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Name: Muscular Dystrophy Association
Age: 61
Occupation: organization devoted to helping those with muscle diseases
Last Seen: Tucson, AZ
Bee-otched For: throwing northern Michigan into the wheelchair
Age: 61
Occupation: organization devoted to helping those with muscle diseases
Last Seen: Tucson, AZ
Bee-otched For: throwing northern Michigan into the wheelchair
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If there's any organization that's jumping the shark right now, it's definitely the MDA.
Earlier this year, they announced that because of financial problems, mainly caused by lower donation totals, that they were going to reduce their traditional yearly telethon from 22 hours to a mere six on Labor Day Eve. The broadcast would be renamed "A Night With Jerry", but it's not even going to be that, either.
As many of us know by now, Jerry Lewis - who had been MDA's national chairman since its 1950 beginning - was let go of his duties from the organization several weeks ago. No official reason was given, although the 85-year-old Lewis says that he would give out an official reason after the telethon ended this year.
But, the restructuring continues.
This year, MDA will broadcast their telethon on 160 affiliates, which is down from 190 last year. Thankfully, they'll still have most of their affiliates here in Michigan...
...Except for all of northern Michigan and the eastern upper peninsula.
It's official: for the first time in over 40 years, no TV station in northern Michigan will be airing the MDA telethon. Both Traverse City NBC affiliate WPBN-TV channel 7 (and simulcaster WTOM-TV 4 in Cheboygan) and CBS outlet WBKB-TV 11 in Alpena will not be airing the show. It's not totally clear as to why these stations were dropped from the Love Network, although another dropped station, Bangor, ME's CBS affiliate, WABI-TV 5 claims that they couldn't come to terms with MDA over the formatting of the show and the economic costs surrounding it.
I was thinking that market size played a role in MDA's elimination of markets, but I guess that's not it, either. Just ask WPBN and WBKB's sister stations. WLUC-TV 6 in Marquette, sister to WPBN is still carrying the telethon and Marquette's much smaller than Traverse City in terms of market size. As for WBKB, they have a sister station, KXGN 5, which is the dual CBS/NBC affiliate in a town called Glendive, Montana, whose population not only is 1/2 of that of Alpena, and is the smallest network station in America.
Don't get me wrong, I've wrongfully attacked Lewis and the MDA in the past for being greedy, although I would find out from various sources - Snopes included - that Lewis never made a dime from the MDA and that most of their donations do go to treating disease. However, I would agree with many that the telethons needed some work. It needed stars that people under 50 liked, not burned-out oldies acts (i.e. his son Gary), eight-year-old girls belting out 100-year-old showtunes and Charo. I know that Lady Antebellum's playing this year's show, and they're one of country's top acts. Sadly, it's not enough for many people to even want to donate to this year's show.
What's more pathetic is that at least one organization still cares about paying a northern Michigan TV station to air its cause. Sadly, it's the Christian Broadcasting Network and local Fox affiliate WFQX. We'll get to that another day.
In a way, I have to say thank God that there's other MD organizations out there, not just MDA. I think they've jumped a huge shark on this one, folks. Telling Traverse City that they no longer need their help is like yelling "fuck you!" to a bunch of people who did something nice to you for free. I hope the MDA will realize their errors and maybe reinstate WPBN or another station in town for next year's telethon.
IF there's another telethon.
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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!If there's any organization that's jumping the shark right now, it's definitely the MDA.
Earlier this year, they announced that because of financial problems, mainly caused by lower donation totals, that they were going to reduce their traditional yearly telethon from 22 hours to a mere six on Labor Day Eve. The broadcast would be renamed "A Night With Jerry", but it's not even going to be that, either.
As many of us know by now, Jerry Lewis - who had been MDA's national chairman since its 1950 beginning - was let go of his duties from the organization several weeks ago. No official reason was given, although the 85-year-old Lewis says that he would give out an official reason after the telethon ended this year.
But, the restructuring continues.
This year, MDA will broadcast their telethon on 160 affiliates, which is down from 190 last year. Thankfully, they'll still have most of their affiliates here in Michigan...
...Except for all of northern Michigan and the eastern upper peninsula.
It's official: for the first time in over 40 years, no TV station in northern Michigan will be airing the MDA telethon. Both Traverse City NBC affiliate WPBN-TV channel 7 (and simulcaster WTOM-TV 4 in Cheboygan) and CBS outlet WBKB-TV 11 in Alpena will not be airing the show. It's not totally clear as to why these stations were dropped from the Love Network, although another dropped station, Bangor, ME's CBS affiliate, WABI-TV 5 claims that they couldn't come to terms with MDA over the formatting of the show and the economic costs surrounding it.
I was thinking that market size played a role in MDA's elimination of markets, but I guess that's not it, either. Just ask WPBN and WBKB's sister stations. WLUC-TV 6 in Marquette, sister to WPBN is still carrying the telethon and Marquette's much smaller than Traverse City in terms of market size. As for WBKB, they have a sister station, KXGN 5, which is the dual CBS/NBC affiliate in a town called Glendive, Montana, whose population not only is 1/2 of that of Alpena, and is the smallest network station in America.
Don't get me wrong, I've wrongfully attacked Lewis and the MDA in the past for being greedy, although I would find out from various sources - Snopes included - that Lewis never made a dime from the MDA and that most of their donations do go to treating disease. However, I would agree with many that the telethons needed some work. It needed stars that people under 50 liked, not burned-out oldies acts (i.e. his son Gary), eight-year-old girls belting out 100-year-old showtunes and Charo. I know that Lady Antebellum's playing this year's show, and they're one of country's top acts. Sadly, it's not enough for many people to even want to donate to this year's show.
What's more pathetic is that at least one organization still cares about paying a northern Michigan TV station to air its cause. Sadly, it's the Christian Broadcasting Network and local Fox affiliate WFQX. We'll get to that another day.
In a way, I have to say thank God that there's other MD organizations out there, not just MDA. I think they've jumped a huge shark on this one, folks. Telling Traverse City that they no longer need their help is like yelling "fuck you!" to a bunch of people who did something nice to you for free. I hope the MDA will realize their errors and maybe reinstate WPBN or another station in town for next year's telethon.
IF there's another telethon.
---
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