The National Radio Hall of Fame (NRHOF) announced today the results of its national online balloting process for induction into America’s only National Radio Hall of Fame.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Music and the Spoken Word was selected in the national pioneer category. The program is the longest-running radio broadcast in America, and airs on more than 2,000 TV and radio stations across the country.
“We are extremely pleased that the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast has been voted into the National Radio Hall of Fame,” said Mac Christensen, President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. “We thank the Radio Hall of Fame and all of our listeners who honored us in this way.”
Choir Music Director Mack Wilberg added, “This is especially significant for us, not only because of the very talented individuals who were also nominated with us in the National—Pioneer category, but also because the selection was determined by vote of the American listening public.”
The Choir is celebrating 100 years of recording this year, and recently released an historic collection of most requested songs and vintage audio and video. 100: Celebrating a Century of Recording Excellence hit No. 1 on Billboard’s classical overall chart in June. The collection also features video vintage Music and the Spoken Word broadcast, including the first trans-Atlantic broadcast to Europe from Mt. Rushmore in 1962.
An official from the National Radio Hall of Fame notified Choir President Christensen of the award by phone this afternoon. The Choir and the honorees in the other categories will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in November, 2010 in a two-hour radio broadcast emanating from Chicago.
Gregg Garber, vice-president and general manager of Bonneville Distribution which distributes the weekly half-hour show to radio and TV stations across the country and around the world, said, “The same popularity that has made Music and the Spoken Word a radio mainstay for more than 80 years has produced this vote which will now put the show in the National Radio Hall of Fame. We couldn’t be happier.” The broadcast originates on radio station KSL-AM and FM in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Votenet Solutions, Inc., a respected online vote tabulation firm, supervised and tabulated the 2010 National Radio Hall of Fame ballots. To learn and hear more about the 2010 inductees as well as past National Radio Hall of Fame inductees please visit www.radiohof.org.