Disc Jockey’s Antics Attract Attention and Big Bucks for Charity

Larry Norton, a radio disc jockey here, has lived for two days inside a giant ice cube, ridden a Ferris wheel

for five 20, and set what he says is the world record for the longest radio broadcast by staying on the air for 484 straight hours.

Such stunts have earned Mr. Norton the nickname Marathon Man. They have also earned more than a million dollars for charity.

“If I am going to be goofy, I want to make something good out of it,” says Mr. Norton, 49, whose talk and music show, “Norton in the Morning,” is broadcast weekdays on one of Buffalo’s top-rated radio stations, 97 Rock.

Dozens of charities have benefited from Mr. Norton’s antics, but he is best known in the city for his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western New York, which fulfills the wishes of kids with life-threatening illnesses.

The charity is one of the 74 chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Together the chapters raised a total of $154.1-million last year, placing the organization at No. 87 in The Chronicle’s ranking of the 400 organizations that raise the most private money.

Mr. Norton was introduced to Make-A-Wish 10 years ago when the charity contacted the radio station as part of its arrangements to fulfill an Albany boy’s wish to attend a Buffalo Bills game that the station broadcast.

Mr. Norton says he quickly developed a particular affinity for Make-A-Wish because the group helps children with all kinds of afflictions, and the results are so immediate.

“There are kids,” he says, “literally waiting for us to make their wish come true.”

28 Hours on the Air

Every fall since 1995, Mr. Norton has produced a radiothon, staying on the air for 28 hours to raise money for Make-A-Wish. Listeners call in and make pledges in exchange for song requests, or they place bids on items donated for a fund-raising auction. September’s broadcast netted $170,000 for the charity, bringing Mr. Norton’s 11-year total to more than $1.4-million.

Western New York’s Make-A-Wish raised $1.3-million in 2004 and another $1.5-million in the fiscal year that ended in August. In both years, about $2 out of every $5 came from special events like Mr. Norton’s radiothon.

Ronn Tritto, the chapter’s executive director, says that while he would like to see such fund-raising events continue, his goal is to rely less heavily on them.

The group, he says, has recently hired a second full-time fund raiser and plans, in the coming months, to start its first campaign to seek big gifts from affluent people.

But no matter what, Mr. Tritto says, Mr. Norton will remain an invaluable resource for Make-A-Wish.

Besides the money Mr. Norton brings in during his annual radiothon, the disc jockey participates in other Make-A-Wish events throughout the year and works behind the scenes to encourage volunteers and donors.

Mr. Norton is also in touch with families whose kids have been granted wishes.

“Larry is talking on and off the radio,” Mr. Tritto says. “He’s giving people inspiration and encouragement in more ways than we know.”

Linda Stone, whose 17-year-old daughter, Kelsey, got to meet the band Green Day through Make-A-Wish, says she called Mr. Norton during this year’s radiothon.

Instead of just talking about the band or the wish or even the organization he was trying to promote, Mrs. Stone says, Mr. Norton wanted to hear how Kelsey, who has a rare neuromuscular disease, was faring.

“The health of the child is first in his mind,” she says. “I hear a crack in his voice, and you can feel how much he cares.”

Mr. Norton says he gets teased that all of Buffalo has heard him cry. “It’s hard to talk about these kids without getting choked up,” he admits.

But that doesn’t mean Mr. Norton isn’t usually having fun on the radio.

‘Nobel Peace Prize’

During his morning show, he and his two on-air colleagues stand behind microphones at a chest-high studio table eating bagels, chatting, fielding calls from listeners, and playing music. The show’s producer and other station staff members breeze in and out of the room, dropping comments, ideas, and jokes.

After the station’s promotions director asked Mr. Norton during a commercial break in a recent show if he would agree to visit schools again this year and reward kids who participate in an anti-drug program, a staff member chimed in: “Sorry to interrupt, but here’s Larry’s Nobel Peace Prize.”

Mr. Norton laughed at the joke and himself, but he didn’t miss a beat a few minutes later when, between songs by Styx and the Rolling Stones, he put in a plug for a car raffle to benefit Make-A-Wish.

Community Ties

Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, says many local radio and television personalities around the country help promote and raise money for charities. He says the practice feels good for the people involved, and makes good business sense.

“At the local level, it’s a good way to establish ties to the community, build listenership,” Mr. Wharton says. “You can’t underestimate the desire of these individuals to help the community, and, at the same time, the desire of the broadcasters to connect with the community, draw them in.”

Mr. Norton’s jam-packed schedule, which includes banquets, auctions, golf outings, and more, benefits many charities beyond Make-A-Wish, some of them in the Philanthropy 400.

In just the last few weeks, Mr. Norton has appeared in television commercials to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (No. 72); acted as the master of ceremonies at a March of Dimes (No. 59) event; and appeared at businesses in and around Buffalo to promote a campaign by the American Cancer Society (No. 4) that encourages colorectal-cancer screenings.

No Meetings

As a local celebrity with a self-described “big mouth,” Mr. Norton is constantly fielding requests from nonprofit groups, and, he says, he rarely turns them down, except if it’s a request to serve on a governing board.

“I’d rather do than meet,” he says.

Other than that, all a charity has to do is ask, he says, and at the very least he will try to lend support by mentioning the organization or its event on the air.

“My job in radio gives me a voice in the community,” Mr. Norton says. But, he quickly adds, despite the attention he gets for his radio show or charity work, he has never taken himself too seriously.

And how could he? This is a man who once decided that the best way to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (No. 71) was to dip himself from head to toe in chocolate and be delivered on Valentine’s Day to local businesses as a human candy-gram.

On the wall above his desk at the station are more than a dozen plaques honoring his work with nonprofit groups, just some of the many awards, including two keys to the city, he has received over the years.

The wall would look like a Buffalo-area directory of charities — Niagara Hospice, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, and more — except that the awards are covered by sticky notes with phone numbers and to-do lists Mr. Norton has jotted down.

Only one plaque is unobscured. It was given to him by a Buffalo Bills football player who has worked with Mr. Norton on some of his charity fund-raising efforts. It reads: “Of everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.”

Mr. Norton says he thinks about that saying — which comes from a passage in the Bible — more and more as he gets older, and it helps inspire him to do things big and small in his efforts to help charities.

For this fall’s Make-A-Wish radiothon, Mr. Norton decided to donate his own personal items for the auction, including memorabilia from his favorite band, the Beatles. Last year, when he and his wife celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, the couple declined gifts in favor of donations to Make-A-Wish.

“I’ve reached a point where I have enough stuff, my share of blessings,” he says. “If I can take something from my house and use it to help grant a kid’s wish, that’s a million times better than selling it on eBay.”