Telethon

A telethon is a fundraising event broadcast on television that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political, or other allegedly worthy cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitations for pledges (promises to donate funds at a later time) combined with variety show style entertainment. Correspondingly, the term is a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon". The equivalent for a radio broadcast is a radiothon; most radiothons do not include the entertainment.

One of the first continuing annual telethons in the United States was the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) telethon. Television executive Leonard Goldenson and his wife had a daughter with Cerebral Palsy, and with the help of other affected parents, launched the UCP Telethon in 1950, with early television personality Dennis James as host. He continued to host New York-based segments on the telethon through the 1980s. The telethon is now defunct as UCP raises funds through other means, including its website. By 1955 televised telethons had become a familiar enough part of American culture to be parodied that year in the film noir Tight Spot as comic relief.

The oldest continuing annual telethon in the United States on the same channel is Green Bay, Wisconsin WBAY-TV's local Cerebral Palsy telethon that began broadcasting 22 hours on the first weekend of March 1954. As of 2011, they have celebrated their 57th year of presenting the telethon, which helps provide financial support for equipment for Cerebral Palsy, Inc.

Close behind the Green Bay telethon in longevity is the WHAS Crusade for Children in Louisville, Kentucky, which broadcast its first telethon in October 1954 on WHAS-TV and WHAS Radio, six months after the first WBAY telethon. While the Crusade for Children is still broadcast on those same stations, it has expanded to radio and television stations in other parts of Kentucky and Indiana, as well as streaming video on the Internet. The Crusade is famous for the legions of firefighters who collect money at road blocks at intersections throughout the area each May and June. The Crusade annually collects more than $5 million in donations for a variety of child-related charities and causes, and remains the most successful local telethon in the United States.