Although the Times Square Ball made it’s debut on the roof of One Times Square in New York on December 31, 1906 to ring in 1907, Dick Clark began a new holiday tradition to televise the international event and surrounding celebrations as his first New Year’s Rockin’ Eve broadcast rang in 1973.

In 1972, Dick Clark originally delivered New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, a New Year’s Eve music special for NBC which included coverage of the ball drop celebrations in New York City. After two years on NBC, and being hosted by Three Dog Night and George Carlin separately, the program moved to ABC and Clark assumed hosting duties. Following Lombardo’s passing in 1977, Rockin’ Eve experienced a surge in popularity and later became the most watched annual New Year’s Eve broadcast.

Dick Clark had missed just a single transmission in his career (the consequence of a stroke in December 2004, which was then taken over by Ryan Seacrest in 2005.). Since then, various other co-hosts have also helped out to keep the night’s events moving. The show celebrated its 40th commemoration with a two-hour retrospective special.

Since he came up the idea of Dick Clark‘s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, it appears to be fitting to keep the name to respect the late TV backbone, well after his passing in 2012.

See how it all began:

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