“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” heads to Chicago for first time

Ryan Seacrest-hosted show adds Windy City

After years of substandard New Year’s Eve celebrations, Chicago has finally landed the biggest one of the planet. 

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will host a Central Time Zone countdown in Chicago for the first time this year, as Dick Clark’s Productions is working with ABC-owned WLS-TV (ABC 7 Chicago) and the Mayor’s office to make the dream a reality. Throughout its 54-year history, Rockin’ Eve has never had a live show from Chicago, choosing New Orleans for its Central Time Zone New Year’s celebrations in recent years. 

While what the show would entail hasn’t been determined, viewers will see New Year’s Eve fireworks explode over the Chicago River and Navy Pier. It certainly replaces ABC 7’s long-running local show Countdown Chicago, which has aired for the last three decades but has come under social media criticism in the last few years for its hokiness, especially when former ABC 7 personalities Mark Giangreco and Janet Davies were hosts.

In recent years, Cheryl Scott’s and Terell Brown’s dance numbers kicked off Countdown Chicago. It isn’t known if their performance would be incorporated into the national show.

“WLS-TV is ‘Chicago Proud’ to have the opportunity to showcase the amazing city of Chicago on ‘Dick Clark Rockin’ New Year’s Eve,‘” said John Idler, general manager and president of WLS-TV Chicago. “We look forward to bringing viewers a spectacular fireworks display centered on the iconic bridges that cross the Chicago River and cascade over the city’s world-class architecture.”

“We are proud to announce that ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ is coming to the greatest city in the world,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson, who made an appearance on ABC 7 this morning to make the announcement. “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the beauty and dynamism of our city and its people for the world to see. We could not be more excited to welcome in the new year with fireworks, music, and Chicago pride.”

For years, Chicago had tried to replicate Times Square’s New Year’s Countdown with little success. The most recent effort was the short-lived embarrassment that was Chi-Town Rising, a money-losing event the city partnered with NBC-owned WMAQ-TV for and was syndicated to stations nationwide and multicaster Cozi TV, lasting only two years. NBC 5 continued with a local NYE show of its own, but did not produce one last year. In the 1990s, WBBM-TV and WFLD-TV each had competing NYE shows alongside ABC 7, and just six years ago, Chicago had four local viewing choices on NYE, with WGN-TV in the mix.

Rockin’ Eve began on NBC in 1972, with Dick Clark as host, and moved to ABC two years later. Ryan Seacrest became co-host in 2005, a year after Clark suffered a stroke, and took over full-time duties after Clark died in 2012. 

In recent years, the broadcast networks have competed with Clark’s show to draw different audiences. CBS will likely have another New Year’s Eve Countdown from Nashville scheduled this year, targeting country music fans, while the status of NBC’s show is uncertain after host Snoop Dogg dropped out. Fox abandoned their New Year’s Eve programming in recent years after trying shows hosted by Steve Harvey and Pitbull.