Times Square Ball
Encyclopedia
Time ball
A time ball is a large painted wooden or metal ball that drops at a predetermined time, principally to enable sailors to check their marine chronometers from their boats offshore...
dropped each year during the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The ball is made by Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal is a trademark brand of crystal glassware, previously produced in Waterford, Ireland, though the factory there was shut down after the receivership of Waterford Wedgwood plc in early 2009...
and electric lights is raised to the top of a pole on the One Times Square
One Times Square
One Times Square is a 25 story, 395 foot high skyscraper at 42nd Street and Broadway in Times Square....
building at 6:00 pm and then lowered to mark the coming of the New Year. The ball descends 77 feet (23 m) over the course of a minute, coming to rest at the bottom of its pole at midnight, and a sign lights up with the digits of the new year, as the ball's lights turn off. Toshiba's Times Square advertising screen directly below the ball counts down to midnight as well alongside several other billboards in the area.
Every year up to one million people gather in Times Square to watch the ball drop, and an estimated 1 billion watch the video of the event, 100 million of them in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
The first New Year's Eve celebration in the area was held in 1904. The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
newspaper had opened their new headquarters
One Times Square
One Times Square is a 25 story, 395 foot high skyscraper at 42nd Street and Broadway in Times Square....
on Longacre Square
Longacre Square
Longacre Square in New York City, the predecessor of Times Square, Manhattan, formed a nexus of important roads to the north of the island at the intersection of 42nd Street, Bloomingdale Road and Seventh Avenue, today in Midtown Manhattan....
(the city's second tallest building), and persuaded the city to rename the triangular "square" surrounding it for the newspaper. The newspaper's owner, Adolph Ochs, decided to celebrate the move with a midnight fireworks
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
show on the building for New Year's Eve. Close to 200,000 attended the event, displacing celebrations held at Trinity Church. However, Adolph wanted a bigger spectacular at the building to draw more attention to the squarein 1907, the paper's chief electrician Walter F. Palmer constructed a lit ball that would be lowered from a flagpole at One Times Square. It was constructed with iron and wood, was lit with one hundred 25-watt bulbs, weighed 700 pounds (317.5 kg) and measured 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter. At first, it dropped 1 second after midnight. Even after the Times moved its headquarters to 229 W. 43rd St., the celebration continued.
The Ball received its first upgrade in 1920, replaced by one made of Iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, now only weighing 400 pounds (181.4 kg)it would then be replaced by an 150 pounds (68 kg) aluminum ball in 1955. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the descending of the Ball was stopped due to wartime lighting restrictions
Blackout (wartime)
A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...
in case of enemy attack. Celebrants observed a moment of silence at midnight, followed by chimes. From 1981 to 1988, the Ball would be decorated in honor of the I Love New York
I Love New York
I Love New York is both a logo and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign and have been used since the mid-1970s to promote tourism in New York City, and later to promote New York State as well. The trademarked logo appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some...
campaign, with red bulbs and a green stem to give it the appearance of an apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
. The original white bulbs would return in 1989, but replaced for 1991 with red, white, and blue bulbs to salute the troops of Operation Desert Shield.
Rhinestone
A rhinestone or paste or diamante is a diamond simulant made from rock crystal, glass or acrylic.Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine. The availability was greatly increased around 1775 when the Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate...
, and a computerized lighting system featuring strobe light
Strobe light
A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope...
s. This ball would be used for the remainder of the decade. For the new millennium, an entirely new ball would debut. Weighing 1070 pounds (485.3 kg) and measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter, it would be covered with 504 crystal triangles (provided by Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal
Waterford Crystal is a trademark brand of crystal glassware, previously produced in Waterford, Ireland, though the factory there was shut down after the receivership of Waterford Wedgwood plc in early 2009...
), illuminated externally with 168 halogen light bulbs and internally with 432 light bulbs of clear, red, blue, green and yellow colors, along with strobe lights and spinning mirrors. Many of the triangles are inscribed with messages of a certain theme, such as “Hope for Fellowship,” “Hope for Wisdom,” “Hope for Unity,” “Hope for Courage,” “Hope for Healing,” and “Hope for Abundance. On December 31, 2006, this ball was dropped for the last time.
In honor of the Ball Drop's 100th anniversary, another new ball debuted for 2008. While still manufactured by Waterford Crystal (and weighing 1212 pounds (549.8 kg)), it now uses LED lighting provided by Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
(which can produce over 16.7 million colors, and programmed for more advanced patterns and effects, designed by local firm Focus Lighting) instead of halogen bulbs. The ball features 9,567 energy-efficient bulbs that consume the same amount of electricity as only ten toasters. For 2009, the design was maintained as a icosahedral
Icosahedron
In geometry, an icosahedron is a regular polyhedron with 20 identical equilateral triangular faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices. It is one of the five Platonic solids....
geodesic
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
sphere, but doubled in size to 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter with a weight of 11875 pounds (5,386.4 kg). To accommodate the new ball (which is also now displayed year-round), the flagpole atop of One Times Square was rebuilt and enlarged, now rising 475 feet (144.8 m) above Times Square.
Sound effects during the countdown debuted in 1998. Every year had different sound effects except for 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 ball drops, which used the same exact sounds. The current clock-ticking debuted in 2003 and has been used since then for every single countdown.
Weather at midnight
The average temperature at midnight in New York City since the ball dropping tradition began in 1907 is 33.7 °F (1 °C).The coldest event was in 1917 when the temperature was 1 °F (-17.2 °C), the second coldest was 11 °F (-11.7 °C) in 1962. The warmest ball drop was 58 °F (14.4 °C) in both 1965 and 1972. It has snowed during the ball drop just six times out of 103 events, 1926, 1934, 1948, 1952, 1961, 1967 and it has rained multiple times.
Crowd control
Up to one million people go to watch the ball drop each year. Therefore, New York Police Department (NYPD) exert strict control over the crowd so as to prevent crushes and stampedes. The technique used by NYPD is to divide Times Square up into sections, commonly referred to as "pens." As people arrive, usually in the afternoon, they are directed into the pens. NYPD starts with the pens closest to 43rd Street, and as those pens get full, closes them to further people and works their way back toward Central Park. Once inside the pen, people may leave, but will not be able to reenter the pen.Also, access to Times Square is extremely limited during the course of the celebration. Those staying in hotels in the area need to prove to NYPD that they are in fact guests at those hotels. Also, no alcoholic beverages are permitted (as per NYC's open container laws), and there are no portable public restrooms available.
Television
Several networks have aired coverage of the Times Square Ball Drop; as the event is held in the public square there is no rights or exclusive coverage. The most notable is ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, hosted for 38 years by Dick Clark and recently joined by American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
host Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...
after Clark suffered a stroke in 2004, as well as a West Coast segment hosted by singer Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. Because of its prominence, ABC has been able to get exclusive rights to hold concerts in Times Square itself.
NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
also has coverage of the events under the name New Year's Eve with Carson Daly
New Year's Eve with Carson Daly
NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly is a yearly show on NBC. Its first broadcast aired on December 31, 2003 live from Times Square in New York City. It airs live on the East Coast....
; previously a special edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (and before that, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
) would air in this slot, but Leno has since ceded hosting duties to Daly, who hosts more conventional coverage. Since NBC cannot hold concerts in Times Square itself, it instead opts for concerts outside its studios at 30 Rockefeller Center and in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
also has its own coverage of the New Year's Eve event, New Year's Eve Live, which started in 2003–04. Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...
hosted the first two years; in 2005–06, Regis Philbin
Regis Philbin
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin is an American media personality, actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows since the 1960s. Philbin is often called "the hardest working man in show business" and holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera...
(who had filled in for Clark on ABC the year prior) took over as Seacrest went to ABC. Fox's host changes each year; Nancy O'Dell will host 2011's festivities. Fox complements the Times Square coverage with All American New Year, which airs live in all time zones on sister network Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
and is hosted by Fox News anchors Bill Hemmer
Bill Hemmer
Bill Hemmer is an American television-news anchor. He is a co-host of America's Newsroom on the Fox News Channel.-Early life and education:...
and Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly
Megyn Marie Kelly , formerly known as Megyn Kendall, is an American journalist and news anchor employed by the Fox News Channel. Kelly currently hosts America Live from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM EST live from the network’s New York City headquarters...
.
For many years CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
was known for its coverage of the ball drop featuring Guy Lombardo
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist.Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest...
and his Royal Canadians band (he had done so on CBS Radio Network
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
since 1928 and on TV since 1956), live from The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and featuring the now famous rendition of "Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
". Lombardo died in November 1977; the Royal Canadians did the show for two more years (with Victor Lombardo
Victor Lombardo
Victor Lombardo was the youngest brother of Royal Canadians bandleader Guy Lombardo. Along with brothers Carmen and Lebert, he was a member of the original Royal Canadians, playing saxophone with the band. He ultimately replaced older brother Guy as bandleader after Guy's 1977 death....
substituting for his late older brother for 1977-78) but would disband after that. The broadcasts continued under the name Happy New Year, America
Happy New Year, America
Happy New Year, America was an American television special that aired on the CBS television network to celebrate the New Year. It first aired on December 31, 1979 and last aired December 31, 1995 ....
beginning in 1979-80, still live from the Waldorf-Astoria (with taped segments added from Billy Bob's
Billy Bob's
Billy Bob's Texas is a popular country & western nightclub in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas, United States. It promotes itself as "The World's Largest Honky Tonk" with 127,000 square feet . Billy Bob's opened April 1, 1981 to national attention with Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers as the...
in Texas and Walt Disney World), with various guest hosts (among them Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, Brent Musburger
Brent Musburger
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their legendary program The NFL Today, Musburger has covered NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball games. Musburger has also served as a...
, Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...
, Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
, Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
and Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
in character as "Ernestine the Telephone Lady"). The last broadcast was in 1995–96 and featured Montel Williams
Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance...
as host; in 1996, Disney pulled out of producing the program (and several other CBS holiday specials) when it bought ABC, and CBS decided to discontinue its New Year's coverage. CBS no longer covers the ball drop and instead opts for reruns of The Late Show with David Letterman. Some CBS affiliates show local ball drops instead.
CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
also carries coverage of the festivities, as part of a more nationwide perspective on New Year celebrations. CNN's coverage, also named New Year's Eve Live
New Year's Eve Live (CNN program)
New Year's Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin is an annual program broadcast on CNN and CNN International. It originates live from Times Square in New York City...
, has most recently been hosted by Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
and Kathy Griffin
Kathy Griffin
Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...
.
The Spanish-language networks also joined in on the celebration. Univisión
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
's coverage of the event is called ¡Feliz (Year Number)! hosted by Don Francisco
Don Francisco
Don Francisco may refer to:*Don Francisco *Don Francisco *Don Francisco de Paula Marin, Hawaiian*Don Francisco...
from Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante is a Spanish-language television show that is Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running variety TV show in the world. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment...
and Don Francisco Presenta
Don Francisco Presenta
Don Francisco Presenta is a Spanish-language talk/reality show produced by Univision, and is hosted by Don Francisco. Univision originally aired Don Francisco Presenta on Wednesday nights at 10pm central, from October 11, 2001 to November 3, 2010. Since November 10, 2010, it is seen Monday nights...
. It became the biggest New Year's Eve program on the network since its original run. In every edition, the show has musical guests, special celebrity appearances, and as always, the 60 second countdown to the next year and as the show progresses, more cities joined in on the festivities in addition to New York City and Miami including San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
(¡Feliz 2006!), Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
(¡Feliz 2010!), and Anaheim (¡Feliz 2011!).
MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
also offers ball drop coverage, as their headquarters are in Times Square. This means they can hold concerts there, but they are held at the MTV Studios in Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
's building rather than in the square itself. On December 31, 2010, they also offered a ball drop at Seaside Heights, New Jersey
Seaside Heights, New Jersey
Seaside Heights is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 2,887. Seaside Heights is situated on the Barnegat Peninsula, a long, narrow barrier peninsula that separates Barnegat Bay from the Atlantic Ocean...
where Snooki was locked into a "hamster cage" and was dropped for the 60 second countdown to welcome 2011.
See also
- Time ballTime ballA time ball is a large painted wooden or metal ball that drops at a predetermined time, principally to enable sailors to check their marine chronometers from their boats offshore...
- Times SquareTimes SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
- Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest