It’s a Christmas tradition going back 50 years.
Every year at Christmas, WPIX, Tribune’s CW affiliate in New York, turns over its TV signal to a film of a Yule log burning in a fireplace.
In 1966, the original Yule log was filmed at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York. That film aired on WPIX until 1969 when the tape degraded.
So a new Yule Log was filmed in 1970 as a replacement, and has aired ever since.
But in July, Rolando Pujol, WPIX’s digital director and archivist, found the original 1966 film, thought permanently lost, among a vast WPIX film collection donated by former WPIX executive Bill Cooper and his wife, Kay Arnold.
The master film contains two minutes of color footage, and the fireplace itself loops every seven seconds.
WPIX will stream the 1966 version on its website and on Facebook Christmas morning from 7 to 8.
Again on Christmas morning, from 8 to noon, WPIX will stream the 1970 Yule Log version.
And may I be the first to wish everyone a Cool Yule.
