Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000

Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000 was RTÉ's coverage of the turn of the millennium from 31 December 1999 into 1 January 2000. Part of the 2000 Today programming in Ireland, a series of well-known broadcasters presented various stages of the nineteen-hour broadcast.

Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000
Presented byMiriam O'Callaghan
Mark Little
Geri Maye
Pat Kenny
Liz Bonnin
Joe Duffy
Country of originIreland
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes1
Production
Executive producerNoel Curran
Production locationsRTÉ Television Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
DistributorRTÉ
Release
Original networkRTÉ One
Original release31 December 1999 (1999-12-31) –
1 January 2000 (2000-01-01)

Development

2000 Today was conceived as part of the Millennium celebrations, given the numerical significance of the change from 1999 to 2000.

The programme was produced and televised by an international consortium of 60 broadcasters, including RTÉ and headed by the BBC in Britain and WGBH in the United States. The BBC provided the production hub for receiving and distributing the 78 international satellite feeds required for this broadcast.

Production

RTÉ launched their millennium eve programming on 30 November 1999. At the time the programme was described as the largest, single television show in Irish history. Up to 5,000 staff worked on the 2000 Today project worldwide, with 500 workers based at the RTÉ Television Centre. In all three television studios were utilised while four outside satellite units, forty cameras in twenty Irish locations worked to pull together an array of images from around both the country and globe. As part of a Reconciliation 2000 theme RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland co-operated on several events during the broadcast.[1]

Programming

The first midnight celebrations in the South Pacific and reports from Jerusalem and Nazareth featured.[2]

TimeProgrammeDescription
9:30amMillennium Eve: Celebrate 2000Miriam O'Callaghan began the international countdown on RTÉ.
1:10pmRTÉ News and Weather
1:20pmMillennium ChorusA special concert featuring Michael Crawford, Jennifer Holliday and Kathie Lee Gifford.
2:25pmMillennium Eve: Celebrate 2000Mark Little and Geri Maye presented further coverage from around the globe.
4:05pmMillennium BellsA special broadcast from St. Colman's Cathedral in Cobh, County Cork.
4:10pmLast Lights CeremonyLive coverage of the lighting of the special millennium candles, beginning at Áras an Uachtaráin.
5:00pmCelebrate 2000A programme of song and reflections from the Abbey of Multyfarnham and Áras an Uachtaráin.
6:30pmRTÉ News and WeatherThe main news stories by Bryan Dobson and Úna O'Hagan.
7:20pmCelebrate 2000Pat Kenny, Liz Bonnin and Joe Duffy presented a gala programme of music and chat from Studio 4.
9:00pmRTÉ News: Nine O'ClockThe evening main news.
9:20pmCelebrate 2000Pat Kenny, Liz Bonnin and Joe Duffy presented the final leg of the countdown to midnight.

Ratings

The Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000 schedule reached 75 per cent of the people of Ireland, the equivalent of 2.6 million viewers. At midnight 74 per cent of the available audience were watching RTÉ One.[3]

References
  1. "RTE gears up for TV marathon to ring in New Year". Irish Independent. 1 December 1999. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  2. Humphreys, Joe (28 December 1999). "Millennium Eve broadcast will be largest yet for RTE". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 14 May 2015.
  3. "Millennium joy for RTE". The Irish Times. 5 January 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
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