When Rick Berrott started Plum’s Make-A-Wish telethon in 1999, the event lasted a few hours and was filmed on VHS tapes.
But in its 25th edition on Monday and Tuesday, students stayed on the digital airwaves for more than 12 hours to crack an all-time total of $1.25 million.
Berrott, a Plum High School teacher and longtime showrunner, said the two-day stream involved dozens of students performing more than 100 live interviews and airing dozens of pre-recorded videos.
The telethon, which has covered the costs of hundreds of wishes, has run every year since 1999, except in 2020 because of covid-19 pandemic restrictions. Make-A-Wish, a nonprofit that operates throughout the country, helps grant wishes for seriously ill children.
Though it was hectic, the stream went well, Berrott told TribLive on Tuesday afternoon as headset-clad producers and crew scrambled around him.
“We’ve been rock solid,” he said. “I’m very proud of the students.”
As Berrott offered parting words to stream viewers, dozens of students pelted him and show hosts with celebratory balloons.
In total, the districtwide fundraiser generated $57,468 this year, about $31,000 of which came from high school fundraising. That places all-time funds at $1,251,193.
“It’s a great number; it’s a huge number,” Berrott said.
Last year’s telethon garnered $53,700 for the foundation.
Pat Muldowney, who now works for Apple TV in Los Angeles, was there for the first edition of the telethon in 1999. He graduated from Plum in 2000 and previously worked at ESPN.
The alumnus — home for the holidays — returned to his alma mater for an on-air interview Tuesday.
He said the production had evolved plenty since his high school days, and he was impressed by Plum students’ organization.
“Being in the control room here doesn’t feel that different from being in a control room at ESPN,” Muldowney said.
In addition to the benefits for Make-A-Wish recipients, the telethon also offers important production experience for Plum students, he said.
Ed Albert said the telethon brings the whole borough together.
A 2008 alumnus, Albert said he hadn’t forgotten the route to the television production classroom at Plum High School.
Now head of sports and special projects at Fox43 in Harrisburg, Albert said his on-air interview brought back lots of behind-the-scenes memories in the control room.
“It was a huge honor for Mr. Berrott to ask me to come back,” he said. “To see how it’s progressed over 25 years is impressive.”
Marco Tommasino, a Plum senior who served as one of the student producers, said more than a month of work went into preparing for this year’s telethon.
Scripts, he said, were completed in late November.
The senior said he was happy with this year’s production and pleased by the help the funds could offer families.
“It went extremely smooth,” Tommasino said.
To commemorate the 25th edition, the Make-A-Wish Foundation also installed a permanent wall exhibit, which displays wishes granted with the telethon’s funds near the high school’s TV production area.
As the stream wrapped, Berrott said he wasn’t sure he had another 25 years of telethons in him, but he hopes the fundraiser will continue.