Sindhu Biju and Mithun Ramesh of the UAE’s popular Malalyam radio channel Hit 96.7 FM to beat the existing record set by a DJ duo of Hot FM 91.3 of Singapore.
Forty eight sleepless hours and counting. At 5pm on Saturday, this was the status of two Dubai-based radio jockeys trying to break a Guinness World Record for the longest marathon radio music show.
Sindhu Biju and Mithun Ramesh of the UAE’s popular Malalyam radio channel Hit 96.7 FM from the Arabian Radio Network are targeting 84 hours of ‘talkathon’ — as they prefer to call it — to beat the existing record set by a DJ duo of Hot FM 91.3 of Singapore.
The Singaporean DJs hosted a show for 77 hours and 11 minutes earlier this year, surpassing the performance of two BBC staffers who previously held the title of Radio DJ Endurance Marathon.
The Dubai RJs, who wish to dedicate the record to their second home Dubai, known for setting world records, began the challenge on their 5pm Radio Active daily show on Thursday.
They have been broadcasting live from a makeshift studio at the Lulu Hypermarket in Al Barsha, which is now open for 24 hours to support the show that has received a massive response from the huge Malayalee community in the UAE.
The radio station has also arranged a lot of games, contests and gifts for the listeners who are supporting Sindhu, a journalist-cum-RJ and Mithun, an RJ-cum-actor.
The official adjudicator from the Guinness World Records also went on air to acknowledge the fact that the support from the Dubai public over two days was something that has not been seen before.
Apart from the moral support, Sindhu and Mithun say that what keeps them from dozing off is their diet comprising dry ginger coffee, grilled fish and vegetable salad.
As per the rules set by the Guinness team, the RJs are eligible to take a five-minute break every hour and can also choose to use them accumulated over several hours. They need to keep on talking and cannot let a guest talk for more than 50 seconds in a minute. Also, there are time limits for the news bulletin, commercials and the regular schedule of songs broadcast every hour.
The RJs cannot leave the microphone and the cabin without announcing a break. In 48 hours, they had taken a break of only 50 minutes in total. They promised their listeners to take a power nap for only 20 minutes later in the evening on Saturday from the break time they had accumulated.
