CanoeFM’s Roxanne Casey was helping man the phone lines this past week for the station’s annual Radiothon when a seemingly innocuous call turned into something special.
Two locals had been duking it out over one of the 130 items featured in a pop-up live auction when, after bidding had concluded, the loser called in.
“He told us his name was Richard and that he wasn’t sure what he was bidding on, but he told his son if they won that he’d get to hear his name on the radio. So he asked us for a shoutout for his eight-year-old,” Casey said. Putting the phone up to the microphone, the hosts had a conversation with the boy, named Michael.
When they were done, Casey invited the pair to serve as guests on an upcoming morning show. They were thrilled, she said. “The caller said it just made their son’s night. He was so overwhelmed.”
As much as the annual fundraiser, now in its 16th year, is about bringing in money to support CanoeFM’s operations, Casey said community interaction is just as important.
As of noon July 6, Radiothon had raised $51,500. That’s just below the $55,000 raised in 2025, though Casey said last year’s total was headlined by a $5,000 donation from the estate of Patrick Monaghan, former presenter of the Buckslide Blues Cruise, which they didn’t get this year.
“Taking that into account, we’re actually a little better than last year with all the little donations,” Casey said, noting there were about 300 different donors. “We had two $500 donations, but aside from that it was $20 here and there.”
Some of the top-selling auction items included four tickets to a Toronto Blue Jays game, a kayak donated by Canadian Tire, a vintage stereo system donated by Michael Butz and a turntable donated by Redman Records. All in, the auction raised around $12,600.
This year’s Radiothon had an extra special feel, with the event coinciding with the first-ever CanoeFM Day in Haliburton County. Warden Dave Burton made the declaration June 24, with the occurrence observed July 4. Town crier Bruce Kruger stopped by the station in Haliburton village last week.
“It was pretty official. He came in, marched up the sidewalk and did some readings for us, which we played on the air. It was the traditional ‘oh yay, oh yay’, it was really good,” Casey said.
While she doesn’t usually know where the money will specifically go this soon after Radiothon, Casey said the station is directing funds towards new line-of-sight infrastructure.
“Bell is discontinuing our copper line, which takes our feed from the station up to the tower at Skyline Park. If we don’t figure out an alternative, we’ll be off the air on Dec. 1,” Casey said.
There are two options – transitioning to a fiber service with Bell, or installing new antennas on the roof of the station on Mountain Street and another on the tower at Skyline. Casey said the station is focusing on line-of-sight, which she estimates at $50,000.
“The problem with the fiber is if the internet is down, then we’re off the air. There were things like the ice storm last year where the community didn’t have internet for some time, but we were able to stay online and get information out to the public. We don’t want to lose that capability,” Casey said.
Speaking to Radiothon’s success, Casey believes it shows the community’s support for the station.
“Every year I think to myself, ‘how could this possibly go as well as last year? How can we raise all this money?’ But it always happens,” she said.
