::: Charlie Tuna - For a swinging Party! :::

CHARLIE TUNA.

To promote Hospital Radio Burnley it was decided to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest Radio Broadcast. The record attempt was done for two reasons.

One. To make people aware that if they had to go into hospital they didn’t have to stare at the walls or watch the nurses doing their day-to-day chores, there was some form of entertainment for them.

Two. To raise money to help Hospital Radio Burnley continue its work as it is a self-funding organisation.

To attempt to break the World Record was not as easy as it sounds on paper, there was a lot of preparation to do. It took several people over six months to organise and put in place all the things that needed to be done and organise all the volunteers / paperwork / sponsors.

Finally the day arrived. Saturday 10th March 2001 at 10.00am Charlie Tuna started the broadcast with the Mayor of Burnley opening the proceedings. The show went on continually for a staggering 75 hours 2 minutes, closing the show at 1.03 pm on the 13th March 2001, beating the existing record by 12 hours.

Our aim to promote Hospital Radio Burnley was successful as we received lots of newspaper, TV, & Radio coverage, and thanks to the generosity of companies and people in and around the North West the whole event was successful.

On the 10th July 2001 we received the letter, Charlie Tuna and Hospital Radio Burnley were officially Guinness World Record Holders.

Many thanks to all the staff, patients and volunteers who took part and supported this event. Overall there was around 150 volunteers involved, whose help was vital, for they along with the sponsors made the whole attempt possible. Many thanks again to you all.

Charlie Tuna.