Behold, The Power of Radio!
• By now you probably know the heartbreaking story of Teddy Bollinger, the six-year-old Tucson boy who had invited 32 of his classmates to a birthday pizza party last weekend — and no one showed up. His understandably upset mother, Silvina Mazzini took this heartbreaking photo of Teddy (left) sitting alone and forlorn and posted it on social media, and it immediately went viral — people, organizations, and companies from across the country immediately rallied around Teddy and wished him a happy birthday. The Phoenix Suns took to Twitter and invited Teddy to game against the Los Angeles Lakers. “How about we celebrate with thousands at our place! Tickets to Wednesday’s #SunsVSLakers game are all yours Teddy! Talk soon!” the Suns tweeted. Teddy’s story was also picked up by several local TV stations and even rated a mention in People.
There was no way that anyone with a heart was going to let young Teddy live with that terrible memory, so it was “local radio” to the rescue — specifically, iHeartMedia Tucson, where David Adams, SVP of Programming tells us that iHeartMedia Tucson Digital PD Atzimba Palomares Barriga and the team immediately swung into action. Teddy’s story was posted on all of iHeart’s Tucson station websites & social media, and the company was able to make contact with Teddy’s family via Facebook Messenger. The promotion staff also reached out to the site of the original, no-show party, Peter Piper Pizza and arranged for a make-good bash for Teddy, all in less than 24 hours.
In a far cry from Teddy’s original celebration, this party was heavily populated with generous iHeartMedia staffers and on-air talent, including Lauren Gonzalez from KRQQ, D-Wayne Chavez and Stephanie Paige from KOHT (Hot 98.3) and morning duo Cyndi & Chris from KMIY (MY 92.9). KVOA-TV also showed up, and the resulting video package is posted on Facebook. As you can see from the photo of Teddy’s smiling face (above), his make-good party was a huge hit!
