported the MDA since 1954, and appeared on the telethon since 1966.
* The National Association of Letter Carriers was another labor organization long-associated with the MDA, with the group naming the MDA as its "official charity" in 1952. The union's first nationally coordinated campaign to raise funds for MDA came during Thanksgiving week in 1953, when tens of thousands of letter carriers in more than 800 cities returned to their routes for a second time after completing their holiday-heavy mail deliveries. The all-volunteer effort was called "The Letter Carrier March for Muscular Dystrophy". In 1953, they raised $4 million.
*Another notable sponsor was 7-Eleven, who was a sponsor from 1976 to the early-2000s. Early on, Jerry Lewis would appear in commercials urging 7-Eleven shoppers to "Keep The Change" for his Kids. During the late-1970s and early-1980s, Lewis appeared in commercials for 7-Eleven, promoting its stores and products.
* In 1980, a Strike action, strike by American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFTRA and Screen Actors Guild, SAG prevented many guest stars from performing. Instead, they simply walked onstage, shook hands with Lewis, handed him a personal cheque, and encouraged viewers to make a donation.
* Jerry was also the host of the first edition of the French '':fr:Téléthon en France, Téléthon'' in 1987, which benefits the muscular dystrophy charity in France, '':fr:Association française contre les myopathies, L'Association française contre les myopathies''. Jerry also co-hosted the 1991 edition. The French MD telethon is generally televised at various intervals on the France Télévisions group of channels (France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, France Ô and Outre-Mer 1ère) on the first weekend in December. The 2007 edition took in €96,228,136 (US$141,089,693) in pledges, down from its 2006 total of €101,472,581 (US$136,389,286). ''(The value in US dollars against Euros are as of the telethon's broadcast for that particular year.)''
* Up through the Love Network's dissolution in 2013, of its charter affiliates, WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Rochester, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester and a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill in ...
and the present-day WGRZ
WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill ...
and WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Providence, Rhode Island area. The station is owned by Standard Media, and maintains studios in the Orms ...
carried the telethon through 2012. Among these original Love Network stations, only WLNE carried the 2013 and 2014 editions, as part of its ABC affiliation. WLNE's carriage was not continuous, however, as WPRI-TV carried the program for some years until WLNE picked up the telethon again in 1994.
** What is now WLVI-TV
WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and W ...
(the former WKBG) dropped the event, which then moved to WCVB-TV, an ABC affiliate.
** Today's WNYW
WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship W ...
(the former WNEW) dropped the telethon after 1986, which moved to WWOR-TV in 1987, carrying the telethon through 2012. Coincidentally, both WNYW and WWOR are now under the common ownership of the Fox Television Stations group.
Further reading
Longmore, Paul K. (2016)
''Telethons: Spectacle, Disability, and the Business of Charity.''
xford: Oxford University Press.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon
Recurring events established in 1966
Recurring events disestablished in 2015
1966 American television series debuts
2014 American television series endings
American telethons
Muscular dystrophy
Mizlou Television Network
American Broadcasting Company original programming
Simulcasts
American annual television specials
Jerry Lewis