Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve first aired in the United States in 1972.
The program debuted as “Three Dog Night’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” broadcast on December 31, 1972, for the transition into 1973. Dick Clark hosted the show, which was created as a contemporary alternative to the more formal New Year broadcasts then common on American television.
The program later became strongly associated with Times Square, celebrity musical performances, and live coverage of the midnight countdown. Its title changed as Clark’s role and the show’s format developed, eventually becoming “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
A frequent confusion concerns the year: the first broadcast was in 1972, but it celebrated the arrival of 1973. The program is also separate from the Times Square ball-drop event itself. The televised show covered the celebration and helped make the countdown a national entertainment tradition, while the public ball drop has its own earlier history.