Yule Log Greetings

A long-running New York TV tradition comes to L.A. this Christmas... the TV Yule Log!

KCAL/9 will run an uninterrupted shot of a crackling fireplace between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Christmas morning (along with holiday tunes in the background).

KCAL got the idea from New York's WPIX-TV, which made the Yule Log an annual tradition from 1966 to 1989. After a 12-year hiatus, WPIX brought the Log back in 2001.

This year, Superstation WGN is televising portions of the WPIX Yule Log nationally; internet users can also watch it via the web here.

Strangely enough, although Tribune owns WPIX and WGN, its local outlet, KTLA, hasn't caught on to the tradition. That opened the door for Viacom's KCAL.

More history on the Yule Log, from WPIX's web site: The Yule Log was the creation of the late Fred Thrower, General Manager of WPIX from 1953 to 1975. "I thought about all the cave dwellers in New York, all the apartments that don't have fireplaces," he remembered in a 1988 interview. "I thought this might be a wonderful way...to let people hear real good Christmas carols and to have their own fireplaces burning."

The first Yule Log was a 17-second film of the fireplace at Gracie Mansion, residence of New York's mayor, shot when John Lindsay was in office. The film was looped to fill a two-hour broadcast. It was re-shot a number of times, always with care that the fireplace should resemble the original at Gracie Mansion. To bring The Yule Log back to TV in 2001, the film was completely remastered using the latest digital technology to give a very sharp picture. The sound track, however, is the original collection of carols that delighted viewers throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s.