When did Times Square New Year's broadcasts begin?

[Stanislav]

This is all very interesting, but it doesn't really address my main question, which I will rephrase. What was the first time (year) that a network or networks broadcast a live New Year's show that included live remotes from Times Square? The technology was there almost from the start, but I wonder how long after commercial TV began it took for someone to say "hey, this might be a good idea." I'm guessing early-to-mid 50's -- perhaps 1952, 1953, thereabouts?

[genius]

This is all very interesting, but it doesn't really address my main question, which I will rephrase. What was the first time (year) that a network or networks broadcast a live New Year's show that included live remotes from Times Square? The technology was there almost from the start, but I wonder how long after commercial TV began it took for someone to say "hey, this might be a good idea." I'm guessing early-to-mid 50's -- perhaps 1952, 1953, thereabouts?

The very first television broadcast of Guy Lombardo's was in 1956. However Guy Lombardo had been covering the New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square on CBS radio since 1928. As other poster mentioned, Dick Clark's show began in 1972 and would run concurrently with Lombardo's show until his death.

[Cincinnati Kid]

Guy Lombardo and Ben Grauer were on the same CBS telecast on New Year's Eve in 1976 (entering 1977).  Ironically, both would pass away in that coming year:  Ben on May 31, 1977 and Guy on November 5, 1977.

[Peter Q. George (K1XRB)]

I wonder what ABC did on New Year's Eve before 1974 or NBC before 1972.

On the ABC side: On New Year's Eve 1973/New Year's Day 1974, ABC ran an encore of "American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary Special".  Dick Clark added a post-script to Bobby Darin's voice with Bobby wishing all the best for Dick for 25 years of Bandstand.  Dick said " Ladies and gentlemen, this special Bandstand show was originally aired in August, 1973 and you're hearing the voice of the late, Bobby Darin" (Sadly, Bobby died nearly 3 weeks earlier, after an unsuccessful open-heart surgery).

[dhett]

Hey dhett,

If Dick Clark is a step down from Guy Lombardo (don't remember much of old Guy), what do you think of Seacrest taking that gig? Any potential?
And is it the host as much as the "entertainment"?  I stopped watching years ago because of the crap they show before and after the ball drops.  Bad lip sync,  semi drunk guests with nothing to say,,, if I want egomaniacs with minimal talent, I don't even have to turn on the TV, I've got in-laws, live without commercial interruptions.

Like you, I stopped watching years ago, and for the same reasons.

That being said, all I can say is, if it involves Seacrest, it can't be good.  Never before has one gone so far with so little talent.  Kinda reveals the sad state of television today.

[azumanga]

I wonder what ABC did on New Year's Eve before 1974 or NBC before 1972.

On the ABC side: On New Year's Eve 1973/New Year's Day 1974, ABC ran an encore of "American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary Special".

Did Dick Clark appear on the NBC Rockin' Eve specials in 1972 and 1973? If so, Then it mean't competing against himself.

[johnnya2k6]

After Guy Lombardo's and Ben Brauer's death, the CBS New Year's Eve show became "Happy New Year America!" in 1979 (entering 1980); it lasted until 1995-96. They would usually have a CBS personality in Times Square calling the ball drop with live and taped music performances during the broadcast. In 1984-85 they would beat Dick Clark to the punch by implementing computer graphics welcoming the new year.

The only time there was no New Year's Rockin' Eve was 1999-2000; Dick still called the ball drop as part of ABC News' coverage of the millennium celebrations anchored by Peter Jennings. And of course, for 2004-05 Regis Philbin held the fort while Dick was suffering a stroke.

As for cable...MTV started their New Year's bash right from the beginning, but their 1987-88 show was pre-taped. I don't know if there was ever a live cut-in to Times Square prior to midnight, but it was a disaster and the channel went back to live for 1988-89. And with CNN and now the Internet, the rest of the country could now watch the ball drop live and then again on the broadcast side when midnight nears their time zone.

Jonathan Allen

[enchano]

I've read where Guy Lombardo's first TV broadcast was New Year's Eve 1954 on CBS. Dick Clark never replaced Guy Lombardo in my opinion. The Guy Lombardo broadcasts were live from start to finish. The format hardly changed. 11:30-1:00 live from the Waldorf. There would be 2 numbers to open the show. Then after the first set of commercials at the 11:35 mark, there would be a live cut away to Times Square showing the crowd, the signs, and the ball for about 2 minutes, then back to Guy for more music and dancing. At about the 11:53 mark, Guy would play a Broadway medley and we would get live shots of Times Square with the music playing. The only graphics would be a digital flip clock superimposed amongst the masses. After the final commercials before the new year, Guy would send it back to Times Square for the final 4 minutes where we would  have a reporter like Robert Trout or later Ben Grauer describing the scene. As soon as the ball fell and the new year was lit up in  Times Square, we went back to the Waldorf as Auld lang Syne was playing and we stayed there for the remainder of the night. Times have changed dramatically since the Guy Lombardo days. Times Square would be sealed off from traffic as late as 9 or 10PM as there was nothing going on to entertain the masses as they waited. When CBS went to Happy New Year America in 1979 going into 1980, they continued to broadcast live from the Waldorf but also went to other venues as well. How many of you remember the early 90's when they almost cancelled the ball drop because they couldn't find a sponsor and Jackie Mason came to the rescue. That was probably the worst era in Times Square history when crime hit its peak in NYC.

[johnnya2k6]

CLARIFICATION: MTV's early New Year's Eve shows were also the first to have live remotes and countdowns to midnight from coast-to-coast in the Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones. They've pretty much one-upped Dick Clark back then.

NBC doesn't have that much of a New Year's history, but I remember watching a New Year's Eve "Tonight Show" in 1991-92 with Jay Leno in Burbank and somebody reporting from Times Square. And living in Rapid City, South Dakota at the time, it was the ONLY countdown show we watched as KOTA (ABC) had Merv Griffin's NYE special followed by Dick Clark at 12:30 and we get CBS an hour behind (Rapid City is on Mountain Time, the statewide CBS network is based in Sioux Falls and they're on Central Time); there was no other choice!!!!

Jonathan Allen

[MikefromDelaware]

I remember the Guy Lombardo broadcasts on CBS and Johnny Carson's Tonight show cut aways to Times Square and the new Dick Clark version of New Year's Eve, seems they were on ABC.  I'm not a big Guy Lombardo fan, but his show was New Years Eve (1928 to 1976, a 48 year run), but time marches on and now to a whole new younger generation Dick Clark is that Iconic figure for New Years Eve.   

I also remember during the late 1960's and early 70's NBC radio airing the All Star Parade of Bands on New Year's Eve (featuring various big bands playing live remotes from all over the nation), and of course they'd cut to Times Square for the countdown as the ball would drop.  I believe when NBC's Monitor ended so did the live big band remotes.