What was done
112 interviews completed
Every one was real: a live journalist, a live radio station, five minutes or more, documented. The previous record of 72 was passed by 40.
Guinness World Record, June 2009
Guinness World Record: 112 interviews completed, 96 officially certified
Most media interviews in 24 hours, one message held to the end.
In June 2009 Jess Todtfeld and his business partner TJ Walker set the Guinness World Record for most media interviews in 24 hours. They completed 112 interviews. Guinness officially certified 96. Both numbers are real, and this page explains why, and what the day proved about message discipline.
Listed by Guinness World Records as Most interviews on radio in 24 hours by a team.
Quick answer
Jess Todtfeld and TJ Walker set a Guinness World Record at the FoxNews.com studios in New York on 1 and 2 June 2009. They completed 112 radio interviews in 24 hours, and Guinness officially certified 96. The entry is listed as most interviews on radio in 24 hours by a team. Both numbers are correct and measure different things.
Updated
112 interviews completed, 96 officially certified. Both are true.
People sometimes arrive with a question: "I saw 112 somewhere, but the certificate says 96. What is the real number?" The two numbers describe different things: what was done, and what was formally submitted to Guinness.
What was certified
96 officially certified
Certification at the time was paper-based: written confirmation from each station, timestamps and producer signatures, for every interview. The fax machine ran for hours. With the old record well behind them, and enough documentation to submit 96 without question, Jess and TJ submitted 96. Guinness certified 96. That is the official record.
Why not all of them
The point had been proved
Submitting the full tally would have meant far more back and forth with stations and far more paperwork, at the end of a day that had left everyone exhausted. “We had already proven what we set out to prove.”
The day, as a running order
Radio, live, 6 AM to 6 AM. Each interview had a different journalist, a different station, a different city or topic angle. Here is how the day ran, in the order a producer would slate it.
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Before 06:00
Pre-show
Setup: why, and how
Two media trainers who tell clients a great spokesperson can deliver in any room, any studio, any phone call, set out to prove it. Not as a stunt, as a demonstration. The rig was a five-city remote studio setup: a compact, broadcast-quality connection to radio stations across the country without travelling anywhere.
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06:00
On air
Interview one, live
The clock starts. Live phone interviews with radio stations, one after another, for 24 hours.
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Every segment
Repeat
The format that repeats all day
Each interview had to run at least five minutes to count. Between interviews: roughly two to two and a half minutes to reset, make notes and get ready for the next one.
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Interview 73
Record
Past the old record
Interview 73 passes the record of 72 set by Fall Out Boy. The record is broken. The calls keep coming.
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Interviews 80 to 90
Holding
The real test
This is where most people assume the quality falls apart: muddled messages, falling energy, answers that blur together. That is exactly what was being tested. It did not happen.
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Final interview
On air
Still sharp at the last call
The day closes with 112 interviews completed, each one live, each one at least five minutes.
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06:00 next day
Clear
Off air
A full 24 hours, start to finish.
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After
Certified
The paperwork
Confirmation, timestamps and producer signatures for each interview, by fax. Paperwork for 96 interviews was submitted, and Guinness certified 96.
The record, as it happened
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Before the record
The setup, the strategy, the goal
Before 6 AM, getting ready for the first of 112 interviews
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Breaking the record
The moment we passed 72
Interview 73: passing Fall Out Boy’s record of 72
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After the record
Interview 112: still sharp
After the 24 hours: what 112 interviews looks like on the other side
The elapsed clock follows your scroll through this rundown, it is not a log. Only the start and finish times are part of this story; the rows in between are in order, not to the minute.
The record, on the board
“The record wasn’t a stunt. It was a proof of concept. If we could do this, imagine what we could do for your executives.”
Jess TodtfeldGuinness World Record holder
- June 2009
- Record set, with TJ Walker
- 24 hours
- Most media interviews in one day
- Live radio
- A different station and journalist each time
- 5 min
- Minimum length for an interview to count
What a day of back-to-back interviews teaches about message discipline
By interview 80 or 90 you would expect the answers to blur. They did not, because the whole point of what Jess teaches is repeatability.
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Repeatability is the skill
A great spokesperson is not someone who performs well once in a controlled room. It is someone who can walk in fresh, or walk in at hour 18, and still deliver.
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The message comes first
A sharp, consistent message under pressure, whoever the interviewer, whatever the format, however many times the same question has come up that day.
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On message, not on a script
Still sharp, still connecting, still on message, without sounding like you are reading from a card.
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Your week is a version of that day
A board meeting, then a press call, then a town hall, then a crisis briefing, all in the same week. Staying on message across all of them is what the training builds.
Need your spokespeople to be this consistent?
One intensive media training session builds the kind of repeatability you just read about: real conditions, real questions, recorded and played back until the message holds.
Questions people ask about the record
What is the Guinness World Record Jess Todtfeld holds?
Most media interviews given in 24 hours. In June 2009, Jess Todtfeld and TJ Walker completed 112 live radio interviews in a single 24-hour period. Guinness officially certified 96, beating the previous record of 72 set by Fall Out Boy. The entry is published by Guinness World Records as Most interviews on radio in 24 hours by a team.
How was the record verified?
Guinness required physical documentation for every interview: written confirmation from each radio station, timestamps, and producer signatures. Each interview had to be at least five minutes long with a live journalist. The team submitted complete paperwork for 96 of the 112 interviews, and Guinness certified those 96.
What does the record mean for media training?
It is proof of repeatability: the same message discipline Jess teaches executives held up across 112 real interviews over 24 straight hours, 96 of them officially certified. The training builds spokespeople who stay sharp and on message whether it is their first appearance of the week or their fifth.
Ready to build that kind of consistency?
Every media appearance is a high-stakes opportunity. Make sure your team is ready for it.
Personal reply from Jess’s team within one business day. Prefer the phone? Call (646) 233-1424.