It was a successful first day in a two-day effort to raise funds in the fight against childhood cancer. Meridian Media radio stations Y 93.7 and FM 104.9 are part of a two-day radiothon beginning Thursday to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Multiple radio stations across the country each year host a similar radiothon.  This is the first time a large group of them have partnered to work together and are hosting the event all at the same time, coast-to-coast.

The effort began at 6:00 Thursday morning. By the time the first day concluded, $368,158 was donated by listeners.

All money collected during the radiothon will go to St. Jude, whose mission is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.

Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened in 1962.

The effort to collect money continues Friday through 7:00 in the evening.