Director of Youngstown State radio station to run in marathon to raise funds

Gary Sexton hopes to raise $50,000 in a 50-mile 'ultra-marathon.'
YOUNGSTOWN -- The station director of Youngstown State University's WYSU-FM is going the extra mile to raise funds to help finance the digitalization of the radio station.
Actually, he's going a lot of extra miles.
Gary Sexton will participate in a 50-mile "ultra-marathon" in Traverse City, Mich., on Sept. 17, and he's looking for sponsors.
Sexton hopes to raise $50,000 and said he's already collected half of that in advance, including a check from one friend who made it payable to him "dead or alive," an obvious reference to the distance he has to cover.
He plans to raise the rest by securing pledges for each mile he completes in his "Power Run" fund-raising campaign.
Sexton will take part in the North Country Trail Race, which is expected to draw about 300 participants.
About the process
Part of the digitalization process involves replacing the station's 16-year-old transmitter, which will cost about $70,000, and that's where money raised by Sexton's effort will go. In addition to the $25,000 already collected for the Power Run, Sexton said the Wean Foundation has contributed $20,000 toward that phase of the project.
The entire digitalization process comes with a price tag of about $500,000, he said. About half of that went into work already completed in the station with support coming from the Wean Foundation and others.
WYSU is looking for help from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others, along with Sexton's own fund-raising effort, to finance the exterior portion of the work.
The goal is to have the revamped station up and running by 2008, he said.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Sexton's run can call the station at (330) 941-3363, or visit its Web site at www.wysu.org.