About the Telethon

WAVM’s first Beacon Santa in 1978 raised $1,611.58. It was an excellent start by organizers Bill Cassidy and Billy Nelson, however, that was just the beginning…

Just as Winter settles upon New England, WAVM hosts take to the air for three December days of live, non-stop money raising. Quite a spectacle ensues. Witnesses have noted a scene with moments of organization, pandemonium, mirth and fatigue (Some years, the event lasted fifty-hours). However, despite all of the madness, there’s also a lot of fun, and WAVM has returned every year to take on the Beacon Santa as much for the challenge as for the charity’s reason.

The charity’s beneficiaries are local families down on their luck, and the money helps to buy Christmas Dinner and other essentials. For families to go without at that time of year is, in Western Culture, practically a crime. Imagine Tiny Tim in Dickens’ “A Christmas Story” not getting to eat roasted turkey at the end of the story. People would have burned the book.