I was a host of the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Labor Day morning on WOTV4.  The telethon raised $65,031,393 nationally, despite several factors that are working against the telethon.  First, we had a beautiful summer day, so more people were outdoors.  That was the case over much of the U.S.  Second…up to 2 million people evacuated the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Gustav moved inland and many of them not watching the Telethon.  Third, our Michigan and U.S. economy could be better.  I hope you’ll take a moment and tune in.    Jerry Lewis is 82 years old.  He was approached by a staff person to do a telethon in 1952 (not everyone had TVs in 1952).  The first telethons were in New York City and lasted four hours on one station.  The first large-scale telethon was held on Labor Day in 1966 in New York and lasted 19 hours, with Jerry emceeing the whole event.  The telethon was so successful that Jerry himself had to paint a “1″ in front of the six figure board when contributions reached $1,002,114.  Jerry begged his fellow performers to join the show.  In 1968, four other stations in the Northeast picked up the telethon.  WHEC in Rochester chose to cut-away to show local volunteers and when that proved successful, the local cut-in became a fixture of the telethon.  In 1970, Los Angeles came on board, and the telethon was truly coast-to-coast.  Sixty-four stations carried the telethon that year and over 5 million dollars was raised.  In 1973, the telethon reached 10 million dollars, and Jerry once again painted a “1″ in front of the 7-figure total.  The telethon expanded to 21 1/2 hours and Jerry hosted the entire show until 1983, when he had bypass surgery.  Over the years, Jerry’s telethons have raised over 1.5 BILLION dollars.  Today, approximately 190 stations carry the telethon.  Thousands of volunteers were taking phone calls and praying for miracles.