Messages from Music and the Spoken Word

On a hot summer afternoon, Monday, July, 15, 1929, using a borrowed microphone, the first broadcast of what would become known as Music and the Spoken Word originated from the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The lone microphone was suspended from the ceiling, above the Choir, and the announcer, nineteen-year-old Ted Kimball, climbed a ladder to speak into the microphone and announce the songs. From that humble beginning has come the oldest continuous network program in broadcast history—a program that is enjoyed weekly by millions of people worldwide.

This volume commemorates those seventy-five years of broadcast excellence and recounts the history of the program and the lives of those individuals who have played principal roles in its production. With an introduction by Lloyd Newell and brief essays highlighting the history of the seven intervening decades, written by Stephen Wunderli, readers will be able to place the "spoken word" messages in their historical contexts.

The centerpiece of the book is a sampling of more than 140 messages, chosen from among the more than 3,600 that have been given—brief, nondenominational reflections on a myriad of uplifting, encouraging, heartwarming, and inspirational topics. Music and the Spoken Word has been loved by generations of listeners, who have em-braced not only the music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but also the simple eloquence and uncommon wisdom so comfortably dispensed by the three men whose distinctive voices are inexorably associated with this American broadcasting treasure.