100,000 Toys The Goal for ‘AJ’s Kids Crane

Elena Ekim 27, 2021

Since the advent of personality-driven morning radio, DJ’s have jarred their daily lives — and respective shows — to participate in outlandish promotional stunts in the name of charity, community outreach and (of course) ratings.

Nelvin C. Cepeda photo

In most scenarios, this involves placing the aforementioned on-air personalities in uncomfortable situations for an extended period of time while they collect canned food, bikes or toys for local charitable organizations. One of the longest-running and most successful of these programs is “AJ’s Kids Crane,” benefiting Rady Children’s Hospital.

In its 11th year, the annual toy drive hoists KEGY Enrgy 103.7 FM beloved radio personality AJ Machado in the air until a goal of 100,000 toys is reached for Rady Children’s Hospital, according to a story at nctimes.com. Calling a scissor lift his new home, Machado entered the aerial platform Wednesday in the Ikea parking lot in Mission Valley and is expected to stay up until Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

“This toy drive has become the biggest supplier of toys to Rady Children’s Hospital,” says Machado, a father of two young girls. “The toys are used to calm a nervous child, to entertain a bored one, to ‘bribe’ someone resisting medication or treatment, and to bring some normalcy to a kid in the hospital.”

This is the first time Machado — and sidekick Hula Ramos — have hosted the event with Energy 103.7. He was previously with Star 94.1.