/Radiothon an opportunity to support community radio

Radiothon an opportunity to support community radio

By Darren Lum

Giving back to our local community radio station is just a phone call away.

For the 14th year Canoe FM is hosting its Annual Radiothon fundraiser, which provides important funds, but also an opportunity for listeners to learn more about the not-for-profit community radio station located in the village of Haliburton. This year’s Radiothon will be held from July 8 to 10.

During the Radiothon, listeners are encouraged to dedicate songs, send out messages and bid on auction items. There will be a chance to win one of five $100 gas cards, 70 auction packages, and 35 surprise auction items.

Station manager Roxanne Casey said this Radiothon fundraiser is important to keep the lights on and to ensure the community station provides a valuable service to Haliburton County and the surrounding area.

“The service that we provide is we provide information, eclectic music, we give opportunities to volunteers,” she said. “It’s your mother, your aunts, your cousins, all of those people have an opportunity to be on the airwaves and provide that service to people.

She adds the station’s function is to help deliver important information about the community, whether its events, what is happening locally, and even offer a voice of assistance.

“We can focus on everything local and we can do it immediately … if you happen to need help or need help finding a dog or need help finding a ring we can pop on the air and we can tell people about it right away,” she said.

Broadcasting with live personalities is available between 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily.

Casey, who thanks all the businesses that donated items to facilitate the auctions, clarified that the money from the Radiothon is used to cover operational costs such as daily expenses like rent, utilities, communication costs, which is not covered by the station’s Radio Bingo fundraising. Radio Bingo operates under the rules related to its lottery licence and restricts the money to be used only for broadcasting expenses.

The Radiothon also provides the station important feedback from listeners.

“We have people come into the station (we can do that now and we haven’t been able to do that for a couple of years), but usually with the Radiothon on the weekend there’s a ton of people that come through the station that have never even been here before. It gives them an opportunity to come in and nose around and we encourage that,” studio engineer, Ron Murphy said.

Visitors are encouraged to wear masks and be considerate of others on visits.

To place your bid for the on-air auction, call 705-457-1009.