FOR the last 16 years, Jackie Bird has given up the chance to spend Hogmanay with family and friends in favour of hosting BBC Scotland's annual show.
She would not have it any other way.
Wednesday night's special, Hogmanay Live 2014, will take place at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket, and will feature King Creosote, Blazin' Fiddles, Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain, and, live from Edinburgh, Twin Atlantic.
Asked whether she objects to working while others are preparing to celebrate, Ms Bird said: "Not really. I enjoy the programme so much. A lot of the other channels do big New Year's Eve events so well, but they aren't live."
Jools Holland's BBC 2 Hootenanny music show is a good example of a show that is pre-recorded, she added, "but there's a fall-out from that: people think, well, if they're not doing it live, then everybody must be pre-recording. Not our show, though: it's live - the clue is in the title. It's a real thrill."
Earlier this year Ms Bird celebrated 25 years as a presenter on Reporting Scotland. She does not experience butterflies on the nightly show, but it's a different story at Hogmanay.
"Hogmanay is the biggest night of the year, in terms of viewers and in what is now known, in telly circles, as appointment-to-view scheduling, - essentially, people say they have to watch their telly," she said.
"Now, whether they watch it because they adore the music, or they think the fireworks are great, or they just want to make sure they don't miss the bells and need a time-check, the pressure is there.
"Firstly, there's such a big audience, but secondly, there's also such a cross-section of the Scottish public. What goes through my mind is, 'Don't Mess This Up'. That's it, pure and simple. Does it lead to butterflies? You bet it does."
Startling shifts in technology have revolutionised TV news programmes like Reporting Scotland.
She said: "In the past, the anchor or presenter was very much an island. Once he or she was in the studio, that was it. They might have a dodgy earpiece, and someone telling them which camera to look at,
"But now, I've got my computers in front of me throughout the programme. During the end headlines earlier this month, I was able to say, 'It's just dropped that three hostages, not two, had been killed in the siege in Sydney - we should update that.'
"If something has just dropped from a reputable source then, as long as I run it past the editor, I can add that to the programme.
"If it's a piece of breaking news, I can bring it to the viewers with the qualification that it has only just been reported, that it can't be verified at the moment, but here's what people are saying.
"Social media is important, too. I've got my Tweet board up in front of me. There was a big fire off the M8 a few months ago. I found out from social media that it was just a warehouse fire. That mattered to me while we were on air - it was important to me."
Ms Bird is now looking to do a special programme on the commemoration of the Great War. "It's a subject that has had to fight for airtime amid such a busy news schedule this year," she said.
The First World War has long been one of her passions - "It's my personal interest, and I can't get enough of it" - and she "would very much" like to visit some of the battlefield sites on the Western Front as part of her researches.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article