Radio presenters break Guinness World Record for longest live talk show by a team

AMMAN — Two radio presenters in Jordan have broken the Guinness World Record for the longest live radio show performed by a team, staying on the air for 61 continuous hours.

Breaking the record set by a 60-hour talk show performed by a Russian group in 2015, Jordanian actor and director Amjad Hijazeen and Lebanese radio host at Sawt El Ghad Jessy Abu Faysal started the challenge last Tuesday at 8am and continued until 9pm last Thursday. 

Their show was broadcast on Sawt El Ghad (101.5 FM), Play FM (99.6) and Nashama FM (105.1).

Welcoming more than 400 guests, the radio hosts discussed several topics “that are of interest to the public”, Hijazeen said, adding that listeners became more active when general knowledge and everyday advice were provided. 

During the three-day broadcast, the hosts interviewed people working in different fields, including security sources, artists, media figures, social media experts, singers and comedians.

The supervisor from Guinness World Records attended the marathon and handed them the certificate after the show on Thursday, Hijazeen said.

The actor and director added that physicians present during the marathon did not inform him and his co-host of the severity of their medical conditions until the show was over.

“The hardest part was the night before the last. It was from 12am to 7am, and we were physically exhausted and nervous. I even felt that I was about to lose some of my senses,” he told The Jordan Times.

“Our blood pressure ranged between 170/110 and 180/110 [mmHg]. However, the doctors did not inform us. They gave us vitamins and fibres to solve the problem without us knowing so that we wouldn’t panic,” Hijazeen said. 

Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mmHg (millimetres of mercury), and a reading above 180/110 necessitates emergency care, according to the American Heart Association's website.

The presenters were given meals that are not heavy on the stomach, including brown bread and light snacks such as honey and nuts, Hijazeen noted.

Social media users and fans inside and outside the Kingdom supported the presenters using the hashtag #JessyBreaktherecordAmjad over the three-day show.

Abu Faysal and Hijazeen spent a month preparing topics, interviews, questions and reports for the challenge, according to the latter.

“We had around 1,200 pages to read on air in addition to receiving calls and reading comments,” he noted.   

Hijazeen stressed the importance of Jordan entering the global records book in the field of media.

“Not everyone will approve of everything you do. If they did, there would be something wrong. This is something we offered from our field to show the world we are up to the challenge,” he said. 

Jordan has entered the Guinness Book of World Records several times, including for making the largest falafel sandwich in July 2012 at the Landmark Hotel and for having a street with the largest number of Internet cafés per capita (Irbid’s University Street) as of 2006.

In May 2012, the then-largest sand structure was created by the Jordan Tourism Board and displayed in Berlin, while in October 2014, 262 people formed the then- largest floating human logo with a peace sign at the Dead Sea.

 The Kingdom also has the world's oldest purpose-built Christian church, built in 293-303 AD and located in Aqaba. 

The latest record broken by Jordan prior to the radio marathon was in October 2015, when the world's longest slip and slide at 611.7m was achieved in an event organised by Orange Jordan, Ziyad Mazzawi Corporation and Monaco Business Development in Amman.