December 23, 1998
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)

NOTE TO EDITORS:

New Year's Eve festivities live from St.John's, Newfoundland

This year's New Year's Eve festivities from the St. John's waterfront will be available live to all radio and television stations across North America with Anik E1 satellite reception facilities. There will be no charge to any stations taking the feed on a live basis.

New Year's hits North America first at St. John's, a full 1 1/2 hours before New York or Toronto and 30 minutes before Halifax. Always a grand party, this year will prove to be better than ever with Pete Soucy as host, recording artists The Celtic Connection and The Ennis Sisters, the Judy Knee Dancers, and Buttons and Bows with Kelly Russell. Also attending and helping with the countdown to North America's first New Year's at midnight (NST) will be Governor General Romeo LeBlanc and Diana Fowler LeBlanc; Lieutenant Governor Max House and Mary House; Premier Brian Tobin and Jodean Tobin; and the president of the Royal Canadian Mint, Danielle Wetherup, who will unveil the first in the Mint's series of millennium coins.

Thousands are expected to attend the full-length show and watch the huge fire works at midnight. A special feature this year will be a second countdown to usher in New Year's in Labrador at 12:30 (NST). The television program will be 70 minutes in length, with a professional television production team assembled to bring you top quality coverage. Co-producers of the event are Anchor Events Ltd. of St. John's and the Special Celebrations Agency of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Again, there is no cost to individual broadcasters to air this feed on a live basis. We simply ask that you contact the number listed below to confirm the fact you will air the signal. The required information is as follows:

DATE:      December 31, 1998

AIR-TIME:     22:00:00 to 23:10:00 (Eastern Standard Time)

   23:00:00 to 00:10:00 (Atlantic Standard Time)

   23:30:00 to 00:40:00 (Newfoundland Standard Time)

SATELLITE:    Anik E1, Transponder 10, KU Band

    Down Link Freq:        11987 MHz Vertical

    Primary Audio:         n5.41 MHz

    Secondary Audio: 6.17 MHz

For further information:

Lillian Bartlett or Wayne Guzzwell
Special Celebrations Agency
Department Tourism, Culture, Recreation
Government of Newfoundland & Labrador

Telephone : (709) 729 -1999

1998 12 23 4:30 p.m.