The Story Behind the Night Funeral Directors Took Over Times Square

By Rehan Choudhry, founder and CEO of Chptr

As the billboards in Times Square went to black and the first image of #TheFirstCall campaign flashed across the screen, my hands visibly trembled with anticipation.

It began with a simple image: a bright yellow background with oversized letters that read “and now a special message from the people at…” after which four logos briefly appeared – Homesteaders Life Company, Tribute Technology, the National Funeral Directors Association and Chptr.

I scanned Times Square to see hundreds of phones held high, with thousands of eyes all focused on the same thing. At that moment on April 23, 2026, the billboards on the iconic 2 Times Square building in New York City played a 15-minute love letter to funeral directors and deathcare professionals from across the country. This is the story of how that moment, one that would become the single most meaningful professional experience of my life to date, came to be.

The pandemic put my entertainment career on hold when lockdowns began and when stringent restrictions were placed on live gatherings. That pause became permanent when I decided to make a massive shift away from a career in live entertainment, to try my hand at supporting the deathcare profession.

The idea was simple: Put lost loved ones’ stories on local television, as inspired by my wife’s work as a CBS news anchor. As I set out on this new path, I did so to the nightly sounds of clapping and cheering from New Yorkers across the city honoring the heroic work being done by health care workers. I made my first memorial videos as bodies piled up in refrigerated moving trucks outside hospitals.

Little did I know what else was happening. Funeral directors were working nearly 24 hours a day with no rest, supporting families through unexpected loss during an unprecedented time, all without fanfare or acknowledgment. I would come to learn that, as humble servants of their local communities, it is not in a funeral director’s nature to seek acknowledgement, let alone the applause and cheers of an entire city every night. They would never ask for it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t sorely needed and deserved.

It became clear that there was a PR crisis that needed to be solved… and the clock was ticking as big shifts in the profession put more pressure on funeral professionals than ever before. The public needed to learn what exactly funeral directors do in our time of need, and how critical their role is in maintaining the fabric of the communities we live in.

At Chptr, we often say our priorities are simple: funeral directors, our team, and then funeral directors again. That’s who we exist to serve. So, when the opportunity unexpectedly came to secure a 15-minute takeover of the billboards surrounding the iconic 2 Times Square building, the team arrived at the same conclusion almost instantly: we would use the moment to celebrate funeral directors.

Now, how does something like a dedicated 15-minute Times Square roadblock suddenly land in your lap? In our case, it traces back to a previous chapter of my life. Before Chptr, I spent nearly two decades in live entertainment, festivals, and large-scale events. While being new to funeral service certainly comes with challenges, it also means we’ve been able to bring an entirely different network and perspective into the profession. Over the years, I was fortunate to build relationships with incredibly talented people across media, production, marketing, and entertainment — many of whom immediately understood and deeply valued the work funeral directors do every day. When this opportunity surfaced, those worlds collided in the best possible way.

We got to work planning but, just as we were getting ready to wrap a proverbial bow around the idea and begin executing it, we hit a snag … a big one.

A campaign like this typically takes a year or more to plan, and because beggars can’t be choosers, we only had 20 days to pull it off. Our date was set for April 23, and we didn’t know nearly enough funeral directors to fill 15 minutes of continuous billboard time. Excitement quickly turned into panic.

Javi and Filip from our team built the creative that would ultimately display while Jenny, Elyse and I began the search for 140 funeral directors. With the clock ticking, we picked up the phone and called the four people most likely to answer: Courtney Gould Miller from Homesteaders Life Company, Anthony Kaniuk from the NFDA, and Lindsey Martin and Craig Greenseid from Tribute Technology. We explained the concept and the need. All four immediately accepted the challenge.

Courtney asked us how many people we expected at the event. I replied, “I’d be surprised if we can get 30 to show up,” to which she responded, “It’s going to be a lot more than that.” And she was, as she often is, totally right.

Something magical started to happen — people actually replied, confirmed interest and RSVP’d for the event. A lot of people.

A 30-person gathering became an event for more than 155 people as friends, family members and colleagues all wanted to join in support of their featured funeral director. More than 18,000 people tuned in via livestream, while thousands more saw it in person in the epicenter of Manhattan. We received requests from all across the country to participate, and the enthusiasm was greater than anything I had ever experienced.

Twenty days flew by like seconds and suddenly there we were, surrounded by new and old friends, family and supportive passersby, my hands shaking as we prepared to witness what may have been the largest public celebration of funeral directors, deathcare professionals, and the profession at large.

Tears flowed as the crowd cheered every single time a new face appeared across five giant screens. Everybody celebrated. It was beautiful, magical, and, more than anything, really fun. Before the video even finished, and much to my wife’s chagrin (she encourages me to be present and in the moment), I was already thinking about the next one.

As the night wound down, people hugged, exchanged contact information and made commitments to continue championing the message: Funeral directors are #TheFirstCall we make in our time of need, and we thank them for the work they do.

Chptr is a startup. We are new to the profession, and, let’s face it, you are extremely busy and have more pressing needs to tend to than talking to us about obit distribution. For reasons I’ll never fully be able to understand, you gave us a shot, took a first and second call, and ultimately welcomed us into the room. It’s because of people in the profession like Tim, Glenn, Marilyn, Lindsey, Courtney, Jules, Howard, Ricardo, Will, Chad, Lindsay, Michael, Bob, Anthony, Christine, Tom, and so many others (you all know who you are) that we even had the opportunity to do this. They took the time to teach us every step of the way, and picked up the phone when we called with a crazy idea like taking over Times Square.

That’s what makes #TheFirstCall such an important moment. It was a group effort that came from our hearts and was the most natural contribution we could make to a profession that has not only welcomed us, but also gifted us with the honor of its time.

In the end, I hope people walked away from the event with a renewed sense of what’s possible, a deeper appreciation for the role funeral professionals play, and a clearer understanding of just how important this work truly is.

For those reading this, I hope you feel proud of the impact you make in your communities every single day, and that our Times Square initiative helped you realize how deeply valued you are.

And, as we said at the end of the video, this is just the beginning.

Visit www.chptr.com/thefirstcall to learn more.