Sheffield DJ's lockdown chart challenge keeps spinning

Jason, aka DJ Doveboy, broadcasts for four hours every morning

A DJ who started a lockdown challenge to play every single chart record since the 1950s says he has developed a world-wide audience.

Jason, also known as DJ Doveboy, said the online project had attracted listeners from 43 different countries since he began in May 2020.

To date he has played his way from November 1952, when the weekly charts were first published, to 1983.

He said, at times, the project had felt "like time-travelling".

Each of his shows lasts just under four hours and takes listeners through one top 40 chart.

"It goes really quickly. I just love the music," he said.

"I am probably most fond of the 1970s because I did a lot of growing up in the 70s, but I listened to some stuff from the 50s that I'd never heard before and I loved it."

After collecting for 50 years, most of the tracks come from his own extensive collection of vinyl and CDs.

"I started collecting because I wanted to get every top 40 single ever," he said.

"But there were times I was getting so much stuff from car boots that I was just archiving it and not listening."

Jason is joined in his studio by Sapphire the rescue cat

Jason said the marathon challenge did not initially have any listeners but some shows now attracted up to 100,000 across the globe.

"I get emails from so many different countries, it's mind-blowing to think that someone in Australia is listening to me right now," he said.

"People remember particular charts because it was their birthday or something. People love listening to the charts from special times in their lives."

He said the project had also allowed him to relive moments from his own life - like his move from Kent to Sheffield in September 1975.

"That was a landmark moment in my life, and there have been various birthdays and Christmases. It's like time-travelling," he said.

Although he originally only planned to go up to 2000, he now wants to keep the show going for as long as he can - and estimates it will take another seven years to reach the present day.

"I've been doing so well with 31 years, I am going to keep going so I can honestly say I have done everything," he said.

"No one else has ever done anything like this, and I'm never going to do it again."