Yule Log (TV program)

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The Yule Log redirects here. For other uses of Yule Log, see Yule log (disambiguation).

This classic scene features holiday music every Christmas to viewers of WPIX-TV in New York since 1966 and again since 2001 after a eleven year absence from television screens.

"The Yule Log" is a television program which airs traditionally on either Christmas Eve and/or Christmas morning on New York City television station WPIX-TV Channel 11. A radio "simulcast" of the musical portion was broadcast on sister station WPIX-FM (now WQCD) until 1988. The program, which runs anywhere from two to four hours in length, has no story and no TV commercial interruptions. It is simply a film loop of a Yule log burning in a fireplace, with a traditional soundtrack of classic Christmas carols and secular music playing in the background.

1 Humble Beginings
2 The Log Burns Out, But Gets Rekindled
3 "Log" On
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Humble Beginings

"The Yule Log" was created in 1966 by the station's General Manager at that time, Fred Thrower, as a televised Christmas gift to those residents of "The Big Apple" who lived in apartments and homes without fireplaces. The original film was shot at Gracie Mansion, which served back then as the official residence of the Mayor of New York, and $4,000 (US) of advertising was cancelled for the inaugural airing by WPIX. During a shoot a couple years later, the producers removed a protective fire grate so that the blaze could be seen to its best advantage. Unfortunately, a stray spark destroyed a nearby rug, which in a unique twist of irony, was valued at $4,000.

The program was a modest ratings success, and as the years went by, the film deteriorated from wear and desperately needed to be re-shot (the original loop was only about seventeen seconds long). Station producers asked for permission to re-shoot the loop at Gracie Mansion. However, the mayor's office refused permission. So WPIX scouted around and found a look-alike fireplace at a residence in Palo Alto, California, and filmed a burning log there on a hot summer day. This version, whose loop runs just under seven minutes, has been the one viewers have seen ever since.

[edit] The Log Burns Out, But Gets Rekindled

From 1974 until 1989, a special message by WPIX-TV vice president and general manager Richard N. Hughes usually preceded the program. The Yule Log ran every holiday until it was extinguished by new station management in 1990 due to the high costs of running the program without commercial interruptions.

It wasn't until March of 2000 that a group of faithful Yule Log fans led by Joe Malzone, who ran a web site called "Bring Back The Log" (now called theyulelog.com), petitioned station management via the internet to put "The Yule Log" program back on the air, even though a poorly done digitized version ran during the holidays on WPIX's web pages. His web site which at that time was on Yahoo!, had no hits or e-mails for over a year and a half until Malzone saw a car dealership's "Christmas in July" sale ad on TV, and then he hit search engines, and the snowball began rolling downhill. Then came the September 11, 2001 attacks, and three months later, a formal announcement on WPLJ radio was made that the special would return. Julie O'Neil, the station's program director, found it in the station's film archives in New Jersey misfiled in a “Honeymooners” film can that was marked with the episode title “A Dog’s Life” (which would lead to the title of the 2006 40th anniversary special, “A Log’s Life”). Betty Ellen Berlamino, VP/general manager of the station, cited that people wanted "comfort food TV" following the incidents of that fateful day. The program was the most-watched TV program in the metropolitan New York area for Christmas Day of that year, and has been winning its time slot annually since.

[edit] "Log" On

In 2003, Tribune Broadcasting, parent company of WPIX, announced that in addition to being broadcast in New York City, "The Yule Log" would be broadcast in additional U.S. television markets on other Tribune-owned television stations. The program made its "national" debut that same year on WGN-TV and its sibling Superstation. In 2003, the program was shown in high-definition television for the very first time.

The CHUM Television group in Canada borrowed the concept, and began to run its version of "The Yule Log" on its stations in 2004.

In 2005, Tribune Broadcasting began making a version of the Yule Log video recorded in MPEG-4 format available for download, advertising it as a "Portable Yule Log" for those travelling. [1] In 2006, to commerate the 40th anniversary airing of the program, WPIX will produce a one-hour special "A Log's Life", tracing the history of this cherished event. The program will be broadcast on Saturday, Dec. 23 and repeated three times afterward. The show will also air before or after a newly restored three-hour version of the Log in several other markets, complete with a newly restored and digitalized play list recreating the classic 1970s soundtrack that was researched and done by Mr. Malzone and Lawrence "Chip" Arcuri, a Christmas musicologist, which includes music that was not available on compact disc, but rather on records and had been out of print for decades.