RUTLAND — It’s the stuff of a Hallmark movie: A Who’s Who of hometown radio announcers, hearing that their station had traded local talk for nationally syndicated sports, join forces on the air to save the community’s 50th annual Christmas Fund.
This week, however, it’s no script. It’s a true story.
Vermonter Terry Jaye recalls being a student in the pre-streaming days of 1972 when Rutland’s WSYB-AM broadcast local letters to Santa. Most children wanted toys. But one unnamed boy asked for a blanket and boots for his little brother, who kept getting sick because their bedroom window was broken.
Listeners soon mailed in money, leading the station to create the WSYB Christmas Fund to help Rutland County families referred by area social service agencies, schools and churches.
Over the past half-century, the fund has raised a collective $2 million for those in need. But when the station traded local talk for 24-hour Fox Sports programming earlier this year, many wondered if the volunteer effort with the motto “a dollar in is a dollar out” would instead morph from on to off.
Jaye, who retired from a four-decade area radio career last New Year’s Eve, was thinking about the fund recently when he called former WSYB colleague Brian Collamore — now a Rutland County state senator — to discuss a 50th anniversary fundraiser.
The two asked the station if they could take over the 6 to 9 a.m. “2 Pros and a Cup of Joe” morning slot temporarily to seek donations. Pamal Broadcasting, a family-owned group of two dozen Northeast stations, not only agreed, but also pledged to match contributions up to $5,000.
Collamore and Jaye have returned to the air this month alongside such past and present local radio voices as Nanci Gordon, Jack Healey, Ed Kelly and Mike Cameron. (The latter delivered help 50 years ago to the family with the broken window.)
“Somebody just called us and said, ‘Tuning in is like putting on your favorite slippers,’” Jaye said. “I thought, ‘OK, now I’m an old slipper,’ but I’ve been called worse.”
Unable to advertise the local show on the nationally programmed station, the team snagged only a few listeners upon its debut last week. But as word of mouth spreads, more people are calling in to contribute.
“The first day we didn’t have much action, but the second day was a little better and by the end of the week the phones were ringing off the hook,” Collamore said. “A large part of the community has found us again.”
The team will continue to receive contributions on the air through Friday. It’s set to cap efforts with a broadcast Dec. 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Ted’s Pizza Shop, which has hosted a holiday fundraiser since 1984. People also can mail donations to the WSYB Christmas Fund, 250 Dorr Drive, Rutland, VT 05701.
“We’re trying to keep the spirit going,” Collamore said, “and the money coming in.”