MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A Charleston-based radio DJ officially completed an over 150-mile walk to deliver a donation to West Virginia University Medicine Children’s Hospital.
Robb Reel of WKWS Country 96.1 arrived on the front steps of WVU Medicine Children’s Thursday afternoon where he presented a check for more than $172,000 that was from the WVRC Radiothon with WVU Medicine Children’s that took place earlier this year.
Reel completed the journey over the course of two weeks where he hosted his live morning show at a different location and met with residents from across the Mountain State, all while spreading the word on the positive things taking place daily at WVU Medicine Children’s.
“A pleasantly surprising number of folks have stopped and wanted to talk about what WVU Medicine Children’s has done for their kids or their grandkids, or the neighbor kid, or a niece or nephew,” said Reel. “So many folks have been wonderfully supportive,” he said.
Reel decided to travel from Charleston to Morgantown on foot during the early hours of the annual WVRC Media WVU Medicine Children’s Radiothon.
Inspired by listener donations after they responded to Reel’s bet to match Radiothon donations from 2023, the country morning show host began to make plans for what became #Walktober with the West Virginia State Police and WKWS employees to make sure he reached each destination safely. While Reel considered himself used to walking long distances based on his daily treks to work and his time spent in the United States Marines, the near marathon’s worth of daily walking was more physically taxing than expected.
“I do walk a lot in downtown Charleston, I live close enough to the station that I walk to work each day, but nothing prepares one for basically doing two-thirds of a marathon, every day for two weeks,” Reel said.
Despite the physicality of walking over 150 miles in itself, Reel made sure to stop in the numerous towns in between Charleston and Morgantown as part of his trek across the Mountain State. On WAJR’s Talk of the Town, he describes some of the numerous little landmarks and antique technologies that are still used in everyday living in many of the small towns in West Virginia. This included stops in towns in the southern part of the state, working all the way up into Monongalia County.
“In Normantown, the country store still has gas pumps with the big analog gas pumps with the rotaries, the dials actually spin like a slot machine,” Reel said. “And in Amma, believe it or not, there’s still a working payphone that I managed to walk past,” he said.
The proceeds that consisted of the over $172,000 check were collected as part of the 2023 WVRC Media Radiothon. When Reel arrived, he was greeted by over a dozen WVU Medicine Children’s employees who celebrated his accomplishment out in front of the hospital. While the over 150 miles of on-foot travel was taxing on his body, Reel was more than happy to take part in something that helps ailing children across West Virginia.
“I would say I’m going to Disney World, but I’m going to bed,” Reel said jokingly. “It is so rewarding, self-humbling, to be able to be a tiny part of all of the big, big things that happen here at WVU Medicine Children’s,” he said.