Dial-A-Carol facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dial-A-Carol |
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|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Champaign, Illinois, USA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Years active | 1960-present |
Dial-A-Carol is a super cool yearly event at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It's a special service where students sing Christmas carols to people over the phone! This fun tradition happens every year during finals week in the Fall semester.
Students and staff volunteer their time. They answer calls 24 hours a day for a whole week! Dial-A-Carol is run from Snyder Hall, a student dorm on campus. This amazing service has even gotten attention from big news channels like ABC News and shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2015, Dial-A-Carol received over 10,000 calls in just one week, setting a new record!
How Dial-A-Carol Started: A Fun History
Dial-A-Carol is the longest-running tradition in the university's housing department. It's been going on for over 60 years! The idea for Dial-A-Carol came from Betty Gordon. She was a desk clerk at Snyder Hall around 1960.
Betty thought it would be fun for students to play holiday songs over the phone. Soon, the idea grew! By 1962, students were already answering more than 4,000 calls. Instead of just playing records, students started singing the carols themselves. Now, people call from all over the world, even from all 50 U.S. states!
In 2006, Dial-A-Carol became famous in the United Kingdom. It was featured on the BBC Radio One show. This caused hundreds of calls to flood the phone lines for days! The Scott Mills show has often called the service since then.
