Mormon Tabernacle Choir program voted into National Radio Hall of Fame

SALT LAKE CITY — "Music and the Spoken Word," the longest-running radio broadcast in the U.S., has been voted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

"We thank the Radio Hall of Fame and all of our listeners who honored us in this way," said Mac Christensen, president of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

A public vote was held from June until early August on the Hall of Fame's website, and five individuals, along with the program "Music and the Spoken Word," were selected. The results were announced Wednesday.

A two-hour induction broadcast will take place Nov. 6 in Chicago and will be produced and distributed by Westwood One Radio Networks.

Narrated by Lloyd D. Newell each Sunday, the broadcast features inspirational messages and songs by the 360-member Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Gregg Garber, vice president and general manager of Bonneville Distribution, which distributes the weekly half-hour show, said, "The same popularity that has made 'Music and the Spoken Word' a radio mainstay for more than 80 years has produced this vote. ... We couldn't be happier."

"Music and the Spoken Word" kicked off on July 15, 1929, when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast the first show from the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Reaching more than 2,000 radio, television and cable systems worldwide, the broadcast now originates in the LDS Church's Conference Center.

Other individuals to be inducted into the Hall of Fame include Cathy Hughes, founder and chairman of Radio One; Sam Phillips, the late radio station owner, record producer and owner of Sun Records; Carl Kasell, a National Public Radio broadcaster who has spent more than 50 years in radio; Terri Hemmert, a disc jockey known for her encyclopedic knowledge of music; and Ralph Emery, a country music icon.

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