MDA Labor Day Telethon - Scheduling

Scheduling

Previously, the telethon ran live for 21½ hours, ending at 6:30 p.m. ET. During the 2000s, the telethon would end its national portion shortly before 6 p.m. ET, with any remaining time going to stations. In recent years, more "Love Network" stations opted not to show the entire telethon, opting to join the show in progress after the 11 pm / 10 pm local news, or even on Labor Day morning, after the network morning shows.

In 2010, the last year of the full-length telethon, the telethon ran live for 20½ hours, from 9 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET, though actual start and end times varied by station. However, the MDA still considered 21½ hours as the official length of the telethon, turning over the final hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET to its affiliate stations for local wrap-ups (some stations would elect to end at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. ET instead (or even later), depending on the option of the station).

Effective September 4, 2011, the telethon was shortened to six hours, and broadcast from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight local time in each time zone, with stations in the Eastern and Atlantic Time Zones broadcasting the event live. However, as with the previous format, some stations scheduled the telethon as they saw fit—in the case of Chicago's WGN-TV, the 2011 telethon was scheduled from 6PM to 1AM ET (5PM to 12 Midnight CT), with the first hour produced locally. In addition, some network affiliates would delay the telethon to start later than 6PM, so that their evening newscasts and some of their network shows, such as CBS's 60 Minutes, would be seen as normally scheduled.

The telethon was again shortened in 2012, from six to three hours. Though intended to be aired at 8 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone, at least one Eastern Time station, WMAZ-TV in Macon, Georgia, broadcast the Show of Strength from 9 p.m. to midnight.