Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve is a television program that airs every New Year's Eve on ABC. It has been hosted by American television legend Dick Clark since its first airing on Sunday, December 31, 1972 (three months after the debut of The Price Is Right on CBS from September 4, 1972).
The program has typically consisted of live video of Dick Clark in Times Square in New York City, counting down until the New Year ball comes down. Since 2005, Ryan Seacrest has been hosting the show outdoors at Times Square while Dick Clark offers comments from a studio. After the ball drops, the focus of the program switches to pre-taped musical segments filmed in Hollywood. The special is live in the Eastern Standard Time zone, and it is delayed for the other time zones so that they can ring in the new year with Clark when midnight strikes in their area.
It first aired on NBC in 1972 and 1973, then it moved to ABC in 1974 and has aired there every year since, except on New Year's Eve before 2000. In the three and a half decades it has been on the air, the show has become a mainstay in American New Year's celebrations. Watching the ball drop on Clark's show is considered an annual cultural tradition for the New Year's holiday.
Since Sunday, December 31, 2000, a pre-show, Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve has aired live from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The hour-long program features live reports on the festivities in Times Square, as well as various performances. From 11:00 to 11:35 p.m., the show goes off the air for a local affiliate news break.
