Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Times Square Ball Drop

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey friends, for the best Get Sleepy experience, be sure to check out our supporters' feed Get Sleepy Premium for our free listening weekly bonus episodes and access to our entire catalogue. Now, a quick word from our sponsors who make the free version of this show possible. Do you have little ones in your life? Whether you're a parent, teacher, aunt, uncle, grandparent, babysitter, we all know that keeping kids calm and entertained can be difficult. That's why I want to introduce you to the newest show by some of studios. It's called Snuggle, and it features calming stories for kids of all ages.

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Starting point is 00:01:39 My name's Tom, and I'm your host. I hope you had a splendid Christmas if you celebrate it. Whether you're still enjoying a bit of winter hibernation, relaxing with a few quiet days at home, or whether it's back to normality for you by now. Let this time be an opportunity to rest and recharge. Tonight will take a journey back in time and learn all about the origins of a classic New Year's tradition, the Times Square Ball Drop. From the early origins of timepools to the details of the highly coordinated celebration of today, Alicia Stefan's story will tell you everything you need to know about the stylish glittering orb that signals a communal passage from one year to the next, for so many people in the world.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Get Sleepy Premium is the very best way to listen to the show. As a premium supporter, you'll have access to our entire catalogue of over 650 stories and meditations. There are tons of extra long episodes and series stitches on there too, and everything is completely out free. Thursday nights are extra special, because that's when we release our weekly premium bonus episodes for all our supporters. Tomorrow Vanessa will be reading a charming story about a woman who finds joy in baking all kinds of creative cakes in her kitchen.

Starting point is 00:03:32 The first seven days of your premium subscription are free, and you can cancel anytime. You can even gift a subscription to someone special. So why not give it a try and enjoy the best rest you can get. For more information on all of our plans, visit GetSleepy.com-support or just follow the link in the show notes. Thank you all so much for your support. Before we transport you back in time to unveil the secrets of the ball drop, make sure you're ready to relax. Start by taking a deep breath and then exhaling very slowly. Do this a few times until you feel yourself letting go of your tension from the day. If your mind is still busy with thoughts, that's okay. Try noticing what

Starting point is 00:04:55 those thoughts are, and then consciously set them aside for tomorrow. Your only job right now is to prepare for a night of restful sleep. As each thought comes to mind, just acknowledge it for a moment. But then say, not now, allowing that thought to pass, bringing a greater sense of peace and stillness within. Feeling your body relax even further. So as you sink into your comfortable bed, imagine a long hallway full of doors. Each one leads to another year, and you're going to walk down that hallway, past more than a hundred of them. You're going to travel back in time, to the beginning of the 20th century, where the

Starting point is 00:06:21 New York Times Square celebration was born. This is where our story begins. When you close your eyes and summon memories of new year's eaves in the past, what do you see? Perhaps visions of parties appear in your mind. The other guests may be in fancy dress, or maybe they are wearing funny cardboard hats. or maybe they are wearing funny cardboard hats. You may have visions of confetti flying into the air and falling on everything around you. Trays of snacks, half empty glasses and CDs or record albums strewn about. You might think of sounds you associate with the event. Noise makers, music, cheers, laughing, singing. Or perhaps you will think of the strange mingling of nostalgia and suspense you experience

Starting point is 00:08:10 each time, knowing that these are the last moments that will ever be recorded in the departing year. That singular time period will now be finished and on the books. Even so, a whole promising year unfolds before you. The time that is to come is as yet unwritten. You are both excited and perhaps a little pensive. Maybe you're surrounded by family or perhaps you are a mid- friends. Maybe you're snuggled up under a blanket. Luxuriously enjoying a quiet solo celebration of the new year. It is entirely possible you have at some time done each of these things on the momentous last evening of the year. Whatever the case, it's possible that some of your new year's memories involve a bull drop.

Starting point is 00:09:51 In all likelihood, you have some recollection of the world's most famous one, which is broadcast across the globe from Times Square in New York City. Especially if you live in the United States, your locality may even have its own unique way of dropping the ball, or some other meaningful object at the stroke of midnight. But the tradition of a ball drop on New Year's Eve is now well over a century old. At this point it has been around as long as any of us can remember. The appearance of the ball, its technology and the events happening around it have evolved. and the events happening around it have evolved. Yet this symbolic opening of the New Year has endured in the popular imagination. The association between a ball drop and New Year's Eve has become so strong that many people have probably never thought to ask where the idea originated. In fact, the concept of public timekeeping can be traced back to sand clocks, water clocks,

Starting point is 00:11:20 and sundiles in the Stone Age. As far back as the year 1335, bells have been used for such purposes, beginning with a church in Milan, Italy. Starting with 1 chime at 1am and finishing at midnight with 24 chimes, this local method was a way to keep track of the time, even if it was admittedly a bit imprecise. precise. The Milan clock could be offered any given time by as much as a thousand seconds. However, the idea of public chimes spread rapidly throughout Europe. This was the dawn of a new era, where everyone in town knew roughly what time it was. Hearing Bell's toll just on the hour was more information than the average person had ever had before, about the time of day. In fact, the minute hand didn't even appear on watches, until some time in the 1700s. As the years progressed, knowing the hour was fine for people going about to their business on land.

Starting point is 00:13:11 But those who were captains on seafaring vessels wanted more specific information. In order to work with celestial charts, they needed precision. In 1714, Jeremy Thacker invented the chronometer, which was followed shortly thereafter by John Harrison's invention of the Marine Chronometer in 1730. This very precise instrument revolutionized timekeeping the world over. But that was just for people wealthy and privileged enough to actually own one of these devices. And how were the chronometers to be set to each day, maintaining that crucial accuracy? In the early 1800s, a royal naval captain named Robert Warhope had an idea. He proposed that a signal should be made in the harbor at a specific time each day, allowing

Starting point is 00:14:39 Mariners to see the exact time through their telescopes. They could then set their cronometers with a high degree of accuracy. As a result, in 1829, the first time ball was installed in England's Port Smith Harbour. The timble was so successful that another was placed at the Royal Conservatory in Greenwich. In the year 1833, a red ball made of wood and leather was installed there on a 15-foot pole. It was released at exactly 1pm each day, broadcasting the hour to the world. Beyond serving seafarers, this turned out to be very useful for many other people. After all, personal clocks were still a luxury for the wealthy at that time. You might wonder why the time of the signal was 1pm and not noon.

Starting point is 00:16:08 This was because astronomers were busy at 12pm, observing the sun with their telescopes. Dropping the ball just an hour later was more convenient. The Granich Ball was so popular that the use of timbos spread. By 1844 there were 11 timbos worldwide. The number eventually swowned to around 150, but most of those are no longer in operation. Technology marched on, and timepieces continued to become more portable, convenient, and accurate. Because of that, the few daily ball drops that still occur in modern times are mainly ceremonial. That's the case for the ongoing one at Greenwich. And of course, arguably the most ceremonial and the most famous ball drop in the world is the one that began happening in New York City in the last moments of 1906. Up until that time, the major New York celebration in the city had occurred

Starting point is 00:17:53 at Trinity Church. References in church archives trace this back to the early 1800s when the bells would be rung on New Year's Day. The traditions solidified and became more of a draw as the century continued. An article in the New York Carol, poetically described to the scene in 1860. They said there were numerous watches around and about the venerable walls of old Trinity at the Mystic hour, when spirits are said to walk abroad, lingering there to hear the first thrilling peel of the clattering bells in their iron-tunged farewell to the dying year. And presently it came. First the three-quarter chime, giving the world to know that they remained but one quarter

Starting point is 00:19:08 of an hour, year the year 1860, would be drawn into the ever-moving stream of ages. As the new century dawned however, the celebration was fate to find a new home. In the beginning there was not a time ball yet. The celebration of 1906 when the orb debuted was not actually the first New Year's Eve party in Times Square. That happened in 1904, which was a momentous year for the city. Not only did it mark the opening of the very first subway line, but the New York Times newspaper opened its headquarters in an area of Manhattan that was then known as Long Acre Square. The new office, called Times Tower, was an ambitious structure located at the intersection of Broadway, 7th Avenue, and 42nd Street. It was New York's second tallest building when it was completed. The tallest, if you counted

Starting point is 00:20:41 the portion, that made up four sub-basements below, which were built to handle the heavy printing equipment of the times. In recognition of the status the new building conveyed to the area and to the city Mayor George B. McClellan officially renamed the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue to Times Square. At all folks, the owner of the newspaper claimed he had not asked for this honour, but he certainly celebrated it. To commemorate the new building and the celebrity conveyed upon it, the newspaper hosted a New Year's Eve party. It was a huge undertaking.

Starting point is 00:21:45 There was an all day street festival hosting 200,000 revelers. Reportedly, the sound of the party could be heard as far away as Croton on Huntson, some 30 miles up the river. Once darkness fell, the guests were treated to a lavish firework display that was launched from the base of the tower. The paper itself said of the party that from base to dome the giant structure was a light, a torch to usher in the newborn year. A new tradition had begun. However, as the planning for the 1906 party got underway, there was a small hitch.

Starting point is 00:22:54 The city had banned fireworks because they were dropping hot ash on observers. According to a 1965 newspaper article, Adolfoaks asked his chief electrician to dream up another spectacular display of lights that would not violate city rules. In the article, the electrician's son relates how his father took inspiration from the iron timble that was currently in use at the Western Union building downtown. The owner of a company called Artcraft Strauss helped him bring his vision to life. Jacob Star, an immigrant metal worker, devised a 700 pound ball made of iron, wood and leather. It was adorned with 125 watt bulbs. This was then hoisted up a pole that was variously reported as being 70 or 80 feet tall, but with only 50 of those feet above the roof level and the rest anchoring it below.

Starting point is 00:24:29 According to the article, that pole had formerly been the main mast of the battleship New Mexico. It took six men to hoist the ball to the top, and three to operate it as it made its descent. Over a century later, stars Grand Order, Tamer, who was his successor at Artcraft Strauss, related that Jacob had been responsible for coming up with a flashy end to the ball drop. It suggested that when the glowing ball was dropped, it would go dark, appearing to illuminate the numbers of the new year in electric lights. Giving some wonderful historical perspective,

Starting point is 00:25:33 Tamar explained that many people at that time were still living with gas lights and candles in their homes. and candles in their homes. This update to the old-fashioned timeball of y'all, now a glowing beacon of electricity, was meant to showcase the dazzle of brand new time square. She says quite simply, She says quite simply, it was instantly popular. People just loved it. The light show wasn't limited to the ball drop. In 1907, waiters in the local lobster palaces and other fancy establishments were given special top hats. When the ball dropped, the numbers 1908 would light up in electricity on their heads. Once again, Tamas summed up the effect it had on the audience. It looked like magic to people, she said.

Starting point is 00:26:57 Tamma herself supervised the dropping of the ball for many years. Her description of the process is still fascinating. Unlike traditional time balls, which indicated the time by the moment they started dropping, ball would create a countdown. Beginning at 11.59pm, a team of people would start lowering it by hand using a pulley system. The seconds were marked on the pole with tape and the four persons used to those markers to guide the people holding the ball. If they were going too fast, they'd be told to slow down. If they were going too slowly, they would be told to increase their speed. It was a task of such coordination that she says the team would appear to even breathe together.

Starting point is 00:28:18 The goal was to half the ball reach the bottom, bang on midnight. At that time, its own bulbs would go dark, and the numbers of the New Year would blaze with light. Even though the New York Times moved to a new office on West 43rd Street in 1913, the New Year's Eve festivities remained the same at Times Tower. The existing ball was used for a dozen years after the first drop, at which time it was remade. The newer version was still 5 feet in diameter, but now it was made entirely of iron. The result was a ball that was only £400.

Starting point is 00:29:28 This was £300 lighter than it had been before. That was certainly a relief to the group of men who had to operate the pulley for the drop in 1920. During World War II, some of the brighter beacons in New York City had to temporarily dim due to the fear that they would light up and endanger ships in the harbor. This included the advertising signs in Times Square and the windows of Penn Station. It also put a damper on the ball drop celebrations. However, crowds still gathered to mark the occasion. In lieu of the brilliance of the ball drop, there was a minute of silence beginning at 11.59pm.

Starting point is 00:30:39 Harkening back to the days when Trinity Church was the center of New Year celebrations. Soundtrucks played church bell chimes to mark the hour. year 1954. Maranim Monro, wed Joe DiMaggio, Elvis Presley released his first single. Texas Instruments announced its invention of the first transistor radio, and there were finally updates made to the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. This time the 400-pound behemoth was slimmed down to a mere 150 pounds and increased to 6 six feet in diameter thanks to the use of aluminium in place of the old iron. The bull drop continued in the ensuing years. Meanwhile during the 1960s a tradition was developing on television. It would eventually spread to the Times Square event, becoming an iconic part of the celebration. That is, crowds started counting out the last few seconds until midnight. As of 1979, the communal countdown of those

Starting point is 00:32:32 last few seconds became an established part of the ball drop. From that point on, it was difficult for anyone to imagine the event without it. When the 1980s rolled around, Mayor Ed Koch decided it was time to enlist the dazzle of the New Year's celebration to help promote the city. New York could be going through some fiscal difficulties in recent years, and the 1970s had been an effort to revive its reputation, as the Big Apple. A term that had once been popularly applied to the city in its heyday decades earlier. With the catchy name on the rise again and the ball into an enormous apple. From 1981 to 1988, the lights were changed so that the white sphere turned into a red orb with a green stem. into a red orb with a green stem. With the 1988 celebration approaching, organizers had an unusual consideration.

Starting point is 00:34:17 At the request of the world's timekeepers, there was to be an international observation of a leap second at midnight, in order to account for the natural and normal slowing of the earth's rotation of just one thousandth of a second second is necessary once in a while, to get all the atomic clocks back in sync with the Earth. Since 1988 was the year for that, a spectacular onesecond display was planned for the ball drop. Tamashtar, who was managing the details at the time, said this of the strange second that would be inserted between 1987 and 1988. It will be a moment that doesn't belong to anything, a glimpse of infinity, because it's outside regular time. In a 1987 New York Times article about the upcoming celebration, Tama described to the

Starting point is 00:35:48 plans that were underway. She said that white strobe lights inside the ball would flash on, creating a sparkling, twinkling effect. Two rows of multi-coloured lights on the parapet atop the 24-story tower would blaze down on the surrounding crowds, and a spinning ball fitted with 20 powerful spotlights would be turned on, sending beams flashing into the sky and onto the crowd and the facades of nearby buildings. Always poetic, Miss Star offered the deeper meaning for the dazzling show. She said it was meant to tell people to make the most of each precious second of their life. counted down, 5, 4, 3, 2, leap second, 0, as the orb drifted downwards.

Starting point is 00:37:18 After the year of the leap second, the bulbs of the time Square ball were turned back to white. This lasted only two years. For the celebration on New Year's Eve 1990, the ball illuminated in red, white and blue in support of the American troops serving overseas. In the mid-90s, the New Year's Eve ball got a huge cosmetic makeover in preparation for the upcoming millennium. It was freshly outfitted with 180 halogen bulbs. More glamorous, however, with 144 strobe lights and the 12,000 rhinestones that were applied. The new bulbs were much brighter than the old ones, 75 watts versus the prior 20 watts. The result was a ball that was powered by enough electricity to fuel five homes. to fuel five homes. To enhance the effect, 320 holes were added to let the light shine from the ball, and a fog machine was added to create a dramatic backdrop. Organizers said that they expected to the ball would be visible all the way in

Starting point is 00:39:11 New Jersey across the river. The designer Barry Arnold was quoted as saying that the drop would be very theatrical, adding in a New York Daily News interview that, after all, we are on Broadway. This was also the first time the ball got a major technical upgrade. Thomas Star and her team had still been lowering it by hand all this time. On New Year's Eve 1995, Ms. Star was able to celebrate the event from home, while a computerized pulley operated to the ball, according to the dictates of an atomic clock at the National Institute of Standard and Technology. It was to be accurate within hundredth of a second. With an eye towards maintaining a ceremonial touch, the entire display was to be set off when the mayor pressed a button at 11.59pm.

Starting point is 00:40:40 Adding to the technological dazzle, the ball drop was accompanied by a laser show. Unfortunately, as a New York Times article joked, that historical ball drop included what was probably the first mistake of 1996? The mechanism suffered a glitch and briefly stopped the ball halfway down the pole. A technical director was added to the team the following year, and according to executive Jeffrey Strauss who oversees the entire celebration, there hasn't been a mechanical glitch ever since. In 1999, the third ball which had been in use since the 1950s, was finally and completely retired. The turn of the millennium had arrived, and it called for something special and dazzling. for maximum glitter, the organizers turned to the experts who made Waterford crystal across

Starting point is 00:42:12 the pond in Ireland. 504 crystal panels were created, after which the ball was shipped to New York City. Once there, 96 strobe lights and 92 spinning pyramid shaped mirrors were installed. This historic New Year's Eve would be watched by the world, and the ball needed to be sparkling during daylight and in any weather conditions, so its kaleidoscopic display would be impressive around the clock. Naturally, the latest technology was needed in order to make the magic cappen on this all-new crystal beacon. Advanced hardware and software were incorporated of a type often used for theatre productions. The result was a ball that was six feet in diameter and weighed over a thousand pounds.

Starting point is 00:43:41 This was probably less of a problem now that it was no longer being manually lowered by a team of men. The designers also took extra care to make sure no computer glitches marred to the celebration due to the turn of Y2K. Executive manager Jeff Strauss quitted that the ball was Y2K compliant, but that the team couldn't guarantee anything about the computers across the rest of town. If the lights go out everywhere else in the city when the ball drops, he said, will still be in good spirits. The backdrop for the debut of this new ball was no less impressive. About 2 million visitors would flood time square, and the infrastructure was in place for them. Massive speaker systems were set up, safety measures were implemented, implemented. Corporate sponsors were secured. A television station covered the preparations

Starting point is 00:45:09 for the event throughout the day. All of New York City and the world welcomed a new millennium together. A few years later, 2007 was the 100 year anniversary of the first 1907 ball drop. The organizers decided it was time to give the ball an environmentally forward-thinking makeover. This new version weighed in at £1,415. It's 9,500 LEDs shone through more than 600 crystals. Yet they used only the energy that would be required to power six bread toasters. Since 1991, the tossing of vast amounts of confetti had become a regular feature of the show. An expert named Treb Hining had been hired at that time to be the official confetti master, because this was not the run of the mill shredded paper. The confetti used in the New Year's Eve spectacle is larger than normal, in order to create

Starting point is 00:46:57 the visual feast of what he called a confetti blizzard. Depending on the wind, it was sometimes possible to still be taking photos of falling confetti half an hour after the drop he said in a 2018 interview. In keeping with the more environmentally friendly efforts of recent years, the confetti was now recyclable and biodegradable. And how did all that confetti start to fly? He explained how a team of about a hundred people were assembled for the event, all of whom claimed the job title, confetti dispersal engineer.

Starting point is 00:47:58 These important folks would toss the confetti manually from the tops of about 8 different times square buildings. Mr Hining acknowledged that using a cannon might seem logical, but he explained that a power outage would bring a halt to that type of confetti dispersal, and that it was safer to keep the method manual for that reason. Believe it or not, the confetti also provided a way for ordinary people to get in on the action. Visitors were invited to write something on a wishing wall that was set up for the entire month of December between 46th and 47th streets. But people could

Starting point is 00:48:59 also have their hopes inscribed on some of the 2-3 million pounds of fireproof confetti being provided for the celebration. An analysis of those wishes from the 2018 event showed that happiness was what 25% of people hoped for in the year to come. That popular response was followed by additional ones for good health, love, success, peace, and self-improvement. and self-improvement. The pieces with the wishing-war messages were mixed in with the rest of the confetti and fluffed before despasal. So it was that the event included a veritable snowstorm of hopes and dreams. In 2009, the ball doubled in size to 12 feet in diameter. was lit by 32,000 bulbs and weighed nearly 6 tons. The new ball was also designed to be weatherproof. As going forward, it was going to be displayed outdoors year round. Meanwhile, the version from 2008 was retired and put on display at the Times Square Visitor Center. In recent years, it had become customary to create themed waterfoot crystals each year, with new inspirational

Starting point is 00:51:09 messages. This continued, and the ball contained crystal patterns, alluding to a world of celebration, which included let there be light, let there be joy, let there be courage, let there be love, let there be friendship, and let there be peace. For 2014 all the balls panels were replaced, marking a new theme known as Greatest Gifts. It began with the gift of imagination. As we bring this story right to the present, the New Year's Eve Ball continues to keep pace with technology, while also incorporating this wonderful tradition and beautiful craftsmanship. There have been adaptations to the Times Square celebration from time to time, accommodating historical events and the winds of change. But the gathering has gone on, even in the face of poor weather.

Starting point is 00:52:59 On average, across the years, the temperature on New Year's Eve has hovered around freezing at a brisk 34 degrees Fahrenheit or 1 degrees Celsius. the evenings of 1965 and 1972. Visitors were coldest in 1917, when the thermometer dropped to only 1 degree Fahrenheit, but with a windchill of minus 18 degrees. The second coldest year happened exactly a century later. The folks gathered in Times Square to ring in the year 2018 were met with 9 degrees Fahrenheit, which is roughly minus 12 degrees Celsius. And of course, there has always been the festive confetti blizzard for the last couple of decades. But what of the actual white stuff? It turns out that only seven new years' ball drops have happened during a snowfall. However, there has been rain 17 times. The tradition of the ball drop has become such an iconic part of New Year's

Starting point is 00:54:52 Eve that many locales, people in Atlanta, Georgia, the Peach State, can watch an enormous peach drop. In Raleigh, North Carolina, spectators Spectators can see the drop of a 12-foot acorn that weighs £12,250. Flagstaff Arizona goes a little bit lighter with a 70-pound acorn. Celebrating their fishing and boating industry, Port Clinton, Ohio, prefers a 20-foot-long replica of a walleye fish. Boise Ideho began dropping a massive potato in 2013 in celebration of its farming industry. Apparently that spot recently got interior lighting and is now considered a Glotato. Temecula California gives an odd to its wine industry with the drop of an 8-foot-long bunch of shining

Starting point is 00:56:27 grapes. And Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, drops what else but a dill pickle. No matter the style or the number of people present, the tradition of counting down to a timble on New Year's Eve has become a special, unifying celebration. To mark that moment when we pause, with one foot in the old year, and another ready to step into the new one, has become a cultural phenomenon. Having a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder, whether in person or virtually, and share good thoughts for the upcoming year, is a cultural touchstone that continues to bring us together, as we are focused on that glittering orb.

Starting point is 00:57:40 Perhaps Thomas Star put it best when she referred to the countdown as a minute outside of time. She described that moment of universal resolutions with these words. When you're concentrating really hard, time seems to slow down. It feels like the longest minute in the world. You really can change your life in one minute. You can decide to be different. You can decide to be kinder and better. And truly, as spectators stand in time square to participate in that minute, with the wishes of the world floating around them. That must be true.

Starting point is 00:58:52 Happy New Year to you all, and best wishes for contentment and good rest, in the time before the next ball drops. you ... ... you you ... you ... ... ... you ... ... ... ... you ... you you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - The Sleepy History of the Times Square Ball Drop

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