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Ripon radio personality helping host B&G telethon
telethon-LT
Comcast camera crews broadcast during last years telethon as volunteers man the phones. - photo by HIME ROMERO

FAST FACTS

• WHAT: 34th annual Manteca-Lathrop Boys & Girls Club Telethon
• WHEN: Monday, Nov. 25, from 5 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday, Nov. 26, from 5 to 10:30 p.m.
• WHERE: Boys & Girls Club, 545 Alameda St., Manteca, and live on Comcast Cable Channel 97
• PURPOSE: To raise funds to support year-round programs for 1,500 kids
• TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP: Call 239-KIDS

Aaron Goodwin credits the Boys & Girls Club with helping him stay out of trouble while growing up in Manteca.

“I was home by myself a lot after school,” Goodwin recalled. “It was easy to get into trouble but then the club opened. Frankly, it was more fun than getting into trouble.”

Goodwin rattled off a long list of things kids could do when the club first opened its doors 35 years ago at 545 Alameda St.

“There was woodshop, a boxing ball you could punch, basketball and other things,” he noted. “It even provided us a place to practice break dancing when that (craze) came about.”

Goodwin is among the hosts for the 34th annual Boys & Girls Club telethon taking place Monday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 5 to 10:30 p.m. on Comcast Channel 97 to raise money to support programs for 1,500 kids.

If the name Aaron Goodwin doesn’t ring a bell, his voice just might. Goodwin had a string of 17 years as part of the No. 1 FM radio team in the Northern San Joaquin Valley market using his disc jockey name of Randy Bubba Black on KAT Country 103.

Goodwin is among a number of hosts on the telethon being carried live on Comcast Cable 97. Among the others are Rex Osborn, Matthew Vaughn, Phil Waterford, Chris Techeira, and Tom Killian.  He’s been part of the host team for a number of years adding that it is a way for him to give back to the community plus help a program that he knows firsthand can make a difference in kids’ lives,

He went to the club from the time it opened when he was a sixth grader at Shasta School until his freshman year in high school. The 1986 Manteca High grad now lives in Ripon and works for Stockton-based KSTIN as operations manager and program director.

He started his radio career after graduation serving as a weekend disc jockey working with Tim Vasquez at the now defunct Manteca-based KSJQ 97. The station was located in a single wide trailer at the end of Brady Lane. His career also has included stints at KWIN and KTRB.

“Radio is theater of the mind,” Goodwin said of his chosen vocation

His advice to any young person wanting to pursue a career in is simply “stick with it.”

“There’s a lot to be said for doing something you love,” Goodwin added.

As for advice for a kid who hasn’t been to the Boys & Girls Club he highly recommends that they give it a try.

He noted while youth can access the world with their smartphones nothing can take the place of playing basketball, learning to do new things, or just hanging out with other kids. He added that the club today has a lot more options including a computer lab for those youth that don’t have access to computers to do their homework.

 Besides watching on Comcast Cable 97, people can drop by the club and watch the live entertainment, bid on auction items in person or even sneak a peek at Goodwin and his fellow hosts working to raise money to help provide a positive place for kids.

There also are nearly 100 silent auction items plus club member art work that will be part of a silent auction. There are also 45 live auction items on “the big boards.”

The format involves a small army of nearly 300 volunteers making phone calls to collect pledges for the club.

Volunteers are still needed to help man the phone banks. If you can help, call 239-KIDS.