NORAD Tracks Santa ( Russian NORAD tracks Santa) is a Christmas program created under the auspices of the North American Aerospace Defense Command . Every year, starting in 1955 , on the eve of Christmas, NORAD Tracks Santa reports the fictional path of fabulous Santa Claus , who left the North Pole and set off to deliver gifts to children all over the world.
| NORAD Tracks Santa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| URL | noradsanta.org |
| Commercial | Not |
| Site type | Infotainment |
| check in | Missing |
| Languages) | english, spanish, german, french, italian, japanese, chinese, portuguese |
| Beginning of work | |
The program traditionally supports the December 1897 editorial “ ”, published in the New York Sun newspaper [1] .
History
The program originated on December 24, 1955 , when Sears’s distribution network placed an ad in a newspaper in the city of Colorado Springs . The ad was given a phone number where children could call Santa Claus . The issue contained an error, and the children who called Santa got into the center of the Continental Aerospace Defense Command (CONAD) located in the city. Colonel Harry Shoupe, who performed his duties that night, asked the staff to provide Santa Claus with the “current location” of all the children who called. Subsequently, Colonel Shoupe became known as Colonel Santa. In 1958, CONAD was transformed into NORAD, but the tradition of transmitting the location of Santa Claus was preserved.
Today, NORAD relies on a team of volunteers , in which both military and civilians take part. Each volunteer receives about fifty calls per hour, the whole team accounts for more than 12,000 emails and 70,000 phone calls during the Christmas period from more than two hundred countries. These data were obtained using Google Analytics , which was used since December 2007 to analyze traffic [2] .
As of December 28, 2013, the NORAD Tracks Santa page has 145 thousand followers on Twitter and about 1.4 million likes on Facebook .
Used media
NORAD Tracks Santa is distributed through various media . From the fifties to 1996, the program used hotlines , newspapers , radio , records and television . Many North American television channels on Christmas Eve report Santa's location in a weather forecast. Since 1997, the program also uses the Internet.
In 2004 and 2009, site visitors saw an ad that they could track Santa using Google Earth : they were provided with a link to download Google Earth and a KMZ file. In 2009, Google Earth was integrated into the site and tracking was carried out directly [3] . In 2011, an application for iOS and Android appeared .
From mid-January until November 30, the Santa tracking functionality is unavailable. The site posted a message suggesting the visitor to return December 1. On Christmas Eve, video footage is updated hourly, at midnight in each time zone . The “Santa Cam” videos made with CGI show a Santa Claus cart flying over different territories. Each video is equipped with a voiceover , telling some facts about the terrain. Voice acting is most often performed by NORAD employees, but some videos are voiced by celebrities. In 2002, Aaron Carter voiced three videos [4] , in 2003–2004 , voice-over was Ringo Starr , the former drummer of The Beatles [5] , from 2005 to 2007 voiced the “Santa Cam” video about London .
By Christmas 2013, the program ended a five-year collaboration with Google and signed a contract with Bing Maps . Since 2013, Google has provided Google’s own Santa Tracker service for tracking Santa Claus [6] .
Sponsorship
Since 2013, Microsoft has named Microsoft as its main partner NORAD Tracks Santa [7] . The program is supported by other private associations, but is not funded by the taxpayers of the United States and Canada .
The federal agencies NASA , NOAA, and the Canadian Forces support the program. The first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, answered the calls of children in 2011 and 2012. [8]
University of Professor Gerry Bowler , author of Santa Claus: A Biography ( English Santa Claus: A Biography ) calls the program “a modern addition to the image of Santa Claus stuck in centuries.” He claims that the program “takes an integral element of the image of Santa Claus - his Christmas journey - and looks at it through the lens of technology” [9] .
Notes
- ↑ Is There A Santa Claus? NORAD via Tobey.com (December 2009). The appeal date is December 31, 2009.
- ↑ Gillis, Jeff Santa Tracking with NORAD and Google Analytics . Google Analytics (December 9, 2008). The appeal date is December 31, 2009.
- ↑ Martin, Jeffery This year, Santa is totally plugged in Unidentified . Google Geo Developers (December 23, 2009). The appeal date is December 24, 2011.
- ↑ Gelman, Jason Aaron Carter Named NORAD's Honorary Santa Tracker . Yahoo! News (November 25, 2002). The appeal date was December 31, 2009. Archived November 7, 2012.
- ↑ Phillips, Michael . 'Starr' helps NORAD track Santa , AF.mil , United States Air Force (December 2, 2003). Archived December 12, 2012. The appeal date is December 31, 2009.
- ↑ Count down to Christmas Eve with Google Santa Tracker . Blogspot .
- ↑ NORAD Tracks Santa - History & Technology . YouTube .
- ↑ Hills, Suzannah . Michelle Obama answers calls for norad's Santa hotline , Daily Mail (December 24, 2013). The appeal date is December 27, 2013.
- ↑ Secret Santa helper: First lady pitches with with NORAD . NBC News (December 24, 2010). The appeal date is May 30, 2011.
Links
- noradsanta.org - the official site of NORAD Tracks Santa
- About the NORAD Tracks Santa program at NORAD.mil
- NORAD Tracks Santa - History & Technology . - a video about the history of the program on YouTube
- Why we track Santa . Noradsanta.org . Archived December 24, 2011.
- Terdiman, Daniel . Behind the scenes: NORAD's Santa tracker , CNN.com (December 24, 2009). The appeal date is December 26, 2009.
- Dendy, John B .. Santa Trackers.Org , Airman Magazine (December 2000). The appeal date is December 27, 2013.
- NORAD Tracks Santa - Santa News Reports & Holiday Music Selections - 1964
- NORAD Tracks Santa - Christmas News Reports - Holiday Album - Entire Album - 1964