2009 ROAST ON HIATUS

Pacific Grove, CA - Novemebr 24th, 2008 -- Citing the recent difficult financial climate, The John Bayliss Broadcast Foundation, which for nearly a quarter of a century has held its fund-raising Bayliss Radio Roast each year in New York City, has announced that the event will not be held in 2009.

"The Bayliss Foundation is very much alive and well, and intends to stay that way," said Foundation President Carl Butrum. "We are postponing the Roast for a year out of concern and respect for our many supporters caused by the current economic climate and the difficulties facing all advertising-based media, but our scholarship and internship programs will continue to function." Butrum said that radio scholarship awards totaling $55,000 have been made to eleven students for the 2008-2009 school year, and that applications for the 2009 summer intern program have been distributed to students at the Bayliss Schools.

The Foundation's Board will use the year to refine its fundraising efforts, and, confident that the economy will improve, it plans to reinstate the annual Roast in 2010. The Board will continue to solicit donations from companies and individuals in the radio industry. "This is not the time to retrench but to redouble our efforts," Butrum said. "The absence of the Radio Roast in 2009 gives us the opportunity to much more carefully and meaningfully seek the financial support that has so generously been provided by our supporters for our scholarship and internship programs."

The Bayliss Broadcast Foundation was started by industry executives in 1985 to honor the memory of broadcaster John Bayliss. Since its inception, it has awarded more than 330 scholarships, totaling more than $1.1 million, to students in radio broadcasting programs at colleges and universities across the country. Its internship program, started in 2005, has placed more than 90 students in paid internships with participating broadcasting companies. It recently launched a new option for contributions: The John Bayliss Legacy Society, which offers a number of planned-giving options.