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Carla Gambescia is an award-winning author, lecturer, travel journalist and photographer who will discuss the fascinating history of our Christmas traditions. Get in the Christmas spirit early, as the DMA holiday party will be held on the same day as Carla’s presentation.

Have you ever wondered how some of our most cherished holiday traditions came to be? For example, where does the custom of giving presents originate, and why do we hang stockings by the chimney? Why do we decorate Christmas trees with candy canes and not candy rings? The ritual celebrations we hold closest to our heart have themselves been subject to considerable improvisation over the centuries.

Santa Claus has had a much longer historical journey with far more twists and turns than his annual one-night circumnavigation known to billions. The progenitor of today’s Santa was born in the eastern Mediterranean region — not in Europe — at the time of the Roman Empire. His legend evolved over the centuries as far away as northern Europe. But who was the ancestor of Santa? How did he evolve into the modern-persona of a rotund, jolly old fellow in a red suit who brings Christmas presents down a chimney to children? Variously known through history as Santa Claus, Sinter Klaus or Kris Cringle, you’ll be surprised to learn that he was originally St. Nicholas of Bari who was a bishop in what is today’s Turkey.

Carla spoke to the DMA in 2019 about her book La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A to Z and then again in 2022 about Italian culture. She has written about and toured every region of Italy on foot or by bicycle and conceived and co-led the Giro del Gelato bicycle tour, which Outside magazine rated a Best Trip in Western Europe. For eight years, she owned and operated Via Vanti! Restaurant & Gelateria in Mount Kisco, which won plaudits for its innovative Italian cuisine, extraordinary gelato (named Best Gelato Shop in New York), and ongoing program of culinary and cultural events.

Arranged by Charles Salmans

Video of Presentation

Summary of Carla Gambescia’s Presentation

Carla Gambescia explored the surprising historical roots of Christmas traditions, weaving together religion, folklore, art and cultural evolution. She began not with the nativity, but with Santa Claus, tracing his origins to St. Nicholas, a 4th-century Greek bishop born in what is now Turkey. Nicholas became associated with Bari, Italy, after his relics were stolen and brought there in 1087. His reputation for generosity — especially the legend of secretly providing gold to save three impoverished daughters — laid the foundation for gift-giving traditions, stockings hung by the chimney and enduring symbols like the three gold balls often shown in his imagery.

Gift-giving originally took place on St. Nicholas Day (December 6), but during the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther shifted the custom to December 25, refocusing Christmas on Jesus while keeping the popular tradition alive. Over time, St. Nicholas morphed into Santa Claus, whose modern image was shaped decisively by the 1823 New York poem A Visit from St. Nicholas and later amplified by Coca-Cola advertising in the 20th century. The candy cane mimics Nicholas’s Bishop’s staff.

Carla explained that December 25 was not Jesus’s actual birthday, but a date chosen in the 4th century to align Christianity with Roman pagan festivals such as Saturnalia and Sol Invictus, easing conversion through cultural blending. These festivals contributed traditions like candles, evergreens, feasting and public celebration.

She contrasted the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, noting that Matthew emphasized kings, prophecy and danger (the Magi, Herod and the flight into Egypt), while Luke presented a humbler story centered on Mary, shepherds and the manger. Modern nativity scenes blend both accounts.

A pivotal moment in Christmas tradition came in 1223, when St. Francis of Assisi created the first live nativity scene in Greccio, making the story accessible to ordinary people. This practice spread throughout Italy, especially Naples, which became famous for elaborate crèches filled with everyday figures alongside sacred ones.

Carla concluded by describing Italian customs surrounding Epiphany, including La Befana, festive foods, New Year’s rituals and symbols of renewal — highlighting how Christmas remains a living blend of faith, history and joyful human creativity.

If you love the Olympics, you’ve watched them exclusively on NBC since 2002 and every Summer Games going back to 1988. A major contributor to that coverage has been Gary Zenkel, who began his Olympic journey with NBC in 1992 and was named president of NBC Olympics in 2005. By the end of an agreement that he spearheaded with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March 2025, to extend through 2036 the exclusive U.S. media rights of NBC Universal (NBCU) to the Olympics, Gary will have played a critical role in the coverage of 21 Olympic Games [see the table at the end of this bio].

As president of NBC Olympics, Gary oversees the company’s Olympic business, planning and operations. He works closely with the IOC, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the organizing committees for each Olympic Games and NBCU’s distribution partners, stations and external media companies to advance coverage, distribution and marketing. He does all that while navigating a constantly changing media landscape. We believe he’s earned a gold medal for his leadership in providing Olympic coverage in the United States for an astounding number of Games.

In 2024, Gary oversaw the Paris Olympic Games, regarded as one of the most successful in the history of NBCU. The company’s coverage from Paris reached 67 million viewers per day across its broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. Fans streamed 23.5 billion minutes of NBCU’s coverage— which was 40% more than all prior Olympic Summer and Winter Games combined — led by Peacock. NBCU’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games topped the 46th Sports Emmy Awards with 10 wins, including Outstanding Live Special – Championship Event.

Since the acquisition of NBCU by Comcast in 2011, Gary has led three successful media rights agreements with the IOC. The first, in 2011, awarded NBCU the rights to the Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The second agreement was negotiated in 2014 and granted NBCU the U.S. media rights to all Olympic Games through 2032, making it the longest U.S. media-rights agreement in Olympic history. The third agreement was completed in March 2025 and awarded NBCU the rights to Salt Lake City 2034 and Olympic Games 2036.

Gary was also instrumental in major soccer acquisitions for NBCU, including Telemundo’s exclusive Spanish-language U.S. media rights to FIFA World Cup Soccer from 2015–2026 and NBC Sports’ three-season Premier League acquisition in 2013. He served as executive vice president of NBC Olympics from 2001–2005. From 1997–2001, he was senior vice president for business development and marketing for NBC Olympics. Before that, from 1994–1997, Gary was vice president of NBC Sports and executive assistant to NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, during which time he played a major role in NBC’s acquisition, contract negotiations and renewals of the Olympics, French Open, Major League Baseball, Notre Dame Football, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association championships and Ryder Cup. He joined NBC Sports in 1990 as director of sports contract negotiations. Prior to joining NBC Sports, he was a corporate law associate with Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, a New York City-based law firm.

Gary graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 and from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1987. He was a two-year letterman on the Wolverines golf team.

[DMA Note: The following table listing the Olympic Games in which Gary Zenkel played a role in broadcasting illustrates the phenomenal chronological and geographical scope of his efforts.]

Video of Fireside Chat

Arranged by Mike Wheeler

Summary of Gary Zenkel’s Presentation

Gary Zenkel, longtime president of NBC Olympics, traced his career that began almost by accident. After Georgetown Law School, he was a young attorney in New York when a “celebrity golf” memo for NBC Sports crossed his desk. Discovering that sports media law even existed, he lobbied for a position and joined NBC Sports in 1990, moving into Olympic work by 1992.

In the early days, NBC’s Olympic coverage was built around a single linear TV channel and one dominant revenue model. Over time, as NBC acquired both Summer and Winter Games through 2030 and beyond, the operation expanded into a free-standing Olympic unit with engineers, production, programming, digital teams, and complex relationships with the International Olympic Committee, host country organizing committees, U.S. Olympic authorities and distributors. Gary’s role centered on managing those relationships and the high-risk P&L tied to expensive rights acquisitions and production.

He described a strategic shift when Comcast bought the remaining portion of NBC from General Electric Company. Comcast pushed to fully use streaming rights that had been sitting idle, broadening the distribution story NBC could tell in its 2011 and 2014 long-term broadcast rights deals. Those negotiations, including a secret extension through 2032, reflected a bet that despite cord-cutting and audience fragmentation, the Olympics would remain one of the few events able to assemble massive, valuable audiences across evolving platforms.

Gary recounted NBC’s long internal debate over tape delay versus live coverage. For years, NBC protected prime-time storytelling even when results were known, because casual viewers still tuned in for narrative, context and emotion. Only with the Paris games in 2024 did NBC finally air marquee finals live in the United States during the daytime, while still crafting strong prime-time shows.

He detailed the logistical and creative challenges of host cities, the shift of much of the production process from the host country to NBC’s Stamford facility, and the extraordinary complications of broadcasting the Tokyo and Beijing games with COVID-related conditions such as empty stadiums, harsh health protocols and remote operations. The Paris games marked a triumphant rebound, leveraging iconic venues, strong organizing, celebrity-driven buzz and personalities such as Snoop Dogg to re-energize viewers.

Throughout, Gary explained concerns about to balancing the desire to maintain NBC’s storytelling tradition — deeply researched pieces on athletes’ lives and emotional but varied human stories — against the need to keep younger, short-form oriented audiences engaged with long-form Olympic coverage in the years ahead.