The team behind the 30th Annual WRAL-TV Coats for the Children Telethon poses on the set in Studio A on Friday, December 14, 2018.
WRAL-TVs Coats for the Children Telethon marked two milestones at the daylong event on Friday, December 14, 2018. First, the Telethon celebrated 30 years of working to keep Triangle children warm, and the second, the broadcast would be the final run for WRAL-TV Director of Local Production Phyllis Parish. Parish will be retiring in March after 36 years at the Big 5.
Things worked together send her out with a bang.
Fridays weather was rainy and raw which worked in our favor, said Parish. Weather was top of mind when people went outside and considered how difficult it would be without warm jackets. And our crew didnt let the heavy rain stop our outdoor plans. We made snow under the breezeway instead of the WRAL Plaza and we set up tents at Jiffy Lube where Elizabeth Gardner could stay dry while doing interviews and raking in coats and toys. Those live shots really brought home the chilly weather and the thought of cold months to come for families needing warm winter wear.
In honor of the 30th telethon, Great Outdoor Provision Company celebrated by donating 30 boxes of 300 coats and a $3,000 check to the Salvation Army.
Major Stephen Long with Wake Countys Salvation Army also got in on the 30th year with a fun idea he rang the Salvation Army kettle bell for 30 straight hours and raised close to $3,500 for our telethon! reported Parish.
WRAL-TV's Brian Shrader cheerfully accepts a donation from the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority during WRAL's 2018 Coats for the Children Telethon on Friday, December 14.
At first she worried because fewer companies committed to contribute. But WRAL staffers stepped up to fill the gap.
While planning this year s telethon, we unfortunately did not get as many check presentations from businesses, said Parish. Perhaps it was because they had already donated during the recent hurricanes. More anchors stepped up and offered their popular, behind-the-scenes station tours and we raised close to $5,000 with those! That helps the Salvation Army serve over 35 families in need of a hand up.
All that three-decade excitement added up to a big result.
Last year s total was $183,000, the most we had ever raised for the Salvation Army, she said. Of course, the team always wants to exceed the previous years total and we are well on our way! We ended the telethon Friday night with $154,000. But we continue raising money on WRAL.com online and text to give through the end of December. Currently, we are over $166,500! I feel confident we'll have a new Coats Telethon record by December 31. That feels perfect for our 30th year!
Parish always works behind the scenes producing the telethon, but this year her partner-in-crime, Corp/WRAL-TV Director of Community Relations Loretta Harper-Arnold made sure Parish got a moment in the spotlight.
My biggest surprise Friday was at the end of our 7pm special, explained Parish. Loretta pushed me onto the set and the anchors presented lovely flowers and an on-air thank you, since Im retiring next year. Wow, they got me good! Thoughts were swirling as I stood in the lights with Deb, Greg, Kathryn and Gerald. Hes asking me questions. I dont wanna be on-camera! I dont like surprises. Now were gonna run long! Being a producer, I was worried about out time LOL. But I was honored and blown away by their kind tribute.
WRAL-TV's Phyllis Parish is honored as the News & Observer's Tar Heel of the Week to mark her producing WRAL-TV's Coats for the Children Telethon for the final time. Parish will retire in March, after 36 years with WRAL.
Also to highlight Parish and her contributions, the News & Observer selected her as the Tar Heel of the Week, publishing a special piece about her on the day of the Telethon.
News & Observer: She helps thousands of North Carolina kids stay warm in the winter with coats and gloves
Parish reminisced about the years at the helm of the Coats Telethon, a cause which is near and dear to her heart:
Its been a privilege working on every telethon for the last three decades. I have so many memories associated with Coats. I remember sweet Mr. Ovel, who brought in over 100 handmade hats and mittens to share with local children. Picture an older gentleman taking the time to crochet all of those soft, warm items! It made my heart smile.
The dynamic duo behind WRAL-TV's Coats for the Children Telethon, Corp/WRAL-TV Community Relations Director Loretta Harper-Arnold (left) & WRAL-TV Director of Local Production Phyllis Parish give a thumbs up to the great results of the 30th Annual Telethon in Studio A on Friday, December 14, 2018.
I remember the Sandy Hook nightmare happening right before our 1pm special. I will never forget our broadcast team and all the phone volunteers huddled around a TV in the studio watching that tragedy unfold ironically on the day we were helping local children in our neighborhoods.
Handbell choirs, Bill Leslies performances, school kids bringing in giant bags filled with coats, Southern Snowman s snow, Santa, Wool E. Bull, Monica Lalibertes sweet pups, Raleigh Little Theatres fairy godmother weve used all kinds of fun elements through the years with one goal in mind to keep the phones ringing for the Salvation Armys life changing work.
WRAL-TVs Coats for the Children continues to make warm miracles happen for children in the need in the Triangle. Over 30 years, Parish and her team have made it snow on set, decorated trees with knitted hats, had variety of special guests and much more.
This project brings a lot of joy both inside and outside the station, concluded Parish. I think the Coats Telethon team would agree, theres nothing better
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
The team behind the 30th Annual WRAL-TV Coats for the Children Telethon poses on the set in Studio A on Friday, December 14, 2018.
