Children’s Telethon Will Go International

The annual Children’s Miracle Network telethon will go international for the first time when it is broadcast this weekend (for 21 consecutive hours) from Disneyland.

In addition to being seen on stations across the United States, it will be carried in the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The telethon’s organizers believe this is the first time a United States-based telethon has aired in those countries.

Locally, Channel 9 will carry the telethon starting Saturday at 6 p.m. (Channel 3 in Santa Barbara also starts the telethon Saturday at 6 p.m.; Channel 8 in San Diego tunes in at 7 p.m.). Since it started in 1983, the telethon has raised $170 million for children’s hospitals.