Franklin Regional's annual telethon transforms into live-streamed holiday showcase

During the annual Franklin Regional Telethon in December, the main hallway in the senior high school is, to put it charitably, a roiling mass of chaos.

Multimedia students are scrambling to line up the next act in their live broadcast. High school clubs have tables set up from end to end. Two-way traffic is constantly jamming up the hall. Special education coordinator Rich Regelski can be occasionally seen dressed as Will Ferrell’s character from “Elf.”

None of that is possible with covid-19 health and safety protocols in place. And while that would seem to make a pre-packaged-style telethon easier, that’s not always the case.

“It’s a little less chaotic, but we like that chaos, so we’ll definitely miss it,” said media and journalism teacher Becky Magness. “It was, I guess, easier; maybe that’s not the right word. There is less to worry about this year.”

This year’s telethon, the “Holiday Student Variety Showcase,” will air live on Comcast local access Channel 19 and on the FRHS-TV YouTube channel at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Students, staff and families recorded and submitted performances, cooking demonstrations and more that will air throughout the morning.

The challenge of pre-prepping video segments also offered a chance to bring new ideas to the table. Senior Tim Quinn was part of a team that recorded a game show featuring district faculty.

“We used Zoom to record a version of ‘Family Feud’ that we called ‘Faculty Feud,’” said Quinn, 18. “It recorded pretty well. The videos are all 10 to 20 minutes long, and it worked out. They’re all on the screen at once, you can see who’s on what team, and I enjoyed working with it.”

Quinn said he’ll miss the frenetic pace of the live broadcast.

“Sometimes things run over, they don’t go long enough, there are little, simple mistakes,” he said. “But everyone loves the live show.”

Junior Olivia Ciotti, 16, agreed.

“This year we’ll probably have less errors than we normally would,” she said. “I’m looking forward the most to seeing it all together.”

Unlike in past years, there will not be a charity beneficiary. Magness said she hopes to remedy that later in the school year.

“We’re going to do a fundraising event in the spring, when hopefully the live event can be back and we can do something outside,” she said. “This year, we just wanted to do something that was fun. There’s sometimes not a lot to smile about this time of year with so many people home.

“And hopefully this will be a fun event that people can enjoy,” she said.

Tune in for the telethon at 9 a.m., Dec. 23, on Channel 19 or at YouTube.com — search “FRHSTV Franklin Regional.”