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.
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.