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Subject:
From:
Susan Moskowitz <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
Date:
Wed, 8 Sep 1999 19:58:08 -0400
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    Personally I don't regret the downfall of the UCP telethon.  I never appeared on one (a parental decision for which I remain grateful to this day) but I clearly recall being brutally teased by my able bodied classmates in the days after it aired each year!     As to why it doesn't command as much air time as it used to, I think part of the answer lies in the fact that there are more broadcast networks now. When I was a child the New York telethon aired on an independent broadcast station.  That station has now become part of one of the newer networks competing with CBS, NBC and ABC. These networks, being new and still struggling to achieve a respectable share of the ever diminishing pool of broadcast TV viewers, are understandably reluctant to set aside a  continuous 1 or 2 day period during which the network's programming and advertising do not air and, consequently, no profits are made.  On the surface this sounds like greed , but a new business, any new for profit business, has to achieve a degree of solvency before it can afford to donate its services to charity.
    In my house we now have a simple rule, we give no money to telethons but do contribute regularly to the small, independent  CP. therapy center whose summer camp I attended as a child. We support it because I remember the camp experience fondly, and want to do what we can to help keep the camp open and available to the current generation of kids who need and enjoy it. I am comfortable donating because I know  that this center has no financial ties to UCP and thus does not in any way benefit from the telethon and the negative images I feel it perpetuates 

                                Susan

                     

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