“The Language of Song”
Given by Charles Osgood
The great choral conductor Robert Shaw placed music at the
core of the national spirit when he said, “In these days of
political, personal, and economic disintegration, music is
not a luxury, it’s a necessity; not simply because it is therapeutic
... but because it is the persistent focus of our intelligence,
aspiration, and goodwill.”1
For 75 years, nearly the lifetime of radio, the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir has exemplified that thinking in its weekly program,
Music and the Spoken Word. With hearts full of love
and voices raised in the universal language of song, the choir
has sustained the longest continuing broadcast in radio history.
In this business, that record is nothing short of a phenomenon.
The choir joined the airwaves of America at three o’clock in
the afternoon on July 15, 1929. Salt Lake City’s radio station
shuttled its only microphone to the Tabernacle more than a
block away to capture that first choir program. Thirty stations
across the nation tuned in. Since that landmark day, millions
have set and reset the clocks of their inner souls by Music
and the Spoken Word.
The spirit of the choir is compelling. The 360 volunteers sing
with reverence for the Almighty, with passion for time-honored
values and for home, family, community, and country. It has
always been so, even in the early days of the broadcast, when
the technology of our time was not available. Members of the
choir have fervor and faith in their convictions – these will
always be the hallmarks of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
We in the broadcast industry are justly proud of our long association
with the magnificent Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Music
and the Spoken Word. On behalf of listeners across the
globe, we say thank you to the choir for the spirit they have
shared week after week for these seven and a half decades.
1. In Heidi S. Swinton, America’s
Choir: A Commemorative Portrait of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
(2004), 2.
