DJ spun tunes for 24 hours to lift spirits around the world during lockdown

Pamela Burnett is amped up after achieving the record title for the longest marathon club DJ-ing on the internet. 

The DJ from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, who goes by the name "DJ PZB", achieved the record in Los Angeles, California on 30 January 2020 after 24 hours and 15 minutes of online DJ-ing. 

DJ PZB knew music would be a part of her future from the time she was very young. 

She remembers building turntables out of cardboard, putting vinyl records on them, and pretending to scratch.

Through a college internship, she became an on-air radio personality on Power 92 Jams (KIPR-FM) and had the opportunity to sit back and watch some great DJs spin. 

She would go back to her dorm room at Arkansas State University – Jonesboro and practise. 

“I began throwing my own parties to test my skills out in front of a crowd,” said DJ PZB. 

“It all grew from there.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, DJ PZB had an opportunity to put her skills to good use. 

She began planning a layout for a 24-hour DJ set where she could unite people through music. 

While the world was in quarantine, she would DJ multiple live streams to help keep everyone uplifted and in good spirits.

Onlookers would join in from Instagram, Facebook, Zoom, and Twitch to listen to the music.

“I would be on live stream for hours at a time, sometimes multiple times within each day during the weeks,” said DJ PZB.

It hit me one day as we were approaching eight hours of being on the live stream that I would think about the 24-hour DJ experience that I was putting together and display it online with the community that I had created.

DJ PZB hosted three 24-hour marathons, with the first one taking place during the early part of the pandemic. 

It was when she finished her first marathon that she realised she must have set some type of record. 

At the end of the first marathon, someone wrote in the chat ‘You may have broken a record,” she said. 

“That comment prompted me to do some research on this world record.” 

After learning that there was in fact a record category for the longest marathon club DJ-ing on the internet, DJ PZB attempted the record two more times, with her third attempt breaking the record. 

During the online marathon, DJ PZB played a variety of music genres.

“With everyone joining in from all around the world, it was only right to take the music on a nice wave,” she said. 

“I had a very broad audience from here in the US, Brazil, Croatia, Japan, Canada, England, Italy, Germany and many more countries.”

DJ PZB says she played R&B, EDM, hip-hop, pop, rock, gospel, reggaeton, afro beats, and both old and new classics.

She enjoyed the endurance and the way onlookers believed in her and encouraged her the whole way through. 

“I watched viewers dance the hours away or others during their daily routines, going to work or dinner on Zoom,” said DJ PZB. 

I enjoyed how some of the viewers had the live stream pulled up on their TV screens and speakers to fill their homes.

Celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Eric B, Rakim, and Shaquille O’Neal even joined in on the fun, making the experience all the more memorable. 

The final hour of the marathon also ended on a high note. 

Because DJ PZB knew she was in her final stretch, she suddenly felt an extra boost of energy and turned up the music, which she compared to crossing the finish line. 

Although DJ PZB says there were times her body wanted to shut down from exhaustion, she was determined to make it through the complete marathon.

“There’s a certain stretch or two where you’re like ‘What am I doing? There’s so long to go,’” she said. 

“But I had already done it twice, so I knew it could be done.”

DJ PZB is elated to have broken a record title and intends to possibly break others in the future. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a part of the Guinness World Records family,” she said. 

I wanted to achieve the record and be the first woman to do it.

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