This Sunday, Lloyd Newell, will host his final “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast. Successor Derrick Porter hopes to carry on his legacy.
“When President Hinckley called me to do this in 1990, he said, ‘This calling will change your life.’ And it has,” Newell said. At the time of Newell’s appointment, according to the church’s website, Hinckley was a counselor to then-President Ezra Taft Benson; Hinckley became the global faith’s president in 1995.
As its title suggests, “Music and the Spoken Word” blends music from The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra — the church’s premier performing troupe — with sermons from the program’s presenter. It is the longest continuously running network broadcast in U.S. history. “Lloyd has done a wonderful job,” Leavitt said. “We will miss him. ... And in the coming weeks, people will come to know Derrick as they have come to know Lloyd.”