Music & the Spoken Word celebrates its 5,000th episode
Jul 11, 2025, 1:04 PM | Updated: 1:56 pm
Members of the Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square rehearse before the 4,000th broadcast of the Music and the Spoken Word Sunday, April 30, 2006. The program originated in 1929 and is the world's longest continuous network broadcast. (Jason Olson)
(Jason Olson)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is celebrating a major milestone. This Sunday, the choir’s signature program, Music & the Spoken Word, will air its 5,000th episode.
Broadcasting for nearly a century, Music & the Spoken Word has aired every week since July 15, 1929, and is the longest continuing live network broadcast in history.
“When there were depressions, Music & the Spoken Word was still there. When there were world wars – Music & the Spoken Word still there,” said Michael O. Leavitt, president of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
Friday morning, key faces of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square shared with the press what the milestone means to them.
“To be not only celebrating the 5,000 broadcast and also the many, many years – it’s a great privilege and an honor,” said Mack Wilberg, music director of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
It’s a privilege they now share with six million people in more than 50 countries. Listeners recently expressed to the choir in 1,200 emails what the program means to them.
Richard Elliot, principal organist for the choir, said he was honored to be a part of the many musical notes played over his 34 years with the choir.
“It’s just amazing, the effect that it’s had,” Elliot said. “The comments pouring in from people whose lives were touched by the broadcast. So I’m delighted to be just a small cog in the wheel for this.”
Paula Isaacson, a member of the choir since 2016, said the experience of being part of the 5,000th episode is surreal. She told KSL that the program was a source of comfort during hard times.
“The people are amazing, and it’s been uplifting,” Isaacson said. “It’s just the experience of a lifetime.”
“All the way from listeners from Japan to Australia to one who was stationed in the South Pole in Antarctica, to one who was summitting Mount Everest, as he was listening to music and the spoken word,” said Derrick Porter, executive producer and host of Music & the Spoken Word.
The group has had countless rehearsals to produce the best performance, but the choir attributes the success and endurance of Music & Spoken Word less to its ability to entertain, and more to the feelings it evokes.
“Of course, when they’re here, we say, ‘What brought you here? Why are you choosing to be with us?’ and inevitably, the answer is the same… It’s because of what I feel,” Porter said.
The choir is planning for many more milestones to come.
“I don’t see any reason for this to stop as long as the capacity, technologically, physically, and financially exists,” Leavitt said.
For Sunday’s 5,000th episode, the choir is planning a special celebration both before and after the broadcast that you’ll only be able to see at the Conference Center in person, with many stories, moments, and music all looking back.
The pre-show celebration begins Sunday at 9:00 a.m.
Related: Latter-Day Saints in Peru: An in-depth look at the Tabernacle Choir’s historic trip
Contributing: Verl Johansen, KSL NewsRadio
