A New York Christmas Tradition

[flat-top]

http://www.theyulelog.com/htmls/home.html

 

[Rosie]

Ha! I remember this. It came on all day on Christmas, my dad LOVED to have it on, even though we had fireplaces and plenty of our own Christmas music. No one daren't try to turn the channel when the Yule Log was on. lol

 

[Lady Day]

Thats not just a NY thang. I remember that blazing on the tube when I was a kid in Kentucky. And they rocked it in Columbus, OH when I went to undergrad. The log is all over the country. All over...


LD

 

[John in Covina]

Sweet Memories!

Now, that is something that slipped my mind. The Yule Log on WPIX Ch. 11!

I got one of those electric goose bumps moments going to the web site, it popped a memory capsul for me. As a NY resident growing up from 1957 until 1978 then again from 1979 to 1981, many NY things are burned into my brain.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

http://www.theyulelog.com/htmls/home.html

I have always loved that log.

 

[farnham54]

I've got something similar on DVD. I live in a university residence, so throwing that on the player, with a nice bottle of wine, and some pleasant company, perhaps some gourmet cheeses--makes for the perfect evening.

Cheers
Craig

 

[MrBern]

duel log

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061217/ap_en_tv/tv_yule_duel

 

[katiemakeup]

Ha! The Yule Log is great... I know I've seen a fish tank one too...

 

[Fletch]

The Log is a common touchstone for a certain demographic, but Channel 11 itself was the catalyst for a subdemographic - mostly white, male, working-to-middle class, Baby Boom born, and New York/New Jersey bred - that's been influential on my own life. I call them the Metromedia Generation - the first generation to seriously feel "nostalgia" for a lifetime that was not their own.

These were the slightly awkward kids who got an eyeful of Laurel and Hardy and the Little Rascals (nobody calls 'em Our Gang!) after school and discovered a lost world. As they got a little older they switched over to Ch 9, where Joe Franklin's burbling stream-of-consciousness nostalgia-fests taught them how to pick thru the dustheaps of history.

Most importantly for this slightly younger midwest kid, they unconsciously defined and enshrined my favorite genre of popular music: Hot Dance Music, a mix of jazz and big band pop played by obscure artists (such as the fella at the left) at times when it was neither profitable nor popular. For years this stuff was collected and studied only in and around New York, altho that's slowly changing.

Anyway – WPIX-TV, my fedora's off to you.

 

[griffer]

I've got something similar on DVD. I live in a university residence, so throwing that on the player, with a nice bottle of wine, and some pleasant company, perhaps some gourmet cheeses--makes for the perfect evening.

Cheers
Craig

You should always pair your cheese to your entertainment.

This Americana ersatz yule deserves the Velveeta.


/jealous, cause we didn't have a log channel
/it's log, it's log, it's big, it's heavy it's wood!

 

[MudInYerEye]

Man...channel 11 used to be great back then. Remember the six-fingered "Chiller" hand? Between channels 5, 9, 11 (and of course 13 late nights), I was reared on re-runs of 50's and 60's televison and exposed to multiple viewings of nearly every great movie and serial made circa 1925-1955 as well as all the tripe. Remember watching Blondie and Tarzan movies on Saturdays? Makes me almost forget the severe child abuse I was subjected to.
Remember that stupid game? Pix, pix, pix...them were the days.

 

[flat-top]

Remember that stupid game? Pix, pix, pix...them were the days.

That was TV PIX!!!! For those who have no clue what we are talking about, at the dawn of the video game era, this local station had a game between after school cartoons where a kid would call in, and "play" a video game. The unseen announcer would introduce the kid, and then, to play the game--I think in most cases it was a space battle game--to fire your lasers, the kid had to say "pix". But most kids would just say "pixpixpixpixpixpix!!!!!!!"
ahh........memories!

 

[Matthew Dalton]

Ha! The Yule Log is great... I know I've seen a fish tank one too...

I'm not sure that they still do it, but one of our smaller channels plays a "Fish Cam" in place of a test pattern.

 

[flat-top]

It's that time again!
http://www.retrothing.com/2007/12/the-wpix-yule-l.html

 

[Feraud]

Ah now it feels like Christmas in NYC.