The great choral conductor Robert Shaw placed music at the core of the national spirit when he said, “In these days of political, personal, and economic disintegration, music is not a luxury, it’s a necessity; not simply because it is therapeutic, . . . but because it is the persistent focus of our intelligence, aspiration, and goodwill.”1
For 75 years, nearly the lifetime of radio, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has exemplified that thinking in its weekly program, Music and the Spoken Word. With hearts full of love and voices raised in the universal language of song, the choir has sustained the longest continuing broadcast in radio history. In this business, that record is nothing short of a phenomenon.
The choir joined the airwaves of America at three o’clock in the afternoon on July 15, 1929. Salt Lake City’s radio station shuttled its only microphone to the Tabernacle more than a block away to capture that first choir program. Thirty stations across the nation tuned in. Since that landmark day, millions have set and reset the clocks of their inner souls by Music and the Spoken Word.
The spirit of the choir is compelling. The 360 volunteers sing with reverence for the Almighty, with passion for time-honored values and for home, family, community, and country. It has always been so, even in the early days of the broadcast, when the technology of our time was not available. Members of the choir have fervor and faith in their convictions—these will always be the hallmarks of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
We in the broadcast industry are justly proud of our long association with the magnificent Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Music and the Spoken Word. On behalf of listeners across the globe, we say thank you to the choir for the spirit they have shared week after week for these seven and a half decades.
Program #3909
1. In Heidi S. Swinton, America’s Choir: A Commemorative Portrait of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (2004), 2.