“Music and the Spoken Word,” the longest-running network broadcast in history, is expanding its reach across the world to approximately 8 million people in Africa.
On Sunday, April 19, the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will commemorate the expansion with a special broadcast featuring African music. According the choir’s website, this program will “highlight how communities across Africa live the commandments to love God and one another.”
The episode, titled “The Joy We Share,” will include music from a number of African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The Ikeja and Agege Combined Choir in Lagos, Nigeria, will be featured as part of the episode. The program will also feature brief messages from leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ who have connections to Africa.
The program will also include pre- and post-broadcast programming with performances from members of two local congregations: the Amharic-speaking St. Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Swahili-speaking Parley’s Creek Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Music and the Spoken Word” is currently broadcast on KSL-TV, BYUtv and SiriusXM. It is also livestreamed each week on YouTube and the church’s website.
The special episode will mark its first live broadcast in over a dozen African countries, including Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. A tape-delayed broadcast will air one week later in South Africa and additional African countries.
Elder Isaac K. Morrison, second counselor in the Africa West Area Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, highlighted the important role music plays in the faith’s worship.
“The gospel of Jesus Christ is joyful, hopeful, and filled with light. The music of the Choir is joyful, and we are so excited to be able to share this sacred music with our friends and neighbors across all of Africa,” he said in a press release. “Our hope is that as people listen, they will feel hope, feel peace and feel the love of the Savior in their hearts.”
Music and the Spoken Word has aired weekly for more than nine decades, making it the longest-running network broadcast in the world. The program marked its 5,000th episode in 2025.
How to watch ‘Music and the Spoken Word’ Africa special
The weekly broadcast will air at its usual time of 9:30 a.m. MDT, with the special programming available from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. It will be streamed via Facebook Live. The broadcast will also be livestreamed on YouTube, but that will not include the pre- and post-programming.
Those who wish to attend in person at the Salt Lake Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, do not need to purchase a ticket, but seating is limited. Doors to the Tabernacle open at 8:15 a.m.
A live broadcast schedule by station is available in the choir’s news release.