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Tabernacle Choir commemorates 90 years of broadcasting with special show

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mack Wilberg conducts the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square as they open up the morning session during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' twice-annual church conference Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019, in Salt Lake City.

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square is celebrating 90 years of broadcasting its popular Sunday show “Music and the Spoken Word” with a special Saturday episode.

The episode will look back on the show’s history, particularly the past 20 years, Heidi Swinton, choir historian, said in a news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“In any tradition like this, one has to reflect on many who have come before, starting in July of 1929,” Mack Wilberg, music director of the choir, said in the release. “… As I approach the broadcast from week to week, the many who have come before us are always [at] the forefront of my mind.”

The show is the world’s longest continuous radio network broadcast.

This Saturday, “Music and the Spoken Word” will run for 90 minutes, with interviews; stories about the choir from church President Russell M. Nelson; song favorites and guest performances, like Kristin Chenoweth’s performance of “Angels Among Us” from 2018; and five Tabernacle organists playing a virtual quintet of the “William Tell” Overture.

It will air at 7 p.m. at TheTabernacleChoir.org, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s YouTube channel, The Tabernacle Choir’s Facebook page, Broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and the Latter-day Saints Channel. The broadcast will air again Sunday at 5 p.m. on on BYUtv, BYUtv.org and the BYUtv app.