DJ Sets New Record: 175 Straight Hours on-the-Air

Disc-jockey Johnny Walker of UNC Greensboro's WUAG has unofficially broken the former Guinness World Record for most continuous hours on the air of 125 hours with a set that ran 175.25 hours.

According to the Radio World Newspaper, "under the Guinness rules, to count as a continuousbroadcast, a talent can only take one five-minute break per hour; nosong played can be longer than six minutes; during interviews, thebroadcaster must speak at least once per minute; and the entire processmust be recorded and videotaped."

A local paper called Go Triad posted a real-time diary of Walker's progress and provided some background, including the fact that garlic helped him fight the urge to sleep, and that he took an hour-and-a-half nap which may have tainted the effort from Guinness' perspective:

After approaching [WUAG's general manager] with the idea of breaking the record, Walker's journeyfinally began at 6 a.m. Aug. 6 in WUAG's studio. It started small withlocal calls from listeners and local coverage from the media. But soonhe received calls and e-mail from all around North Carolina and, by theend of his quest, from almost every continent.

Walker wasdetermined to break the record. Not only did he go for it, but hedecided to surpass the record by two full days -- a total of 175 hoursof radio broadcasting from a rather small, windowless room, whereWalker sat in a chair with little or no sleep, hoping his voicewouldn't die.

He never seemed to hit a wall or get to a pointwhere anyone doubted he could do it, but even Walker admits, "At timesI was concerned."...

His fiancée, Sheetal Patel, says she feels like Walker is out of it,
and Walker responds with "I will admit, this room looks different,"
before falling into a small fit of laughter. It's the same room he'sbeen in for 36 hours now...

He took an hour and a half nap Tuesday night on a small, two-cushionlove seat in a side room of the studio, his legs pinned uncomfortablyagainst a wall in the cramped room. That will be the longest period ofsleep he'll have all week...

"This week went by really fast… I want to thank everybody… Thathas been the gasoline for this. All the people, the music and lots ofgarlic."

(image from gotriad)