I think it's great when a radio station gets involved with a good cause. The trick is to not overwhelm the audience with so much "donate now" programming that the place becomes unlistenable for most of the day. 

Which is why I'll be curious to see how much of their regular programming AM640 will present on Thursday, as the Corus station does a radiothon for Foodshare, an organization that collects and distributes essentials for those who are "food insecure." 

I remember when NT1010 does their annual Sick Kids charity broadcast for a full day. Great cause, but the same thing over and over and over for hours makes it nearly impossible to stay tuned in. And many here will recall the recent foray of John Oakley being "live on location at Canada's Wonderland," which turned his show into a 3-hour commercial that was completely unlistenable. At least this one is designed to help people. 

The hosts will be live from 7AM-6PM at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, one of the "farming sites" for the charity. In my mind, the best way to do this is to have certain segments turned over to the cause, without completely abandoning regular programming. 

But that's probably not what will happen. Again, I'm all for helping, but I'm not for repetitive radio. And that's what these things can easily turn into, even with audience churn.  So I hope they do this the right way and they get more - or possibly less - than they bargained for. 

640 Toronto Radiothon for FoodShare on August 24th