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TV Station Dumped Telethon For Kavanaugh Hearing

Since Hurricane Florence made landfall in the Carolinas last month, fundraisers large and small have sprouted up to help those in need.

Local television stations have been hosting telethons during the past few weeks to raise money for the American Red Cross. WECT and FOX Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C., raised $355,000 during a telephone on Sept. 27 for the #CapeFearStrong Hurricane Relief effort. In Rochester, N.Y., a telethon by News8 raised $44,500. CBS Chicago generated more than $1.1 million in contributions.

For one television station in Erie, Pa., however, the fundraising attempt was pre-empted when a Senate hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lasted more than eight hours.

“Since our Red Cross telephone was overtaken by the Kavanaugh proceedings, we are coming back for another round with the Red Cross to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Florence,” according to a post on yourerie.com.

To date, American Red Cross reports that about $41 million has been raised through designated donations and pledges to help people affected by Hurricane Florence.

Several local stations raising money for Red Cross are affiliates owned by Next Star Broadcasting. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Next Star Media Group, Inc. (NXST) owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 170 television stations and more than 400 related digital multicast signals in 100 media markets in the United States.

Telethons are common and popular ways to raise funds after emergencies but certainly not the only methods.

A tattered American flag flown from North Carolina’s Fying Pan Tower was captured on a live cam as the storm approached, and the video went viral. The flag sold for $10,900 on eBay when bidding ended on Sept. 30. Proceeds will benefit the Red Cross.

Frying Pan Tower is a decommissioned Coast Guard light station, how bed and breakfast, about 30 miles of the cost of North Carolina. According to the Charlotte Observer., a Ohio man won the bidding, buying the flag in honor of his brother who died from cancer on Sunday in Charlotte.

Rolling Stone reported that North Carolina natives the Avett Brothers will headline a Concert for Hurricane Florence Relief on Nov. 13 at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Hurricane Florence caused massive flooding along the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina but also affected parts of Florida and Virginia.