Iirc, it all started with a misprint for a phone-Santa promotion that accidentally used a number at NORAD.
The article concurs
The Santa tracker presented by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) dates to 1955, when a Colorado newspaper advertisement printed a phone number to connect children with Santa but mistakenly directed them to the hotline for the military nerve centre.
To avoid disappointing the little ones, NORAD's director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, ordered his staff to check the radar to see where Old Saint Nick might be and update the children on his location.
NORAD's director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, ordered his staff to check the radar to see where Old Saint Nick might be and update the children on his location
Dude knows PR when it jumps in his lap and asks for a pony
Iirc, it all started with a misprint for a phone-Santa promotion that accidentally used a number at NORAD.
The article concurs
Dude knows PR when it jumps in his lap and asks for a pony