50 years of tracking Santa

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Nov 26, 2005 | by THE GAZETTE

It's a tradition born in 1955: tracking Santa Claus by radar and satellite as he travels around the world on Christmas Eve.

It's a job for which the North American Aerospace Defense Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base, is uniquely qualified.

NORAD will mark the 50th anniversary of its following Santa around the globe this year, launching its online site Friday for those interested in the history and technology involved.

The tradition began with NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, when Col. Harry Shoup got the first call by accident. Sears-Roebuck put an ad in The Gazette that said something like, "Hey kiddies, do you want to talk to Santa? Dial this number."

The number was off by one digit.

It rang into the defense command's operations center.

Instead of saying "wrong number," Shoup, according to NORAD's official Santa tracking history, said, "I'll check the radars."

His quick thinking has created a massive response with children from around the world calling in and watching on the Internet as NORAD's eyes in the sky keep them apprised of Santa's progress.

It's exploded since NORAD first put it on the Internet in 1998. Santa's journey can be monitored at www.noradsanta.org.

In 2004, the Santa Tracking Operations Center answered nearly 55,000 phone calls on Christmas Eve. During the holiday season, nearly 32,000 e-mails came in from children and adults all over the world, while the Web site was inundated with 912 million hits from 181 countries.

This year the Web site features a Santa Tracking Toolbox, where children can prepare for the big day. It also features a bit of history on the program and information on how NORAD tracks Santa.

The information is available in six languages -- English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

Numerous organizations and corporations help mount the tracking program, among them Rocky Mountain PBS, Citadel Mall, MCI, AOL Canada, 721st Security Forces Squadron, 721st Communications Squadron and several hotels, including the Sheraton, Embassy Suites, Radisson and The Broadmoor.