During its ten-year run, the program was always “sustaining” – meaning

that KGW accepted no commercial announcements during the

broadcast. “[It was]...a gift to the people of Portland from KGW and

the Oregonian,” former KGW announcer Bob Thomlinson later recalled.

While it appears that musicians and some other entertainers were

paid, the Degree Team, which wrote and centrally performed the

program, did so entirely as volunteers.

In 1924, the Hoot Owls - after due deliberation in “business meetings”

held on the air -- authorized jeweler Frank Haener’s creation of “Hoot

Owl pins” which sold fast. Offered in silver for 75 cents or gold for

$1.50, sales proceeds were devoted to charities selected by the

Degree Team. Following the initial 1923 joint effort with the Police

Department, which resulted in the creation of the Hoot Owls Sunshine

Division, the 1924 Hoot Owl pin sales seem to have crystallized the

program’s succeeding long history of using the broadcasts for broad

charitable purposes.

Eventually, the Hoot Owls -- heavily influenced by Episcopal Bishop

Walter Taylor Sumner’s energy and interests -- focused their charitable

initiatives in two areas which the Hoot Owls referred to as their

“divisions.” The Rainbow Division and the Sunshine Division eventually

became so well-known that they ceased to be referred to with any

Hoot Owls’ reference - they simply became known as the Rainbow

Division and the Sunshine Division, each being commonly understood

to be elements of the “Keep Growing Wiser Order of Hoot Owls.”

The Rainbow Division, which was formed to provide radio sets to

“shut-ins who otherwise would be without this or any other form of

entertainment,” began very early in the program’s history. Under its

auspices, 1,300 radios were installed by KGW technicians in locations

like the Oregon State

Tuberculosis Hospital and the

Multnomah County farm,

(illustration shows children

at Doernbacher Children's

Hospital listening to a

Rainbow Division radio

installation) The Rainbow

Division also established a

trust fund to provide

medical care for orphans.

Two volumes of material written for the Hoot

Owls were published, Hoot Owl Classics,

Volumes 1 and 2, the first contained material

penned by Dean Collins; the second by Harry

Grannatt, included poems, jingles and short

stories written for the program. The second

also contained unattributed cartoon art by Tige

Reynolds. Both volumes were published under

the imprimatur of the Rainbow Division,

Portland, Oregon, - with paper and printing all

donated - and all sales proceeds went to the

Rainbow Division’s work.