Guinness World Records Submission #7
First New Year’s Eve Webcast
Evidence Overview
On the night of December 31, 1997, into the early minutes of January 1, 1998, Michael Lee Goetz, Sr. produced a New Year’s Eve countdown webcast from The Harder Bar in Dallas, Texas, published for public viewing through the You-On-Tv.com platform as part of THE HOMETOWN.
The webcast featured a full bar crowd, party decorations, on-camera hosting, and the midnight countdown. Viewers connecting to You-On-Tv.com could see on-location coverage and experience the celebration in real time through early internet streaming.
The technical setup included a camera and microphone inside The Harder Bar feeding via phone line into a computer that sent the video and audio stream out through You-On-Tv.com. This extended earlier 1997 webcast work into a public holiday event in a nightclub setting.
This submission presents the THE HOMETOWN New Year’s Eve 1997–98 Harder Bar webcast as the first public New Year’s Eve countdown webcast, produced independently and made openly accessible to anyone who could reach You-On-Tv.com at the time.
Evidence Items
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Primary meme (above)
Still frame derived from the Harder Bar webcast footage, used as the lead image for this submission. -
New Year’s Eve webcast highlight video
Edited highlight clip taken from the original Harder Bar New Year’s Eve 1997–98 webcast recording — View Evidence -
Original show-list web page
Screen capture of the historical You-On-Tv.com show-list web page for THE HOMETOWN “LIVE” Global Open Mic at The Harder Bar. The page includes multiple numbered shows by date, including the New Year’s Eve 1997–98 webcast — View Evidence