Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: NORAD Tracks Santa

  1. #1
    Diamond Member
    Duke of Buckingham's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 14th, 2011
    Location
    Lisboa = Portugal
    Posts
    8,433

    NORAD Tracks Santa

    NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition. - December, 24 1955


    The emblem of NORAD Tracks Santa.

    NORAD Tracks Santa is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program, which has existed since 1955, produced under the auspices of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Every year on Christmas Eve, "NORAD Tracks Santa" purports to track Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole and delivers presents to children around the world.

    The program is in the tradition of the September 1897 editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" in the New York Sun.


    1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the NORAD Tracks Santa Program

    The program began on December 24, 1955, when a Sears department store placed an advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper which told children that they could telephone Santa Claus and included a number for them to call. However, the telephone number printed was incorrect and calls instead came through to Colorado Springs' Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center. Colonel Harry Shoup, who was on duty that night, told his staff to give all children who called in a "current location" for Santa Claus. A tradition began which continued when the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) replaced CONAD in 1958.

    Today, NORAD relies on volunteers to make the program possible. Each volunteer handles about forty telephone calls per hour, and the team typically handles more than 12,000 e-mails and more than 70,000 telephone calls from more than two hundred countries and territories. Most of these contacts happen during the twenty-five hours from 2 a.m. on December 24 until 3 a.m. MST on December 25. Google Analytics has been in use since December 2007 to analyze traffic at the NORAD Tracks Santa website. As a result of this analysis information, the program can project and scale volunteer staffing, telephone equipment, and computer equipment needs for Christmas Eve. Volunteers include NORAD military and civilian personnel.

    As of 30 December 2011, the NORAD Tracks Santa program had 101,000 Twitter followers and the Facebook page had nearly one million fans.


    This publicity picture for NORAD Tracks Santa shows two Northeastern Air Defense Sector members with radar equipment in December 2008.

    The NORAD Tracks Santa program has always made use of a variety of media. From the 1950s to 1996, these were the telephone hotline, newspapers, radio, phonograph records and television. Many television newscasts in North America feature NORAD Tracks Santa as part of their weather updates on Christmas Eve.

    From 1997 to the present, the program has had a highly publicized internet presence. As mobile media and social media have become popular and widespread as methods of direct communication, these newer media have also been embraced by the program. The layout of the NORAD Tracks Santa website and its webpages have changed from 1997 to the present due to changes in internet technologies, and changes in partners and sponsors for a particular year.

    Between 2004 and 2009, people who visited the NORAD Tracks Santa site were told they could "track" Santa in Google Earth. They were given a link to download Google Earth, and then a KMZ file to download. From 2009-2011, the tracking in Google Earth has been done from the NORAD Santa site, and there is no KMZ file for Google Earth anymore. In 2011, an iOS and Android application was introduced, which features updates and an interactive game similar to Angry Birds.

    From mid-January until November 30, when one arrives at the NORAD Tracks Santa website, one is greeted with a message to come back on 1 December to "track Santa with NORAD". During December, one finds a NORAD Tracks Santa website with all the features available. On Christmas Eve, the NORAD Tracks Santa website videos page is generally updated each hour, when it is midnight in a different time zone. The "Santa Cam" videos show CGI images of Santa Claus flying over famous landmarks. Each video was accompanied by a voice-over until the end of the 2011 season, typically done by NORAD personnel, giving a few facts about the city or country depicted. Celebrity voice-overs have also been used over the years. For the London "Santa Cam" video, English television personality and celebrity Jonathan Ross did the voice-over for 2005 to 2007 and the former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr narrated the same video in 2003 and 2004. In 2002, Aaron Carter provided the voice-over for three videos.

    The locations and landmarks depicted in some of the "Santa Cam" videos have changed over the years. In 2009, twenty-nine "Santa Cam" videos were posted on the website. In previous years, twenty-four to twenty-six videos had been posted.


    This publicity picture shows two members of Canadian Forces with radar screens.

    NORAD Tracks Santa relies on corporate sponsorship, and is financed by neither American nor Canadian taxpayers.

    U.S. military units that have provided publicity for the program include the Northeast Air Defense Sector of the New York Air National Guard and the U.S. Naval Reserve Navy Information Bureau (NIB) 1118 at Fort Carson, Colorado. Other U.S. federal agencies, such as NASA and NOAA, have helped publicize the service, as have the Canadian Forces. First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama participated in the 2011 and 2012 trackings, answering phone calls.

    According to Gerry Bowler, a history professor at the University of Manitoba, the NORAD Tracks Santa program is "one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa Claus story that have stuck." Bowler stated that the program "takes an essential element of the Santa Claus story — his travels on Christmas Eve — and looks at it through a technological lens," therefore bringing the Santa Claus mythology into the modern era.


    Michelle Obama speaks to children during the tracking program on Christmas Eve, 2012


    Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

    John F. Kennedy



    Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

    Voltaire
    Friends are like diamonds and diamonds are forever



  2. #2
    Gold Member
    cineon_lut's Avatar
    Join Date
    September 8th, 2013
    Location
    California, U.S.A.
    Posts
    2,469

    Re: NORAD Tracks Santa

    My kids and I track him every year, there's an app for it!

  3. #3
    Diamond Member
    Duke of Buckingham's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 14th, 2011
    Location
    Lisboa = Portugal
    Posts
    8,433

    Re: NORAD Tracks Santa

    Quote Originally Posted by cineon_lut View Post
    My kids and I track him every year, there's an app for it!
    There are several Santa Trackers my friend ...

    http://www.google.com/santatracker/#/tracker/dashboard

    http://www.noradsanta.org/

    and this video.

    Friends are like diamonds and diamonds are forever



  4. #4
    Diamond Member
    Duke of Buckingham's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 14th, 2011
    Location
    Lisboa = Portugal
    Posts
    8,433

    Re: NORAD Tracks Santa

    Friends are like diamonds and diamonds are forever



Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •