Nova show breaks world radio talkback record

Nova’s national Drive show with Ryan, Monty & Wippa has broken a Guinness World Record for the most callers aired on a radio station in one hour. The team successfully broke the record of 101 calls, putting to air 105 callers in the 5pm to 6pm hour of their program. The results will now be submitted, with the witness statements and all relevant documentation, to the Guinness Book of Records for verification.

The drive team had been training all week to prepare for their attempt. Their success relied on listeners participating in the attempt by calling in for speed rounds, playing games including What Isn’t The Answer and Agree or Disagree, a segment for Sean Connery impersonators (Sean Callery) and celebrity guests playing Dialing with the Stars.

 

Ryan, Monty & Wippa needed to fulfill a number of guidelines in order for the World Record to be recognized, including the clock could not stop once the attempt starts and the radio show must be a live broadcast. There was no time limit to each call duration however callers must contribute to the topic of the show and provide coherent questions or opinions and presenters must respond to the conversation, with the hour streamed live on novafm.com.au.

To verify the attempt, Ryan, Monty & Wippa enlisted two independent witnesses including the Herald Sun’s Alice Coster while two experienced time keepers from Little Athletics Victoria clocked the hour’s proceeding.

Ryan thinks this is “by far the most obvious attempt yet to make ourselves feel really popular… I hope no one notices.”