THE latest New Year’s Eve showing marked the 100th anniversary of BBC Scotland’s Hogmanay broadcast, an annual tradition that celebrates Scottish culture and music.
The first full BBC Scotland Hogmanay show was broadcasted on the radio in 1924 in Edinburgh, and the tradition has continued ever since.
This year, the city’s official Hogmanay celebrations were cancelled due to weather warnings, but the broadcast went on, with performances from Marti Pellow and Skipinnish.
Local historian Andy Arthur has put together a history of BBC Scotland’s Hogmanay show, going back a century to New Years Eve, 1924.
The BBC in Edinburgh began broadcasting amid a lighthearted feud with their Glasgow counterparts, the home of the first BBC Scotland transmitter.
Due to Edinburgh’s hilly landscape, the BBC was forced to install a 46-metre aerial behind the University of Edinburgh’s medical school at Teviot Place.
The actual broadcast, which was the first of its kind dedicated to Hogmanay, consisted of live piano music from George Street, the pipers of the 4/5th Battalion, and other musicians playing traditional Scots music.
The show was termed the “Scottish Special” but also featured transmissions from London such as the weather and the chiming of Big Ben.
Later in the night, live dance bands were broadcast from Fountainbridge, ending with a choir singing Auld Lang Syne.
A message of “A Happy New Year to All” was sent from London before switching to partygoers in George Street dancing to the latest hits.
To this day, Scottish music plays a big part in the BBC’s Hogmanay scheduling, brought into the present by bands such as Skipinnish.
Now dubbed the “Not Quite End of Year Show”, the Hogmanay special is televised, and the BBC looks back on the year with a host of Scotland’s television and sport stars.
The second part of the evening is taken up by the Hogmanay Show, which ends with the centuries-long tradition of Auld Lang Syne, just as in 1924.
On New Year’s Day, the Head of Commissioning at BBC Scotland said: “We’re delighted that audiences came to us to enjoy bringing 2024 to a close and to celebrate the arrival of 2025.
“With a combined audience of over 800,000 at The Bells for BBC One Scotland and the BBC Scotland channel, we’re thrilled that so many came to us across all our television and radio channels.”
This year, some have criticised the show for airing a pre-recorded countdown, where fireworks in Edinburgh were shown despite the Hogmanay celebrations being cancelled this year.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, a BBC spokesperson said: “Due to the adverse weather conditions forcing the cancellation of Edinburgh’s outdoor Hogmanay celebrations we were unable to broadcast live from the capital as part of our Hogmanay 2024 programme.
“Given these unfortunate circumstances we used footage of the Lone Piper and fireworks over Edinburgh Castle from previous years to bring people together at New Year.”
