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Yule Log (TV program) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yule Log (TV program)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Yule Log redirects here. For other uses of Yule Log, see Yule log (disambiguation).
This festive scene accompanied by holiday music aired every Christmas on WPIX-TV in New York from 1966 to 1989, and has once again since 2001.
This festive scene accompanied by holiday music aired every Christmas on WPIX-TV in New York from 1966 to 1989, and has once again since 2001.

"The WPIX 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. To an extent, many people consider this the world's first music video, predating MTV by almost fifteen years.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The Yule Log was created in 1966 by the station's General Manager at that time, Fred Thrower. Inspired by an animated Coca-Cola commercial a year earlier that showed Santa Claus at a fireplace, he intended this television program 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 at that time as the official residence of the Mayor of New York City John Lindsay, and $4,000 (US) of advertising (along with a roller derby telecast that night) was canceled for the inaugural airing by WPIX. Thrower, and WPIX-FM programming director Charlie Whittaker selected the music, largely based on the easy listening format the radio station had at that time, with the likes of Percy Faith, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Mantovani and The Ray Conniff Singers to name a few. During the shoot, the producers removed a protective fire grate so that the blaze could be seen to its best advantage. Unfortunately, a stray spark damaged a nearby antique rug valued at $4,000.

The program was both a critical and ratings success, and by popular demand, it was rebroadcast for 23 consecutive years, beginning in 1967. However, by 1969 it was already clear that the original 16 mm film was quickly deteriorating from wear and needed to be re-shot. (In addition, the original loop was only seventeen seconds long, resulting in a visibly jerky and artificial appearance.) Station producer William Cooper, a future recipient of a Peabody Award, again asked to shoot the loop at Gracie Mansion. However the mayor's office, remembering the mishap with the rug, refused permission. So in 1970, WPIX found a fireplace with similar andirons at a residence in California and filmed a burning log on 35 mm film there on a hot August day. This version, whose loop runs approximately six and one-half minutes, has been the one viewers have seen ever since.

[edit] Decline and Revival

From 1974 until 1989, a special message by WPIX-TV vice president and general manager Richard N. Hughes usually preceded the program, which ran every Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, and sometimes both. But the high costs of running the program without commercial interruption prompted a new WPIX general manager, Michael Eigner, to cancel it in 1990—the same year that director Whit Stillman included a scene of a New Yorker viewing the Log in his film Metropolitan . Despite hundreds of protesting letters, the log remained off the air. Beginning in 1997, however, WPIX offered various versions of The Yule Log on the Internet.

In March of 2000, Log fan Joseph Malzone of Totowa, New Jersey created a web site called "Bring Back The Log" (now called theyulelog.com), and petitioned station management via the internet to put "The Yule Log" back on the air. The site generated little response until Malzone received a letter from a New Yorker living in Australia who remembered the program. Slowly but surely, nostalgic interest in the Log grew. Then came the September 11, 2001 attacks. Three months later, it was formally announced on WPLJ radio that the special would return. Betty Ellen Berlamino, VP/general manager of the station, explained that people wanted "comfort food TV" following the incidents of that fateful day. The digitally restored 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.

The original master film of the 1970 fireplace shooting was found in WPIX's film archives in Fort Lee, New Jersey by program director Julie O'Neil. It was in a case marked "Fireplace" and misfiled in a “Honeymooners” film can marked with the episode title “A Dog’s Life” (which led to the title of a 2006 40th anniversary special about the Log, “A Log’s Life”).

[edit] The Log's Legacy

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, and would also air in high def that year as well. The program made its "national" debut in 2004 on WGN-TV and its sibling Superstation.

Other stations (and cable channels) have spawned imitations. Fellow Tribune station WBDC (now WDCW) in Washington, DC has done their own version, filming a log burning at Colonial Williamsburg. An HDNet executive was inspired as a youth by WPIX's Log, he produced his own version, which airs every Christmas. Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Madison Square Garden Network, and the CHUM Television group in Canada have also borrowed the concept.

In 2005, Tribune 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 traveling. [1] In December 2006, to commemorate the program's 40th anniversary, WPIX aired a one-hour special about its history. Titled "A Log's Life," the documentary included commentary by Fred Thrower's son Mitch, Bill Cooper's widow Kay, and Malzone. The program was broadcast four times, including once on Christmas Day, directly following a completely restored three-hour version of the 1970 "Log". Researched and compiled by Malzone and Christmas musicologist Lawrence "Chip" Arcuri, this latest incarnation features a newly re-digitized play list of the original soundtrack. It includes a number of tunes from the 1970 version that are not currently available on compact disc, but only on LPs now out of print.

In 2007, Mitch Thrower will publish a collection of stories much like the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books about memories of the program as seen through the eyes of viewers.

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  • Thomas Vinciguerra, "TV Rekindles an Old Flame," The New York Times, December 9, 2001

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