A hospital radio presenter is to extend his usual two hour afternoon show by a whopping 26 hours for a marathon broadcast taking place next month (September 2014).
Carl Waring – who broadcasts as Carl Richards and has been a Harrogate Hospital Radio presenter for eight years – will begin his feat of endurance at 4pm on Wednesday, 17 September 2014 with the Quick Quiz Show, a programme he has hosted since joining the station in 2006.
Carl’s challenge coincides with the hospital’s annual open day, where the station – together with the rest of Harrogate District Hospital – opens their doors to the public, between 3pm and 7pm on Thursday, 18 September 2014.
The event will follow the published schedule as close as possible, with Carl co-hosting every show with its original presenter.
This will be the stations first “marathon broadcast” since the early 1980s, when Ian Wighton, the current chairman of Harrogate Hospital Radio, was one of a number of presenters to take part in the challenge.
Carl said: I have been DJing in one form or another for many years, on and off, and a marathon broadcast is something I have always wanted to do; just to see if I can!
The official Guinness World Record for this kind of show is 198 hours, but there’s no way I’m challenging that! 28 hours will do nicely for my first time.
Ian Wighton, Harrogate Hospital Radio Chairman, said: It is about 30 years ago that I undertook a similar challenge to the one Carl is doing next month.
It’s certainly a test of your endurance and knowing how difficult it is I’ve given Carl some tips based on what I learned from my own marathon.
All of us here at Harrogate Hospital Radio are wishing him the best of luck, with many of us planning on dropping in throughout the day and night.
Carl added: It’s the time between midnight and 7am that’s going to be challenging.
I will have some fellow presenters on hand as well, but I’m hoping that any patients who are night-owls or insomniacs will join in and keep me awake too!
For more information about Harrogate Hospital Radio, visit www.harrogatehospitalradio.org.uk
