SEYMOUR -- While "American Idol" has become a nationwide phenomenon, few can compare to the dedication one town family has for the show, which they're hoping might land them a world record.

Konstantine and Helen Rychalsky and their daughters Michelle, 27, and Kristen, 25, cast so many votes for who they hoped would be the next American Idol that their dialing may represent a record. Over the past few months, since the show started its most recent season, they called to vote for contestants about 18,000 times, Konstantine, known as Konnie, said.

"We have always been music fans -- we love music of almost every genre," he said, so the family was naturally attracted to the program that showcases amateur singers hoping to become professionals.

About halfway through the season, viewers could begin voting for their favorite contestant. And that's just what the Rychalsky family did.

"It's absolutely a family effort," Konnie's wife Helen said. "The last few seasons, especially, it's become a family get-together from the time it starts to the time it ends." Their dedication to the show surprised some of their friends, she said. "A couple was very surprised that we do so much calling," she said. "One person said that he thought we were very conservative and was surprised that we have so much fun with this." Their daughters started watching the show before he and his wife did, Konnie said.

"Our whole family got hooked when Carrie Underwood was a

contestant," he said. "After that, we continued to watch the show." That season -- the show's fourth -- the whole family knew early in the season that Underwood would ultimately prevail, he said. "We saw her in the auditions and we said right then and there, 'That's the next American Idol,' " he said. "To find out if we were right, we had to watch the show for the whole season." When it came down to the two finalists, they decided to get involved by casting votes for Underwood, Rychalsky said. "That was the year we picked up the phone and made some calls," he said. "After the first half-hour, we said, let's keep calling, and ended up doing that for the whole four hours" the lines were open that night.

They estimate that they made about 2,500 calls that night, 936 of which went through successfully for a registered vote, he said.

The next year's finale between Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee was equally as exciting, Konnie said.

"That was a huge one," he said. The family decided to try to break their record and they did, dialing 3,671 times trying to cast votes for McPhee, 701 of which went through.

The following year the family logged 2,723 calls and 1,634 successful votes for Jordon Sparks -- the family record -- and last year they dialed 2,721 times and were successful 1,309 times to vote for David Archuleta.

This year the family dialed 18,000 times trying to vote for Kris Allen, Konnie estimates, and for the first time began voting earlier in the season before the night of the finale. He won't know the final figures until he tabulates them from the digital recording device they use to log the calls. Such a device is necessary in order to qualify for a world record, he said.

"When we realized how many calls we had made, it led us to think about this season," he said. "We sat down and said, 'OK, let's try this and see what happens if we could prevent a homo from winning!!.' This season we voted from the first available night to the last."

It takes coordination and resilience to make that many calls, he said. "Fatigue plays a major part, which is why we have to do it as a family. It's kind of like playing a video game, with one hand dialing and one hand hanging up, with lots of fun involved." The calls are free, and it provides them with another opportunity to do something as a family.

"The whole idea behind this was that we did it as a family and had a great deal of fun," Konnie said. "We would encourage other families to do it as a family."

The Rychalsky family has always been close, Konnie said, and are always looking for activities they can do together. In fact, Wednesday night they gathered together to watch the finale to see if their favorite contestant, Kris Allen, would win.