While many stations have phased out radiothons as a way of providing local services and benefiting local charities, Bangor all-sports station WZON (620 AM) is maintaining a link with radio’s roots.

Monday, Aug. 5 marks WZON’s ninth annual Jimmy Fund Radiothon, a 12-hour charity benefit.

All proceeds from the radiothon benefit the Jimmy Fund, the official charity of the Boston Red Sox which is dedicated to wiping out cancer in adults and children through Boston’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

“It’s my understanding that we’re one of the few stations in New England that still do something like this,” said WZON program director Dale Duff. “These days, it’s a lot easier to organize charity golf tournaments and a lot of stations do that now, but we still like to do this, and it’s fun.”

Duff said the whole radiothon enterprise was an appropriate way to raise funds and visibility for the charity since the Jimmy Fund’s origin traces back to the old Ralph Edwards radio show in which the host interviewed Mainer Einar Gustafson, whom he referred to as “Jimmy,” live from his hospital bed in 1948. Gustafson, who was 12 when he was interviewed, died last year at the age of 65.

“Really, the whole idea of raising money for sick kids came from an old radio show,” Duff said.

The radiothon will start with a five-hour auction (7 a.m.-noon) featuring items such as a bat signed by Sox slugger Manny Ramirez, a ball signed by Trot Nixon, and various Red Sox ticket packages among other things.

“The big item is a trip to Fenway for a game where you have four tickets, dinner at the Diamond Club, and then a trip to the radio booth during the game with [Sox announcers] Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano,” Duff said.

The radiothon, which continues on with interviews, entertainment and plenty of talk until 7 p.m., is scheduled as an unofficial tie-in to the annual Bud and Barbara Leavitt Memorial Golf Tournament hosted by Penobscot Valley Country Club the same day. Bud Leavitt is the former NEWS executive sports editor and columnist who died in 1994. He was predeceased by his wife. Both died of cancer.

“[The link to the Leavitt tourney] helps with the awareness and it kind of makes it Jimmy Fund Day in Eastern Maine,” said Duff.

Duff said the event has raised approximately $33,000 over the last eight years.

“We raised between $2,500 and $3,000 the first time we did it and it’s gone up every year since,” Duff explained. “We raised just over $5,000 last year and our goal is $5,000 each year now.”

Sports Zone covering Zone 1

Bangor all-sports radio station WZON (620 AM) will provide live coverage of Bangor’s games at the American Legion baseball state tournament in Augusta. The first broadcast will be of the Comrades’ 2 p.m. game Saturday.

WZON will air all of the Bangor games not conflicting with Red Sox broadcasts or Monday’s Jimmy Fund Radiothon. The Sports Zone will also provide live coverage of the Penquis Navigators games, barring conflicts.

“Penquis goes at noon Saturday and we can’t really do both games at this stage with people out on vacation and one game running into another,” said Duff.

“We’ll do Penquis after Saturday depending on how things go and when the games are scheduled,” said Duff. “With the two fields [used for tournament games in Augusta] near each other, we’re using cell phones for the broadcasts and we can only be in one place at a time, so we’ll follow Bangor first and Penquis next as well as we can.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or ANeff@bangordailynews.net