This season, some University students are spreading holiday cheer via the phone.

As an annual event during first-semester finals, students from Snyder Residence Hall, in affiliation with the Snyder Hall Council, are sponsoring a week of Dial-a-Carol. The program allows people to call and request a Christmas carol to be played for a friend, a family member or even themselves.

“People call us, and then we call other people and play singing carols to them – the requested song to them,” said Ben Rathert, junior in LAS and student co-chair of the event. The goal is to “make people feel better during finals,” he said.

Dial-a-Carol was originally established as an annual program 44 years ago.

“It was started by a woman named Betty Gordon,” Rathert said. “She gets the very first phone call at midnight on Friday (every year). I’m told that she still waits up for it.”

Rathert first became involved with the program after hearing about the need for volunteers.

“I jumped (into the event) with a few other people, and we just started getting things done,” he said.

The student volunteers, most of whom live in Snyder, are heavily promoting the event not only on campus and community, but on a national level as well.

They have ordered T-shirts advertising the program, set up table tents in dining halls, handed out flyers to resident advisers and even advertised the program on a radio show, Rathert said.

“Liz (Rogers, another student co-chair,) was mailing out letters to local radio stations – and actually radio stations as far away as Wisconsin,” he said.

Rogers, a freshman in LAS, said she told listeners about the history of Dial-a-Carol, as well as supplying the dates and phone number of the event.

“It’s a really great program,” Rogers said. “I’m having a lot of fun working on it, and I think it will be fun playing Christmas carols for everyone.”

Last year the event brought in more than 1,200 calls – including some outside of the United States. Volunteers received two phone calls from Africa requesting to send songs to students on campus.

Snyder Residence Hall will be equipped with three phone lines starting tonight at midnight until midnight on Dec. 18. Requests for songs will be accepted 24 hours a day and carols are delivered between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day. All calls must be for the Urbana-Champaign area, as the event does not cover long-distance calls. Callers need to supply the name and phone number of the targeted recipient, as well as the song they wish to be played. Dial-a-Carol can be reached at (217) 332-1882.

Snyder Hall Council, a student government group for the hall, set up the committee in charge of Dial-a-Carol and funded the program by giving money from its own funds and requesting money from the University.

“I’m really excited about (Dial-a-Carol this year),” said Sean Sartell, sophomore in LAS and president of Snyder Hall Council. “I’m glad I could help continue the tradition.”