About the Broadcast
Music & the Spoken Word
Public audiences are invited to join the live performances of Music & the Spoken Word each Sunday morning on Temple Square. The program has maintained a weekly schedule for more than nine decades without interruption, offering messages of peace, hope, inspiration, and the goodness of God — an unmatched heritage among radio programs.
Plan Your Visit
- When
- Every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. MST
- Doors
- Open at 8:15 a.m. Be seated by 9:15 a.m.
- Duration
- 30 minutes — concludes at 10:00 a.m.
- Where
- The Tabernacle on Temple Square. Summer broadcasts move to the Conference Center across the street.
- Admission
- Free and open to the public. Tickets required beginning May 17, 2026.
- Recommended ages
- 8 and older
Schedule Exceptions
Upcoming dates when the regular Sunday broadcast or weekly rehearsal will be off the usual schedule.
- June 18No Public Rehearsal
- June 21No Live Broadcast (Choir on Tour)
- June 25No Public Rehearsal (Choir on Tour)
A Weekly Tradition Since 1929
Music & the Spoken Word originates from the Tabernacle on Temple Square — long called “the crossroads of the West.” Completed in 1867, the Tabernacle is a recording studio in its own right, known for superior acoustics. During the busy summer months the broadcast moves across the street to the Conference Center; both venues are equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
Every program opens with the 1835 hymn Gently Raise the Sacred Strain. Choir Music Director Mack Wilberg designs each week’s setlist, weaving familiar hymns, choral classics, and new works around the day’s spoken-word message.
The program made the leap from radio to television in 1962, then to cable and satellite, and today reaches a global audience through YouTube, Facebook, and the choir’s own website. Listeners tune in from the United States to Chile, the Philippines, and England. Along the way the broadcast has been inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the National Radio Hall of Fame.
On July 15, 1929, local radio technicians ran a single wire from their control room to a Tabernacle amplifier nearly a block away. They had one microphone — placed atop a ladder so it could pick up both the choir and the announcer. Nineteen-year-old Ted Kimball, son of the Tabernacle organist, stood on that ladder and called the very first program.
The Voices of the Broadcast
Four narrators have anchored the program across nearly a century of Sunday mornings.
- 1930 – 1971
Richard L. Evans
The first regular narrator. Forty-one consecutive years on the air and never a missed broadcast — even after his call as an Apostle. His three-minute reflections on comfort, gratitude, happiness, duty, and love set the program’s voice.
- 1972 – 1990
J. Spencer Kinard
Carried the broadcast through nearly two decades.
- 1991 – 2024
Lloyd Newell
Thirty-three years as the program’s voice, retiring in June 2024.
- 2024 – present
Derrick Porter
Called as the program’s narrator in June 2024.