Yule Log Still Stokes the Holiday Spirit

Dec. 23, 2009— -- The yule log is one of the simplest, hokiest ideas on TV -- a shot of a burning log and roaring flames inside a festive hearth, complemented by Christmas classics like "O Come All Ye Faithful."

But believe it or not -- the yule log is ratings gold. Over four decades, millions of viewers have been transfixed by the burning log and its traditional soundtrack, relying on it to set the mood for Christmas morning gift opening next to the tree.

"It's something that I can't really explain," said Betty Ellen Berlino, general manager at WPIX-TV in New York City, where the yule log premiered. "I think it just makes people feel good, and I think that it makes them happy. So you wake up Christmas morning, you turn on your TV and you've got the yule log. That's the way it should be."

Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET

The yule log first appeared on Berlino's station in New York City in 1966. It was 17 seconds of fire, shot on grainy film at New York City's Gracie Mansion, and looped continuously for three hours on TV Christmas Eve.

"Originally, it was really meant to be kind of a Christmas card to New Yorkers, for people who didn't have a fireplace, and they could have a fireplace in their home on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning," Berlino said.

With New Yorkers mesmerized by the glowing fire, in 1970, WPIX filmed a new fireplace -- in Southern California of all places. (The mayor's office did not allow WPIX to return to Gracie mansion because the crew burned a hole in a $4,000 rug.)

For a decade, the yule log was a Christmas television institution on par with the Grinch and Charlie Brown.

But in the late 1980s, when ratings waned, station management snuffed out the log.

Joe Malzone, a yule log enthusiast, carried the flame. Malzone amassed everything related to the log -- old articles, all the Christmas songs ever played on the show, even old TV Guide listings and rare audio clips -- and created a fan site for the televised fireplace Theyulelog.com.