Telethon - The birth of the television telethon occurred from 12:00 P.M. on April 9, 1949 until 4:00 A.M. the next morning as Milton Berle emceed a 16-hour video marathon to raise money for the "Damon Runyun Memorial Cancer Fund." He received pledges for $1, 040, 617. Phone number for donating to the cause was LOngacre 4-4120. Among the many celebrities assisting at WNBT in New York were Faye Emerson, Walter Winchell, Phil Baker and Leonard Lyons. Originally telethons were used to fund the coffers of medically oriented charities but over the years other needy folks have gotten on the band wagon. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were the anchor men for a mammoth telethon which raised money for the 1952 US Olympic team. On July 8-9, 1972 the Democratic Party staged a 18 1/2 hour telethon on the ABC Network on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to raise funds to pay off the Democratic campaign debt. And on July 13, 1985 the worldwide musical Rock 'N' Roll telethon "Live Aid" (conceived by Bob Geldorf) held at Wembly Stadium in London was conducted to raise money and the consciousness of the world to the plight of the starving people in Africa. This telethon spawned a flood of similar events such as "Farm Aid" (1985) to assist the impoverished farmers, and "Hands Across America" (1986) to aid the homeless, and the "Amnesty Concert" sponsored by Amnesty International (1986) to aid political prisoners of the world. Unfortunately, charity telethons are becoming more costly and therefore less common, the victims of recent changes in the television industry. For the first national telethons in the late 1960s, most of the stations donated the air-time. As the number of telethons increased, stations were more likely to charge for time and production, but at a reduced price. Today, costs are prohibitive. Most can't afford to spend 50 cents to make a dollar.