Tsunami relief brings broadcasters together

They may compete tooth-and-nail for ad buys and ratings, but Chicago broadcasters worked together yesterday to aid victims of the Asian tsunami. Nearly every radio and TV station in the market was making a pitch for aid donations, urging listeners and viewers to call a pledge number for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. The effort included appeals that were broadcast in every local TV newscast. Many stations, though, promoted the appeal throughout the day, with radio DJs pumping the pledge number and TV stations airing PSAs. The Red Cross pledge lines were staffed from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm. "Kudos to Steve Robinson at WFMT [FM] who came up with the idea," said WGN-TV Station Manager Dominic Mancuso, who alerted RBR/TVBR to the market-wide effort. "Can you ever remember an event like this taking place that did not involve a local area cause?" Mancuso added.

From the Red Cross, here's the list of stations which participated in yesterday's aid appeal. Television stations: WBBM-Channel 2, WMAQ-Channel 5, WLS-Channel 7, WGN-Channel 9, WTTW-Channel 11, WFLD-Channel 32, and CLTV. Radio stations: WFMT-FM (98.7), WGN-AM (720) WBBM-AM (780), WLS-AM (890), WMVP-AM (1000), WJOB-AM (1230), WJOL-AM (1340), WGRB-AM (1390), WIMS-AM (1430, Michigan City), WVON-AM (1450), WRLL-AM (1690), WLUW-FM (88.7), WDCB-FM (90.9), WPWX-FM (92.3), WKIE/WKIF-FM (92.7), WXRT-FM (93.1), WLIT-FM (93.9), WJKL-FM (94.3), WZZN-FM (94.7), WNUA-FM (95.5), WSSR-FM (95.7), WERV-FM (95.9), WBBM-FM (96.3), WDRV-FM (97.1), WLUP-FM (97.9), WCCQ-FM (98.3), WUSN-FM (99.5), WRZA-FM (99.9), WLIV-FM (100.3), WRXQ-FM (100.7), WKQX-FM (101.1), WTMX-FM (101.9), WYCA-FM (102.3), WVAZ-FM (102.7), WKSC-FM (103.5), WJMK-FM (104.3), WSRB-FM (106.3), and WGCI-FM (107.5).