Page 48 - BusinessWest February 19, 2024

The Staff of Rock 102
They’ve Made the Mayflower Marathon a Community Tradition
“They’re incredible; they truly have such huge hearts to make sure our neighbors get fed. The Open Pantry would never be able to serve that many people without the Mayflo”wer Marathon.
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
ike Baxendale, the on-air personality known to all simply as Bax, says it started as a radio promotion. But it quickly became a commu- nity event.
And now, it’s a huge community event, involving individuals, families, businesses, institutions, area
schools and colleges, and more.
He was referring, of course, to the Mayflower Marathon,
staged each year in the days just before Thanksgiving to benefit Open Pantry. For 30 years now, the event, organized by and staged by the staff at Rock 102, has collected food and monetary donations to help those in need.
It started with one Mayflower trailer — hence the name — and each year, with a few rare exceptions, such as the height of the Great Recession in 2009 and the height of COVID in 2020, it has grown bigger and collected more to combat food insecurity.
And in 2023, the marathon, in its relatively new home at MGM Springfield, shattered all previous records, collecting more than $234,000 in food and monetary donations and filling nearly six trucks.
That number, and the level of support needed to reach it, speak to both the growing amount of need in the region
amid higher inflation and growing financial issues facing many in the 413 and the manner in which the staff at Rock 102 have collaborated with others in recent years to take the marathon to new levels, with a comedy night at MGM Springfield and a Mayflower Marathon Night on the Springfield Thunderbirds schedule.
“Ultimately, the goal is to raise more and more and more to help those in need,” said David Oldread, vice president and general manager of the Springfield Rocks Radio Group and Northampton Radio Group, which includes Rock 102. He noted that the marathon involves difference makers
on many levels, including those who donate everything from the trucks to the portable toilets to the tents; those corporate supporters, many of which have been part of this since the beginning; and the volunteers who help collect the donations and load the trucks.
But it is the staff at Rock 102 that is being honored the Difference Makers award this year, and deservedly so. The station conceived the idea back in 1993, and it has been the driving force in continuing the program and orchestrating its strong growth pattern.
And it’s a company-wide initiative, a true team effort, said Oldread, noting that it is “all hands on deck,” especially in the weeks and days leading up to the event, with each staff member making important contributions to the effort, with work starting months before the marathon begins.
Bax and Steve Nagle, morning show hosts, entertain
A28 2024
BusinessWest
Some of the Rock 102 team
that orchestrate the Mayflower Marathon, from left: David Oldread, general manager; Steve Nagle and Mike Baxendale, morning show hosts; Erin Buehler, promotions director; and Alex Byrne, program director.