BellaOnline Forums Money Charity The MDA Telethon had a shocking result.

In the past, the MDA Telethon was 22 hours long. This year it was only 6 hours. But this year they brought in more money than in 2010(58.6M in 2010, 2011-61.5M) It really goes to show you, if people feel compelled to give, they will do so. Although this year's hosts did a great job, it just wasn't the same without Jerry.

Did they say why they cut it so short?

I wondered why too. MDA wanted to only run the telethon during the prime time hours, to attract a bigger audience. MDA wants to also attract more stations to televise the telethon. Six hours are easier for a station to clear versus 21 1/2 hours, according to MDA. I guess it makes sense. Whenever I watched the telethon in the early morning hours, donations were slow. In the end, I guess their gamble worked!

Yea...especially in these tough times...that's really good news.