

In 1978, the program was broadcast for the first time on Christmas morning. In 1977, the program's broadcast on Christmas Eve was followed by WPIX's first ever live broadcast of Midnight Mass from St. Hughes, then the vice president and general manager of WPIX-TV, usually preceded the program, which was broadcast every Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, and sometimes both. This version's loop runs approximately six minutes and three seconds.įrom 1974 to 1989, a special message by Richard N. In 1970, WPIX found a fireplace with similar andirons at a residence in California and filmed a burning log on 35mm film there on a hot August day. Station producer William Cooper, a future recipient of a Peabody Award, again asked to film the loop at Gracie Mansion, but the mayor's office refused permission. Also, the original loop was only 17 seconds long, resulting in a visibly jerky and artificial appearance. However, by 1969, it was already apparent that the original 16 mm film was quickly deteriorating from wear and needed to be re-filmed. The program was both a critical and ratings success, and by popular demand, it was rebroadcast for 23 consecutive years, beginning in 1967. During the filming, the producers removed a protective fire grate so that the blaze could be seen better a stray spark damaged a nearby antique rug valued at $4,000. Thrower, and WPIX-FM programming director Charlie Whittaker selected the music, based largely on the easy listening format that the radio station had then, with the likes of Percy Faith (whose rendition of " Joy to the World" is played at the beginning and the end of the telecast), Nat King Cole, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Mantovani and the Ray Conniff Singers, among others. An estimated US$4,000 of advertising (along with a roller derby telecast that night) was canceled on Christmas Eve for the show's inaugural airing that day. The original program was filmed at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of New York City, John Lindsay, at the time. In 1970, due to deterioration on the film, this version had been replaced with the modern Yule Log, and the source film of the original was thought to be lost until it was discovered in July 2016. The original version of The Yule Log, filmed in 1966. This also provided time for employees of the television station to stay home with their families, instead of working for the usual morning news program. Inspired by an animated Coca-Cola commercial from a year earlier that showed Santa Claus at a fireplace, he envisioned the program as a televised Christmas gift to those residents of New York who lived in apartments and homes without fireplaces. Thrower, president and chief executive officer of WPIX, Inc. The Yule Log was created in 1966 by Fred M. The show, which has run between two and four hours in duration, is a film loop of a yule log burning in a fireplace, with a soundtrack of Christmas music playing in the background it is broadcast without commercial interruption. A radio simulcast of the musical portion was broadcast by WPIX-TV's former sister station, WPIX-FM (101.9 FM, now WFAN-FM), until 1988.

It originally aired from 1966 to 1989 on New York City television station WPIX (channel 11), which revived the broadcast in 2001. The Yule Log is a television show originating in the United States, which is broadcast traditionally on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
