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Radio Host Beats Record Playing Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ 24 Times In A Row

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 22:40 PST, Dec 23, 2015

A radio host in Austria upset listeners (and his bosses) on Wednesday by playing the Wham song “Last Christmas” 24 times in row. However, in the process he has most likely beaten a record for the number of times he aired the popular song.

Everyone knows the romantic and sad 1980s song “Last Christmas” by Wham, and many do love it and listen to it each festive season. However, it is likely few would enjoy hearing that song quite so many times in a row.

Reportedly, the Antenne Carinthia DJ, Joe Kohlhofer, 27, felt people living in the area were not sufficiently into the Christmas spirit, so he started his 8:00am show playing the song non-stop for an entire two-hour segment in an attempt to get them in “the mood.”

He literally barricaded himself into his office with a wooden stick to stop anyone entering and then played the old song “Last Christmas” by Wham a total of 24 times before he was finally stopped.

The radio station said Kohlhofer did not have permission for his unusual stunt, as he carried on broadcasting the repetitive song up until 10:00 am that morning, before finally opening the door to let his colleagues enter.

Up until that point, all his colleagues could do was stare through the glass windows of the studio as Kohlhofer played “Last Christmas” over and over and over again.

In the meantime, the radio station received hundreds of angry calls as listeners flooded the telephone lines, telling them to please stop playing the song. They also reportedly took to the social media to voice their annoyance.

However it seems the repetitive broadcast may have hit a record after it was revealed this was probably the longest ever broadcast of the Wham song “Last Christmas” ever played on air.

Reportedly Kohlhofer himself took several calls live on air in the studio from upset listeners, but said he finally decided to stop his stunt early after receiving a call from his four-year-old daughter, Leonie Michelle, who also wanted him to stop playing the song repeatedly. She told him it was driving people mad.

Reportedly the radio host wanted to play the song all day but listened to his family, saying, “because I love my daughter so much I gave in to her request.”

However, the radio host will now suffer the consequences of his marathon stunt. A Reuters report on IOL quotes Timm Bodner, chief of the Antenne Kaernten station located in the Carinthia province of Austria, as telling them in a telephone interview: “In general, it was funny but there must be consequences.”

It seems Kohlhofer will get less time with his daughter, Leonie Michelle over the holiday season.

“As a consequence he will have to work tomorrow, on Christmas and on New Year’s Eve.”

According to the Local Austria, the previous “record” for playing the song “Last Christmas” by Wham was held by a presenter in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, when three years ago he staged a similar stunt, but only got to play Wham’s “Last Christmas” a mere 14 times before he was taken off the air.

In case you weren’t one of the “lucky” listeners who got to hear the song “Last Christmas” played 24 times in a row, a video is included below for your listening pleasure.

[Photo via Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

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