NBC to Show Telethon for Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort on Friday

NBC Universal said on Thursday morning that it will show a one-hour telethon on its broadcast network and cable television stations on Friday night to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The telethon will be held at NBC's Rockefeller Plaza studios and hosted by Matt Lauer, co-host of “Today.” Among the musicians who are scheduled to perform on the telethon are Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Sting and Christina Aguilera; Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC's “Late Night,” and Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC Nightly News, will also appear. The telethon will be shown simultaneously on NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy and USA, and streamed live on the NBC.com Web site. It will be broadcast live from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern time for the East Coast and on a tape delay for the West Coast. NBC said that money collected from the telethon will be donated to the American Red Cross.