Tabernacle Choir prepares for episode 5,000 of Music & the Spoken Word

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square will broadcast the 5,000th episode of Music & the Spoken Word, a program that has aired weekly for nearly a century.

The Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square began rehearsal for episode 5,000 on Thursday, July 10, and the episode will air on Sunday, July 13.

Music & the Spoken Word is a Peabody Award-winning program that debuted on July 15, 1929. It is the longest continuing live network broadcast in history. This year is its 96th year, nearly a century.

The program continued airing weekly through great moments of history and hardship, such as throughout the Great Depression, World War II, and the COVID-19 pandemic, and following events like the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, and 9/11.

“Music & the Spoken Word is a gift to the people of the world, to any who are looking for peace
and solace in a world that is growing increasingly busy. It allows for a moment of peace and
stillness that we all need,” Derrick Porter, executive producer, principal writer and presenter
of the program is quoted saying in a press release.

The Tabernacle Choir is made up of 360 members, and the Orchestra at Temple Square is a 200-member, all-volunteer symphony orchestra. The orchestra accompanies all musical ensembles of the Tabernacle Choir organization.

Music & the Spoken Word won a Peabody Award in 1943, and it was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2010.

It reaches over 6 million people in more than 50 countries over radio, television, and online streaming.