57th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen
| Broadcast | December 31, 2006 |
|---|---|
| Host(s) | Red Team: Yukie Nakama White Team: Masahiro Nakai |
| Venue | NHK Hall, Tokyo |
| Runtime | 4 hours 30 min |
| White Team | |
The 57th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen (第57回NHK紅白歌合戦?), referred to from hereon as "Kōhaku," aired on December 31, 2006. This event was filmed and aired from NHK Hall in Japan. Air time was from 19:20 to 23:45 (with an interruption from 21:25 to 21:30 for news). All times are JST. Viewership ratings: 30.39 (1st half), 37.39 (2nd half)
September 20: Theme of the 57th event announced. "Ai. Kazoku. ~Sedai wo Koeru Uta ga Aru~", literally meaning "Love and Family: Songs that Last for Generations".
November 17: Yukie Nakama will be hostess of the Red Team. Previously, Monta Mino was supposed to be an emcee of the event, but was not offered the position in the 57th event due to a conflict of being both singer and emcee (Monta released a CD earlier in 2006.)
November 29: List of singers and groups announced, as well as the remainder of the program's team hosts and mediators. Participants include (note that the songs listed are as of the announcement. Song selections may change leading up to the event):
Singers/groups who received invitations to the 57th event but declined include:
December 27: Order of the performances and song assignments are announced.
Audience participants at NHK Hall were restricted to those who's subscription fees with Hōsō Hō (Japan's Broadcasting Act) were in good standing. Whether or not this restriction was placed on previous events is unknown. NHK used this criterion as an indicator, to see if the scandals at NHK had an effect on whether or not people were paying the fee. Based on NHK statistics, 365,970 applications for tickets to the NHK Hall event were received, down from 503,721 in 2005.
With the 57th event, the judging by balls was revived (balls were not used in the 56th event.) One ball represents one point. No one knows how many points each team earned until the very end of the event. To announce the winner, balls are used as visual props. Two buckets are used to hold the balls, one colored red and the other colored white. At the end of the event, the number of balls in each bucket will equal the total number of points for each team.
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