MUMBAI: Big FM recently ran a unique campaign - an RJ marathon where RJs from all its 45 stations hosted the station uninterruptedly for 100 hours each. The basic idea of this campaign was to educate people about the benefits of the internet and to encourage internet sharing.

While it was initially envisaged that the RJs would have to be on air for 92.7 hours each starting 26 January, the overwhelming response led the campaign getting extended to 100 hours for each RJ in most stations.

radioandmusic.com managed to connect with some of these RJs to understand how they prepared themselves to be on-air for 100+ hours.

RJ Rakshita - BIG FM, Mangalore

RJ Rakshita was unwell a couple of days before taking up the marathon challenge and was hence sceptical about taking it up. But, when she began RJing for 92.7 hours there was no stopping her. All that this Mangalore based RJ got was 15 to 18-minute breaks max at a stretch. When she completed 90 hours of RJing she did not feel like leaving the mic. This is also when she received a mail from her boss informing her about the marathon time being exceeded to 100 hours and later 106 hours.

Sharing her experience with us,  Rakshita said, “I have been an evening RJ all this while but RJ Marathon gave me the opportunity to experience it every hour of a day. The love that I received from my listeners was overwhelming. They kept calling me to check if I needed something at any point in time. I do not think I would have managed to stay on-air for 106 hours without their support.”

RJ Kabir – BIG FM, Jodhpur

Staying up for five days is not an easy thing to do. Hence, RJ Kabir prepared himself and the content — to be run on-air for the RJ Marathon—for two whole days. After all the preparation the RJ still feared falling fast asleep while on-air. He managed to push all the negative thoughts to go on-air for the marathon but the battle continued for him. “The first two days were difficult as I kept feeling that I might fall asleep,” confessed the RJ.

So, what saved him from falling asleep? Well, it was his listeners. They kept showing up at the studio even at three in the night to motivate Kabir. Families kept sending in flowers and cards to keep the RJ going.

Now, he says he is all pumped up to take up another challenge.

RJ Sumit – BIG FM, Agra

Where most RJs participating in RJ Marathon were unsure of their decision to be on-air for 92.7 hours, for RJ Sumit this was a dream come true. This is exactly the kind of adventure he was looking forward to. But, he wasn’t sure if Agra was ready to hear his voice for those many hours at a stretch. The RJ got his answer while on-air. “Agra is a city of love and people showered lots of love on me. They kept calling to motivate me. It felt like I wasn’t the only one from Agra in this marathon. The entire city participated with me,” stated Sumit.

The moment that still gets the RJ goosebumps is a 55-year-old’s offering of a garland. “Under the Idea Cellular campaign, one was to give a ‘missed call’ on our number for us to donate 1MB data to underprivileged children. An old man gave 650 missed calls on that number. At the end of the marathon, this very man walked up to me with a small garland. That was a very special moment,” said Sumit.

RJ Yogi – BIG FM, Kanpur

RJ Marathon turned out to be a path of self-discovery for RJ Yogi. The RJ had no idea about his fan following till he participated in the marathon. The listeners kept calling him and showing up at the studio with food, flowers and words of motivation.

None of this came easily to Yogi who battled it out with himself to stay in the race for the last two days. “I felt like leaving the marathon mid-way because it was getting very hard for me. But, people kept motivating me. The helped me make it till the end,” revealed the RJ who now plans to come up with new segments for his listeners.

RJ Rashmi – BIG FM, Bangalore

For RJ Rashmi, the marathon meant holidaying on the streets of Bangalore. The RJ was meeting well-known personalities from various fields during this period to feature them on her show. This list included IT industrialist and co-founder of Infosys Narayana Murthy, Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal and various other film personalities.

“Meeting Narayana Murthy was the best thing about this marathon for me. The initiative was about sharing the internet and what could have been better than Murthy talking about it,” ended the RJ.

BIG FM is also gunning for a place in the Limca Book of Records for the marathon.