By Marilyn Miller
Volunteers have been working quietly behind the scenes since this time last year, but that will all come to a boisterous head on Thursday, Feb. 9 when the citizens of Minden, south Webster Parish, and, indeed, the world “Wave Goodbye to Cancer” during the four-day Minden St. Jude Auction.
The auction, which has contributed nearly 20 million dollars to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis during its 47 year run, is broadcast and streamed all over the world by KASO AM and FM, Optimum (formerly Suddenlink) Cable and mindenstjude.com.
But there was a time when the auction was a 24-hour event broadcasting from KASO 1240 AM at its small radio station tucked between Turner’s Pond and Lakeshore Drive.
In 1976, Minden businessman, Pete Treat, lost his daughter Anne to cancer, and he wanted some way to honor her memory. At the same time, he wanted to help St. Jude, the non-profit hospital where she was treated with such love and care. He approached station owners Bo Cook and Digger O’Dell about using the station for an auction. They said “Yes,” and the rest is, as they say, history.
“I was working part-time for KASO at the time and Pete Treat approached me and asked me if I would ‘run the board’ for the auction,” recalled Minden journalist Pat Culverhouse. “If you’ve ever been in the station, you know that the rooms we were working in are small, like 10’x10’, barely room for three people.”
But on that day, Pat and Pete did the talking while 10-15 other people crammed themselves into the studio. In another 10’x10’ room, 10-15 more people worked, manning phones, taking donations, ringing cowbells.
“We had three whole phone lines,” Pat said. “I spent probably 12 hours running equipment (to talk over the air). We didn’t have digital equipment like they do today.”
One way the organizers utilized to attract donations that first year was the “Mystery Prize,” a taxidermist-donated deer’s butt, complete with eyes and a nose.
“We got nearly a thousand dollars for that thing,” Pat said, a smile in his voice. Not too shockingly, the “Mystery Prize” didn’t reappear in 1977.
“It was a lot of fun,” Pat recalled, and people were eager to help. “You know, people would call in a $5 or $10 pledge and we’d be tickled to death.”
People also donated airtime. Mike O’Brien was an evangelist, and he had a 30-minute show on KASO that day. He donated his airtime, with the only stipulation being that he be allowed to pray before the start. And he did.
“We had one guy who wanted to buy a thousand dollars-worth of Grand Prize tickets, and we had to tell him we didn’t have that many Grand Prize tickets.”
Yes, listeners were eager to help in 1976, just like they are today. And help has never been hard to find.
“It started out with a core group of about 20,” Pat recalled. “Then it grew to 40, then 80, 160…then the whole town of Minden.”
That core group the first year did everything from soliciting prizes to baking cakes. And some of the first people, like Mike Harper, have been a part of the auction for all 47 years.
That first Minden-KASO St. Jude Radiothon netted $10,000 for the children’s hospital. Today, proceeds from the many fund-raising activities of the Minden St. Jude Auction have exceeded two million dollars.
“I did the St. Jude auction for 20 years,” Pat recalled. “It was quite a lot of fun.”
“Except for those cowbells…”