{"id":8494,"date":"2017-12-08T14:50:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T14:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/?p=8494"},"modified":"2023-12-07T16:14:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T16:14:28","slug":"dialacarol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/2017\/12\/08\/dialacarol\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Mad Mixture of Sleigh Bells and Telephone Bells\u201d: The History of Dial-a-Carol at the University of Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Anna Trammell<\/strong><\/p>\n

The holiday season is once again upon us and along with it an Illinois tradition returns. From December 7 until December 13, thousands of callers from around the world will dial in to Snyder Hall 24 hours a day to be serenaded with yuletide tunes.<\/p>\n

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An advertisement for Dial-a-Carol (Daily Illini, 12 December 1975)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Betty Gordon is commonly credited with conceiving of the Dial-a-Carol idea around 1960 when she was working as a clerk in Snyder Hall. \u201cThe story goes that she was speaking with a friend on the phone and her friend mentioned she could hear Betty\u2019s radio playing while they were talking. Betty was inspired and thought it would be a neat idea to play carols on the phone to friends. She started Dial-a-Carol with the help of Snyder Hall residents and the rest is history,\u201d said Snyder Hall RA George Carrera in 2008. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Snyder Sanctum member Steve Price participates in Dial-a-Carol in 1962 (Daily Illini 11 December 1962)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Traditionally, the student volunteers have kicked off their 24 hour carol hotline with a call to Gordon at 12:01 am on the first day of the event. \u201cAs the students always do, they asked me if there was anything special I would like to hear,\u201d Betty said in 1982, \u201cThen no matter what I said, they sang \u2018Jingle Bells\u2019 at the top of their voices\u2026 After they sang, I told them the same thing I always do: what you lack in talent, you certainly make up in volume.\u201d [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

The early years of Dial-a-Carol were managed by members of the group Snyder Sanctum who occupied the second floor of East Snyder Hall. They cleared out the furniture in freshman Gary Allen\u2019s room and filled the space with telephones, turntables, and holiday records. [3]<\/a> The Daily Illini<\/em> described the scene as \u201ca mad mixture of sleigh bells and telephone bells.\u201d [4]<\/a> Callers would be greeted with a volunteer saying the name of the next carol that was to play. They would then hold the receiver up to the turntable for the duration of the song. \u201cWe hope you have enjoyed listening to your carol. Good evening and Merry Christmas,\u201d ended the call. [5]<\/a>. Over the years, the students put the records aside and began singing the festive songs to callers. By 1966, residents from all over Snyder Hall served as volunteers and \u201ccarol headquarters\u201d had taken over the lounge. So many students wanted to volunteer, organizers were forced to limit shifts to hour long time blocks. [6]<\/a><\/p>\n

By 1962, the group was already answering nearly 4,000 calls. While most calls came in from Illinois, callers did ring in from other parts of the country. After a New York radio announcer mentioned the event, calls came in from those who \u201cjust wanted to find out if it was really true.\u201d [7]<\/a> A 1966 United Press article generated calls from Miami, Alaska, and Hawaii. [8]<\/a>\u00a0 In 1973, a Dial-a-Carol alum paid a hefty long distance fee to call in from Austria for a carol. [9]<\/a> As the tradition gained notoriety, calls began pouring in from all over the world. \u00a0In 2015 alone, students answered 16, 354 phone calls from 70 countries. Calls had come in from all 50 states within 14 hours. [10]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Some members of the 2015 Dial-a-Carol Team (@DialaCarol Tweet 30 November 2016)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Champaign-Urbana residents are the most frequent callers, and early volunteers were particularly excited about the cheer they were able to bring to area children and hospital patients. \u201cLittle kids call Dial-a-Carol before they go to school in the morning and when they get home in the evening. It\u2019s really funny to hear them- especially when a group call together- fighting over whose turn it is to listen,\u201d a Snyder Sanctum statement said in 1962. [11]<\/a> That year, the Dial-a-Carol phone number was very similar to the number of a local professor who found himself singing holiday tunes to the mistaken callers. [12]<\/a><\/p>\n

You can join in on this Illini tradition by dialing 217-332-1882 24 hours a day from December 14 to December 21. For more information, check out the Dial-a-Carol website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[1] “Carols and Carolers Just a Phone Call Away at the University of Illinois,” University of Illinois News Bureau Press Release, 9 December 2008. Record Series 39\/1\/1 Box 51.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2] “Dial-a-Carol,” University of Illinois News Bureau Press Release, 17 December 1982. Record Series 39\/1\/1 Box 51.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3] “Latest Christmas Idea: Snyder’s Dial-a-Carol,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 11 December 1962.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[4] “Call it a Sing-a-Thon? Dorm Furnished Round the Clock Carols,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 13 December 1962.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[5]\u00a0“Latest Christmas Idea: Snyder’s Dial-a-Carol,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 11 December 1962.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[6] “Dial-a-Carol Booming,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 9 December 1966.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[7] “Dial-a-Carol Still Strong,” Daily Illini, 14 December 1962.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[8]\u00a0“Dial-a-Carol Booming,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 9 December 1966.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[9] “Snyder Residents Continue Dial-a-Carol,” Daily Illini, 19 December 1973.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[10] @DialaCarol Tweets, 19 December 2015 9:05 am and 9:07 am.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[11]\u00a0“Call it a Sing-a-Thon? Dorm Furnished Round the Clock Carols,” Daily Illini<\/em>, 13 December 1962.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[12] Ibid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Anna Trammell The holiday season is once again upon us and along with it an Illinois tradition returns. From December 7 until December 13, thousands of callers from around the world will dial in to Snyder Hall 24 hours a day to be serenaded with yuletide tunes. Betty Gordon is commonly credited with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":626,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faqs","category-found-in-the-archives","category-university-trivia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8494"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12423,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions\/12423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/slc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}