Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

We always take pride when radio steps up and becomes a meaningful link to audiences in a crisis.

9-11.

The many tornadoes that hit our local markets every year and snow storms that cripple cities and disrupt everyday life.

There used to be more of this until venture capital came along and turned the radio industry into “best practices”, “right-sizing” and “RIFs” (reductions in force).

Today owners fire their best people who are battling cancer, pressuring them so much some even commit suicide as has happened or showing no consideration for the well-being of employees and their familes.

There was a time in radio when if you were not needed or if an owner could not afford to employ you, your station would help you get another job – even in the same market. 

When you could always use the station production studio to make a tape or the copy machine to print resumes at no cost to you.

Where you were welcome to return, to visit friends not be marched out the door forever never to return with a box of your belongings in your hands – and that’s if you are lucky!

The radio industry I love is the one that refuses to let these big corporate consolidators force us to forget who we are or where we came from.

That’s why from time to time I tell you when one of our brethren needs our help and you always respond in kind.

May I share a personal story with you?

When Mike Knar, the successful Colorado Springs Market Manager for Citadel became an employee of new owner Cumulus, he was fired by Lew Dickey in a quick first round of cutbacks even knowing Knar’s son had leukemia. 

Aden, now 11, is fighting the good fight but he is down to the very last option that can save his life.

I have asked you to take a painless bone marrow test (a swab of saliva) to see if you might be able to be a bone marrow donor match and the response was heartening.  But no donor can be found not even Aden’s own family.

I anguish on the phone with my big-hearted friend Sean Hannity and we exchange comments like “as fathers this hurts” and “I cannot imagine what it must be like to face the loss of a child” or “we must be with Mike and leave no stone unturned as long as he needs us”.

Hannity has done just that.  He used his national radio show to tell Aden’s story and solicit bone marrow donors.

Now the only way Aden can be saved is to create what is called a “Savior Child” that matches Aden using in vitro fertilization that is tested for genetic compatibility - human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing to Aden.  It’s a cord blood removal and no surgery or procedures need to be done to the newborn.

The costs are huge – too much for one family and it is not covered by insurance.

Without being asked, Sean contributed $10,000 to the fund.

I followed with a $1,000 donation and the Knar family tells us that based on the initial funding, they now got an interview with the doctors that can create a savior child using in vitro.

But the road is long and expensive and we turn again to the kind people in the radio industry that we know and love to dig down and help get this done.  Any contribution -- $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can afford to help one of our own.

I cannot imagine losing a child and Sean and I are not going to standby and let this happen when there is a path to save Aden’s life.

Look at these pictures – they get to me.

I’m hoping that someday Aden will be healthy enough to go to a Flyers game with us (Sean used to be a Flyers fan before he became a Rangers fan). 

It’s one thing to lambast the greedy owners who have turned abusive behavior into corporate policy but the cure for it is to never forget who we are – the family of radio people who come through for our audience and for each other in times of need.

Thank you.

Here’s how to contribute: – GoFundMe.

And Mike could use your support – email him here with your prayers and thoughts.