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The trademark sound of New Year's Eve

Broadcast Date: Jan. 1, 1972

He has ushered in the new year for millions of listeners since the Great Depression. Once Guy Lombardo even rang in the new year juggling between two live radio broadcasts. At the stroke of midnight he switched between CBS and NBC. Neither network could do without Lombardo's music, which has become synonymous with New Year's celebrations. In this CBC Radio interview, Lombardo talks about his boyhood in London, Ont., and developing the arrangement behind the music.

The trademark sound of New Year's Eve

• Guy Lombardo was born in 1902 in London, Ont. As a child he started a band with other young Londoners, including his brother Carmen, a prodigious flutist. They began developing the specialized musical arrangement that is now associated with Lombardo and New Year's.
• In the 1920s Lombardo pushed hard to get his band booked in the United States and soon scored a regular gig in Cleveland, Ohio. Due to growing popularity, Lombardo's band moved to Chicago in 1927.

• By the 1930s Guy Lombardo and his "Royal Canadians" dance band had achieved worldwide recognition for their rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Although he was from Canada, Lombardo's music became part of America's legacy.
• The band had sold over 100 million records by 1954.
• In 1971 Lombardo received an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario, his hometown university. He called it his life's greatest honour. Lombardo passed away in 1977.

• Also in '72, CBC Radio's The Scene did a feature on Farley Mowat. It was part of a special on people and their pets. The program notes said Mowat had become fixated on a whale.
• In August, The Scene prepared for the upcoming Canada-Soviet hockey series with an episode tracing the history of Canadian international hockey. It reported that before 1961, Canadian teams had been unbeatable worldwide.

• Also that summer, The Scene looked at Ottawa's penchant for bicycle riding.
• Ottawa is the self-proclaimed bicycle-riding capital of Canada. In 2000, Victoria declared itself the bicycle capital by provincial proclamation. Five per cent of its residents rode to work that year, which was 2.5 times more than in Ottawa.

The trademark sound of New Year's Eve

Medium: Radio

Program: The Scene

Broadcast Date: Jan. 1, 1972

Guest(s): Guy Lombardo

Host: Harry Brown, Pat Patterson

Duration: 3:37

Photo: CBC Still Photo Collection

Last updated:
April 16, 2008