By Vivian Collings

Thanks to a generous community, CanoeFM’s annual Radiothon is being heralded a success despite facing technical challenges related to the country-wide Rogers outage on the first day of the fundraiser.
The 14th annual Radiothon raised close to $39,000, which was held from July 8 to 10.
Station manager Roxanne Casey said that the station’s staff and volunteers were very happy with the results of the Radiothon.
“The community was incredible and the response was huge. There were so many people dropping in or calling to bid on our auction items, and we received so many great comments about the services we provide and our volunteers. All the volunteers love what they do, but it is nice when the community recognizes the importance of community radio,” she said.

On Friday, July 8, many Rogers customers were without phone service due to an outage, so they couldn’t call in to the Radiothon to donate or bid on auction items.
“The Radiothon started out very slow due to all the issues that Rogers presented us with. People were unable to call in, and we couldn’t process payments, which was a bit of a challenge. Our Friday totals were down substantially from other years,” Casey said.
Despite this, Saturday and Sunday brought in a large amount of donations.

The event also featured an in-person auction with more than 70 packages to bid on.
Surprise pop-up auction items were meant to be broadcast on the radio on July 8, but CanoeFM decided against using them due to callers being unable to phone in to the station. The remaining items are available for bids at canoefm.com.
As a not-for-profit organization, CanoeFM will use the funds raised to help pay for operation expenses at the station.
Casey said, “CanoeFM has become an integral part of Haliburton County. We provide a place to showcase a variety of local talent, and we offer volunteer opportunities to every age group.”