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No Sleep till
Christmas!
Columbus Alive - December 19,2002
Christmastime has long been heralded as a time of giving. It’s also
traditionally a time to be spent with family and friends. But for the past
decade, CD101’s Andyman has worked on Christmas. In fact, he works 48 hours
straight, without even time to sleep.
Since
1992, Andy “Andyman” Davis has hosted the Andyman-a-thon, an annual charity
event where he stays up for two days-from the evening of December 23 to
Christmas evening-to raise money for local children’s charities. During the
course of his insomnia spree, which this year will last for 50 hours instead of
48, Andy and other volunteers take pledged donations from listeners requesting
songs, raising tens of thousands of dollars for organizations like the Childhood
League Center, Children’s Hospital, Kids N’ Kamp and the Homeless Families
Foundation.
Andy
wouldn’t have it any other way. “It’s the best way I’ve ever spent Christmas as
an adult,” he says. “It sounds so cliché to say ‘Christmas magic,’ but if you
want to experience it, come down and spend some time here because you see that
genuine feeling of charity and love.”
The idea
for the event was sparked when CD101’s program director at the time was fretting
about who would work Christmas. Andy, who had been at the station two years,
volunteered and suggested he work the full 24 hours and perhaps they could raise
some money. The idea blossomed to 48 hours and the station decided they would
work to specifically help children’s charities.
The event
has been a rousing success in all respects. It raised $5,000 its first year,
doubling that amount in 1993, and subsequently doubling each prior year’s total
the third and fourth years.
Since
then the amount of money raised by the marathon has continued to grow. Even last
year, when the poor economy seemed to tighten most people’s purse strings, the
Andyman-a-thon raised $1,000 more than it had in 1999. Mainly prompted by the
success of the Andyman-a-thon, CD101 formed its own non-profit organization,
CD101 for the Kids, a few years ago, which holds smaller-scale events throughout
the year.
In past
years, CD101 has also added new events and methods to the Andyman-a-thon. The
station holds auctions of items like concert tickets, autographed guitars and
T-shirts and other music paraphernalia both online and on the air, and has
organized concerts with local bands to raise money for charity. This month such
shows have already taken place at Andyman’s Treehouse, the club Andy co-owns,
and at Little Brother’s.
And this
Saturday, December 21, a line-up of seven bands-Manda & the Marbles, Scott
Gorsuch, Pretty Mighty Mighty, X-Rated Cowboys, the Sun, the Jive Turkeys and
the Johnson Brothers-will donate their talents to the cause with a show at
PromoWest Pavilion. All the money raised at the door will go to the
Andyman-a-thon.
“It’s
become such a big deal,” Andy says, “it’s the cornerstone of the CD101 charity.
I just do it. It’s run by Amy Diefenbach and Wendy Vaughan. There’s local bands
who lend their time, volunteers who lend their time. It really has become
something fun.”
Still,
it’s Andy’s pledge to sleeplessness that remains the main attraction. He stays
awake on pure will alone, only drinking a few cups of coffee on Christmas
morning. Though he once thought he might give it up once he had a child of his
own with whom to spend Christmas morning, even becoming a father has
strengthened his commitment.
“I don’t
plan on stopping,” Andy reveals. “I imagine that there will be a time when I
have an ISDN line in my house and I’ll do breaks there and then come back to the
station. But I think it would be great to have my son see this and grow up
around all these people donating their time and spending their Christmas day on
the phone instead of being home watching It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The
Andyman-a-thon benefit concert takes place at the PromoWest Pavilion on December
21. The cover is $8. The Andyman-a-thon broadcast begins at 5p.m. on December
23. Click to cd101.com for info.
- Stephen
Slaybaugh
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