Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest is going bigger for its 55th edition, adding a live Central Time zone countdown from Chicago for the first time in the show’s five-decade history.
ABC and Dick Clark Productions announced Monday that the Windy City will join the annual broadcast’s lineup of live celebrations, which already includes the iconic Times Square countdown and a Spanish-language broadcast from Puerto Rico marking the Atlantic Time zone.
The Chicago segment will feature a new host (who has yet to be announced), live performances, and on-the-ground updates leading up to midnight Central Time. WLS-TV, ABC’s local affiliate, will serve as the production hub for the new addition.
“WLS-TV is ‘Chicago Proud’ to have the opportunity to showcase the amazing city of Chicago on ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,’” said John Idler, president and general manager 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.”
Barry Adelman, EVP of Television at Dick Clark Productions, called the move a “new chapter” for the long-running special. “The addition of a live Central Time zone countdown from Chicago (my hometown!) lets us share this iconic American city’s incredible energy, culture, and spirit with millions of viewers across the country,” Adelman said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson celebrated the partnership, calling it “a fantastic opportunity to showcase the beauty and dynamism of our city and its people for the world to see.”
The annual broadcast, which drew 29 million viewers at midnight last year, remains the No. 1 New Year’s Eve special on television. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026” airs live on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 31.
The special is produced by Dick Clark Productions, with Seacrest, Michael Dempsey, and Adelman serving as executive producers.
With all due respect to the people who work behind the scenes at Chicago’s local stations, I’ve always found the local NYE productions to be lackluster. I’m so glad that NYRE will lend its tremendous production value and decades of experience to Chicago’s New Years’ Eve celebrations. ‘Tis a shame they couldn’t do so during the “ChiTown Rising” celebrations for 2016 and 2017, but those were primarily broadcast by the local NBC affiliate at the time.
Glad to see this. I hope someday ABC recreates the vibe of Peter Jennings and Dick Clark teaming up for New Years’ 2000 where the network went spanning the globe for 25 hours of continuous coverage of the Holiday.
It would wonderful to see New Years in San Juan, New York, Chicago, Denver, LA, Honolulu and Anchorage as a way to unite the country.
I loved ABC2000. Not too crazy about it being touted as the millennium (yep, I’m one of those “the millennium began in 2001” guys) but as a broadcasting event, it was an absolute triumph. They didn’t do one for 2001, but they did a smaller one for 2002. I can see a similar event to the 2002 version for future years.
Conan O’Brien used to do this every year when he had the 12:35AM (ET) show. It was hysterical and I looked forward to it more than my own New Year’s TV celebration.
Those were indeed hilarious!
didn’t they do a Central Time countdown from New Orleans for years?
CNN always had a CST countdown. But not ABC