Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 585586587588589590591592593594595596597598599600601602603604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619620621622623624625626627 of 755

to be taken for granted. They were very friendly.

I made it a practice, from time to time--not once a year, but over the period of time--to stop by and see them. And it's beautiful country anyway, so it's no hardship to spend some time in the Salt Lake City area. On one of the occasions they invited me to choir practice. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is very popular and very important to the church. I sat in on the choir practice, and it was a moving experience, in the Tabernacle. Well, I wasn't in the tabernacle. I was in an adjoining building--because unless you're a member, you don't get into the Tabernacle itself.

It occurred to me, and on an earlier occasion one of my associates had said to me once, “Why don't we record the Tabernacle Choir for records?”

We were broadcasting--see, it was not only an affiliate--I dropped something in my conversation. On Sunday morning we used to have an hour of the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir on the air.

I remember that.

Sure. That was another reason for stopping to see them. I put the question to one of the elders of the church--would they be interested in having us record the choir and put it on a Columbia record label and distribute it generally. They were very pleased with the suggestion, and it was not out of any particular love on my part--it was just a good matter of relations with the station and the church, because they had this far-flung international organization. I could believe that they would feature these records in their announcements,