2009
ROAST ON HIATUS
Pacific
Grove, CA - Novemebr 24th, 2008 -- Citing the recent
difficult financial climate, The John Bayliss Broadcast Foundation,
which for nearly a quarter of a century has held its fund-raising Bayliss
Radio Roast each year in New York City, has announced
that the event will not be held in 2009.
"The Bayliss
Foundation is very much alive and well, and intends to stay that
way," said Foundation
President Carl Butrum. "We are postponing the Roast for
a year out of concern and respect for our many supporters caused
by the current economic climate and the difficulties facing all
advertising-based media, but our scholarship and internship programs
will continue to function." Butrum said
that radio scholarship awards totaling $55,000 have been made to
eleven students for the 2008-2009 school year, and that applications
for the 2009 summer intern program have been distributed to students
at the Bayliss Schools.
The Foundation's
Board will use the year to refine its fundraising efforts, and,
confident that the economy will improve, it plans to reinstate
the annual Roast in 2010. The Board will continue to solicit donations
from companies and individuals in the radio industry. "This is
not the time to retrench but to redouble our efforts," Butrum
said. "The absence of the Radio Roast in 2009 gives us the opportunity
to much more carefully and meaningfully seek the financial support
that has so generously been provided by our supporters for our
scholarship and internship programs."
The Bayliss
Broadcast Foundation was started by industry executives in 1985
to honor the memory of broadcaster John Bayliss. Since its inception,
it has awarded more than 330 scholarships, totaling more than
$1.1 million, to students in radio broadcasting programs at colleges
and universities across the country. Its internship program,
started in 2005, has placed more than 90 students in paid internships
with participating broadcasting companies. It recently launched
a new option for contributions: The John Bayliss Legacy Society,
which offers a number of planned-giving options.
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