WPIX TO AIR HOLIDAY SPECIAL DETAILING HISTORY OF THE YULE LOG PLUS DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED SOUNDTRACK
NEW YORK, November 28, 2006 -- In celebration of the Yule Log's 40th anniversary this year, The CW11/WPIX-TV New York will air "The WPIX Yule Log: A Log's Life" a 60-minute holiday special detailing the history of the Yule Log, the famous film loop of a burning log in a hearth that has mesmerized viewers since it first premiered on WPIX-TV in 1966. In addition, WPIX has digitally re-mastered the Yule Log's 3-hour music soundtrack.
The Yule Log has always served as a holiday card to WPIX viewers, and this year it will be paired with "The WPIX Yule Log: A Log's Life." The historical special, produced by WPIX, traces the history of the Log, including the first filming at Gracie Mansion in 1966. "A Log's Life" also contains interviews with Mitch Thrower, the son of the Log's creator Fred Thrower; Ellen Stern, author of Gracie Mansion: A Celebration of New York City's Mayoral Residence; Thomas Vinciguerra, the New York Times contributor who has extensively researched the Log; Joe Malzone, the creator of the fan site www.theyulelog.com, and a special holiday message from his Eminence, Cardinal Egan.
"The WPIX Yule Log: A Log's Life" special will air: · Saturday, 12/23, 7pm-8pm · Sunday, 12/24, 3pm-4pm and 1:30am-2:30am · Monday, 12/25, 12noon-1pm (following the Yule Log from 9am-12noon)
As a result of its many years of broadcast on TV, the quality of the video and audio of the Yule Log had begun to degrade so WPIX decided to restore the Yule Log. In 2001, the original 35mm Yule Log film was found in the station's New Jersey archives where it was misfiled in a "Honeymooners" film can titled "A Dog's Life" (hence the title of the anniversary special, "A Log's Life"). At that time, the original film was color corrected and cleaned of scratches. In 2003, the log was up-converted to High Definition and WPIX now airs a simultaneous HDTV Yule Log on WPIX-DT. In 2005 WPIX made the Yule Log available to viewers as a downloadable podcast.
In 2006, Lawrence "Chip" Arcuri and Joe Malzone, the creator of theyulelog.com, restored the audio of the Yule Log for WPIX, a process that took several months. The restoration involved extensive research to correctly establish the original sequence of the music tracks. This also required the digital remastering of a number of songs to be pulled from their original vinyl records, since many of the songs in the Yule Log have never been released on CD (out of 70 selections on the program, 34 are currently out-of-print, and of that 34, 12 have never been in print on CD). In addition, a vast amount of production work was required to exactly duplicate the timing and pace of the original program.
With the Log now digitally re-mastered, the Yule Log has been fully restored in time to celebrate its 40th birthday.
The Yule Log can be seen on WPIX and WPIX-DT (Monday 12/25 from 9 am-12noon) and is also available as a downloadable podcast and via flash video on www.cw11.com or on wgntv.com
Yule Log Program Schedule
Airing Christmas Eve, 12/24 –
WGN Local & Superstation- Yule Log: 2:30am-4:30am
Yule Log Special: 1:30am-2:30am
Grand Rapids/ WXMI - Yule Log: 6-6:30am and 11-11:30am
Airing Christmas Day, 12/25 -
Philadelphia/WPHL - Yule Log: 7am-10am
Yule Log Special: 10am-11am
Dallas/ KDAF - Yule Log: 8am-11am
Seattle/KMYQ - Yule Log: 9am-11am
Denver/KWGN- Yule Log: 5am-9am
Sacramento/KTXL - Yule Log: 5am-6:30am
Yule Log Special: 8am-9am
St. Louis/KPLR - Yule Log: 7am-10am
Indianapolis/WXIN - Yule Log: 5am-9am
Hartford/WTIC - Yule Log: 7am-10am
Yule Log Special: 10am-11am
Grand Rapids/ WXMI - Yule Log: 5:30am-8am
Friday, December 8, 2006
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