The first “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square was on Monday, July 15, 1929, and scheduled for 3 p.m.
A single microphone for the choir and announcer was attached to the ceiling, with a long cable connecting it to KSL’s radio controller, located a city block away. Nineteen-year-old Ted Kimball, son of organist Edward P. Kimball, climbed a 15-foot-tall stepladder and announced each song that was sung by the choir.
A short article the following day in the Deseret News noted the success of the first broadcast, calling it “highly satisfactory.” The broadcast was transmitted to WJZ in New York over the telephone system and then went to more than 30 stations, including KSL.
“In the opinion of the National Broadcasting Company officials, the weekly broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir and Organ will prove a most popular program,” concludes the article.
Ninety-six years later, Sunday, July 13, 2025, marks the 5,000th week of broadcasting for the 360-voice Tabernacle Choir’s weekly 30-minute “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast that’s heard or seen on the radio, television or online by about 6 million people in 50 countries around the world.
“‘Music & the Spoken Word’ knows no boundaries in this great world with multiple races and nationalities,” said President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a statement on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. “‘Music & the Spoken Word’ is a global resource. Music is the universal language of the Spirit. Music communicates to the heart and soul of individuals in a way that written words cannot duplicate.”
“Music & the Spoken Word” is broadcast on more than 2,000 stations, available on the Tabernacle Choir’s YouTube channel and on a variety of social media outlets, with captions available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. The Spanish version — with Spanish-speaking narrators and other features — is on the El Coro del Tabernáculo YouTube channel and also broadcast by Telemundo Utah.
The program was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2024 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2010.
Mack Wilberg, the Tabernacle Choir’s music director, said in a news event Friday, July 11, “I think that our predecessors would be completely amazed at the scope of the program now.”
Even in the time he’s been with the choir since 1999, he’s seen it grow from a program that mainly went to the intermountain West in the United States to millions listening around the world.
“Never gets old from week to week,” Wilberg said. “I’m always excited about what’s coming, and then, of course, not only planning them, being able to execute it several weeks later. It’s a great joy.”
The 5,000th episode celebration
On Sunday, July 13, the event in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City includes a preshow starting at 9 a.m., the “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast at 9:30 a.m. MDT, and a 30-minute celebration will follow. Only the “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast at 9:30 a.m. will be available online.
The in-person event in the Conference Center is free, no tickets are required and open to those 8 and older.
See churchofjesuschrist.org/events/temple-square-guidelines for parking and general event information.
The first program included the hymn “The Morning Breaks,” which will be part of Sunday’s program — but not the same arrangement as from 1929, Wilberg said. The program concludes with “High on a Mountain Top” and Wilberg will be using the baton of Anthony Lund, the choir’s music director who led the first “Music & the Spoken Word” episodes. The baton was donated by Lund’s family.
“In that era, the conductor baton was much longer than what we use now. I almost equate it with a pointer that you use to point to the blackboard or something,” Wilberg said, adding that he had to try it out.
Derrick Porter, executive producer, principal writer and presenter of “Music & the Spoken Word,” invited people to send in their stories of experiences with “Music & the Spoken Word” and has received 1,200 responses and counting — many sharing how the music and the words have brought peace, hope or healing.
Some of those stories will be part of the pre-show and celebration, along with stories of choir and orchestra members and sound clips from past broadcasts, including the first recorded one in 1933, said Porter, who joined the choir organization about a year ago.
“There is a treasure trove of history that is being unrolled as we remember where we’ve been, as we recognize where we are and as we now focus and look to where we hope to go,” he said.
Wilberg pointed to the thousands of volunteers who have helped with the broadcasts through the years.
“I have come to a great appreciation and admiration for the great sacrifice of those who make ‘Music & the Spoken Word’ happen every week,” said Wilberg, also noting their families who support them.
The 360 singers in the Tabernacle Choir and 200 musicians in the orchestra are all volunteers and are required to audition. Other volunteers are section leaders, librarians and wardrobe managers, among many others.
On a typical Sunday, the call time for the choir members is 7:25 a.m. and for the orchestra, it’s 7:45 a.m., Wilberg said. Choir and orchestra members are required to live in a 100 mile radius of Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, so many have a commute to rehearsals and performances.
“I have a great admiration for their sacrifice and commitment. It is a huge commitment,” Wilberg said.
The choir has moved to performing everything by memory, which takes time at home for singers to rehearse and learn their parts. “We perform between 350-400 pieces a year. That’s a lot of music. That’s a lot of memorization,” he said.
5,000 weeks of ‘Music & the Spoken Word’ and looking ahead
“This is a big moment — 5,000 consecutive weeks,” said Tabernacle Choir President Michael O. Leavitt.
The show started right before the Great Depression in the United States, through World War II and, more recently, the events of 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we get into the significance of how over literally decade after decade through whatever the condition of the world, there was this sense of constant value that’s been provided in a very unique recipe,” President Leavitt said.
The music softens hearts “and appeals to people in a very unique way,” President Leavitt said. “And then there’s the ‘Spoken Word.’”
This “recipe” has made “Music & the Spoken Word” sustainable for the past 5,000 weeks, he added.
The music and the words connect to people, President Leavitt said.
“I think it endures because it produces very individual responses that are tailored to what the person is feeling inside. It does connect them to the Divine and then they respond to it. We all do,” President Leavitt said.
Porter pointed out that the purpose of “Music & the Spoken Word” isn’t necessarily to entertain. “The primary purpose of this program is to help people be filled and to be renewed,” Porter said.
As the choir leaders look ahead to many more weeks of “Music & the Spoken Word,” they are looking to use technology to help expand geographically where it’s heard. A Spanish version of “Music & the Spoken Word” is available. The choir has been experimenting on a Portuguese version and with a French version on the horizon, President Leavitt said.
In recent weeks two podcasts have been launched. Behind the Scenes is hosted by Porter who interviews people associated with the Tabernacle Choir; the first episodes included organist Richard Elliot, President Leavitt and Wilberg.
“We’re trying to open up and show people all of the work that it takes every single week from an army of volunteers,” Porter said.
The second is “Music & Spoken Word” with the audio of the “Spoken Word” message. Also, people can sign up at MusicandtheSpokenWord.com to have the “Spoken Word” emailed to them each week, Porter said.
Also at the recently launched MusicandtheSpokenWord.com, there’s a library of the spoken words, going back historically both in video and audio format, as available.
President Leavitt said the choir will continue with the broadcasts.
“There’s a lot more who need the peace, the unity and the sense of healing that’s available,” he said.
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s conductors
- John Parry 1849–1854
- Stephen Goddard 1854–1856
- James Smithies 1856–1862
- Charles John Thomas 1862–1865
- Robert Sands 1865–1869
- George Careless 1869–1880
- Thomas Griggs 1880
- Ebenezer Beesley 1880–1889
- Evan Stephens 1889–1916
- Anthony C. Lund 1916-1935
- J. Spencer Cornwall 1935-1957
- Richard P. Condie 1957-1974
- Jay E. Welch 1974
- Jerold Ottley 1974-1999
- Craig Jessop 1999-2008
- Mack Wilberg 2008 to present
The ‘Music & the Spoken Word’ presenters
Nineteen-year-old Ted Kimball climbed the 15-foot ladder to read the names of the musical numbers until he was called on a mission to France. Other KSL staff members filled that announcer position, including Earl J. Glade, the station manager who “convinced the National Broadcasting Company that the choir would be a good network feature” and Roscoe Glover, according to the Church News’ coverage of the 2,000th broadcast in 1967.
A young returned missionary named Richard L. Evans began in June 1930. The reading of the musical titles became “a meaningful reading of the message of the song.” Over time, this was expanded to the 2 ½ to 3-minute “Spoken Word,” according to the archives.
- Elder Richard L. Evans 1930-1971
- J. Spence Kinard 1971-1990
- Lloyd D. Newell 1990-2024
- Derrick Porter 2024-present
