Richard Hatch, a presenter with Forces Broadcaster BFBS, has broken the world record for the longest underwater broadcast.
The 4hours 43minute show was done at The Underwater Studios in Basildon, Essex and broadcast around the world as part of an event to raise money for a number of forces charities through the station’s ‘Big Salute’ charity project.
It follows a similar record attempt from Bauer’s Wave 105 earlier this month, who say Simon Clarke completed 5 hours and six minutes underwater.
Speaking after last week’s BFBS event, Richard Hatch said: “My skin still smells of chlorine and it has taken two days to get rid of my wrinkly granny hands. I want to say thank goodness that’s over – but part of me will miss the strangely foetal and comforting warmth of being submerged and isolated in the tank. Looking back it feels like some crazy Hunter S. Thompson dream.”
Nicky Ness, Controller of BFBS Radio and Combined Services Entertainment said: “Breaking this record was no mean feat. It sounded much easier than it actually was – but in the end the whole adventure turned out to be a tremendously fun piece of broadcasting and a real team effort, led by the still prune-like Richard Hatch, now legendary for his mad ideas. We were totally enthused by the amount of support we received from live guests and audience alike. As well as the technical challenges, overcome by the genius of the BFBS Technology department, we were also able to get very creative with the programme content. All in all, a very good day at the office, which just happened to be underwater…..and it’s pretty cool to be holding a Guinness World Record too.”
Claire Burgess, the adjudicator from Guinness World Records said: “It was a pleasure to join Richard Hatch and the BFBS team on the record attempt. I was on site to verify that Richard broadcast his radio show live from The Underwater Studio and remained submerged five metres under water throughout his attempt. Congratulations to Richard on his Guinness World Record title and to everyone involved in its success.”
You can watch a report on the underwater broadcast by BFBS TV news here.
Posted on Monday, November 28th, 2011 at 9:25 pm by RadioToday UK