RadioActive wrote:

What are you doing New Year's Eve? Back in the old days, this was a pretty unusual night on many stations, which took pains to present special shows as the New Year loomed. I remember CHUM doing a countdown of the top hits of the past year, with #1 generally timed to air right before midnight. 

Most stations these days seem to have all but abandoned those kind of shows and some - like CHFI, CHUM-FM and Q107 - don't appear to be doing anything really different on Dec. 31st - at least not according to their respective websites. 

But there still are a few who try to set the night on fire. Here's are the ones I found:

KISS 92.5 - has a special day of programming planned for Dec. 31st, culminating in 6-hour commercial free NYE music mix starting at 8 PM.

CFNY - After the Top 23 of 23 countdown, it's highlights from groups that played live at Sugar Beach over the past year. It includes sets by Sam Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland. The "Edge Lang Syne" continues on Jan. 1st.

Indie 88.1 - The independent music outlet promises to unveil its Great 88. The first play started at 10AM and runs to 5 PM, starts again and goes until midnight, with rerolls twice more on Jan. 1st. There's no need to wait to find out what the top song is, though - they've posted the entire list on their website.

I well remember staying up late as a kid to hear the #1 song of the year on CHUM. I wonder if a younger demo will be as interested today, what with streaming and other places to be. If not, too bad. I have very fond memories of those late nights to kick off another year.

A quick look on socials says otherwise....

CHFI doing a Non-Stop New Year's Eve special with Pooja & Gurdeep starting at 8PM. They also did this last year.

CHUM-FM with their annual Top 40 of the year 6-9PM followed by a NYE edition of the Weekend Blowout 9PM-1AM.

Boom Non-Stop NYE 8PM-1AM with Matt Storey. Pretty sure this airs on other Stingray Boom-like stations across Canada as well.

Thanks for the updates. I was basing it on their websites, which is where you'd expect to find info like that. None of them had anything, which I found surprising. Not sure why they're not listed, but good to know the special night is being observed. I always looked forward to it as a kid. 

HUH? I thought a VT'd Countdown, airing NYE, then repeating again on New Year's Day is the cheapest way for radio to do things so they don't have to worry about some of the content New Year's day or New Year's eve...
 

Last edited by Radiowiz (December 31, 2023 4:50 pm)

"What are you doing New Year's Eve?"

One of the few good things about getting on in years is the freedom to NOT stay up until midnight. 😁

I was watching Packers/Vikings which was turning into a blowout. Fell asleep in my lazyboy around 10pm. Woke up at 2am and went to bed.

Well, I actually managed to stay awake !  After watching KC beat Cincinnati in NFL , I flipped between the CBS Nashville country show which featured the well known country band Lynrd Sknyrd at midnight, and the CNN offering with Anderson Cooper playing the straight man to the irritating Andy Cohen. During the boring parts and commercials, I watched The battle of The Five Armies , the conclusion to the Hobbit trilogy I hadn't seen before. Nothing like some good old Peter Jackson CGI violence to set a festive mood. Happy 24 . 

Jazz FM91 aired a vintage New Years Eve broadcast from 1946 featuring big band performances. I’m not too sure that it was originally live as the applause seemed a bit canned but I listened for a while as it was entertaining! Then I watched tv…..