There are a few famous media stories which are passed down in the business from generation. Like the cable system in the Carolinas that used a 24/7 fish cam trained on an aquarium as a channel placeholder — only to have customers complain when the fish were replaced by “real” programming. Among the most famous urban legends of media is the Yule Log. And its all true.
Wikipedia credits one time WPIX-TV New York president Fred Thrower with creating the televised Yule Log tradition which ran from 1966 until 1989. Thrower created the televised Yule log — without commercial interruption — as a gift to NYC apartment dwellers and others without fireplaces.
There have been successors and imitators. And now the TV Squad website brings us a review of the best of the 2008 Yule Logs. Now broadcast in beautiful HD. A variation on the Yule Log now streams from ColbertNation.com, where burning books were substituted for burning logs. Fahrenheit 451 was the novel chosen novel.
The tradition of the Yule Log is explained by the Canadian web site, Virtual Museum:
There is a custom that on Christmas Eve an enormous log of freshly cut wood called the Yule log would be fetched and carried to the house with great ceremony. On Christmas Eve, the master of the house would place it on the hearth, make libations by sprinkling the trunk with oil, salt and mulled wine and say suitable prayers. It was said that the cinders of this log could protect the house from lightning and the malevolent powers of the devil.
See also: BioJobBlog, CNET, Virtual Museum