In his 34 years as the voice and presenter of ”Music and the Spoken Word,” Lloyd Newell said he has never used a personal pronoun like “I” or “mine.” His message this Sunday, however, will be a personal one, he said Friday. It will be his farewell.
Newell is stepping down as executive producer, principal writer and presenter of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s showcase weekly program, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in December . Church officials revealed in March that Newell will be succeeded by Derrick Porter . Newell will deliver his final broadcast with the choir this Sunday.
Porter will give his first the following week, on June 23. The program airs live Sundays at 9:30 a.m.
Mountain Daylight Time on KSL-TV Channel 5 and BYUtv. It also streams live and for later viewing on the choir’s YouTube channel . “This was not an easy thing for me, and, at the same time, it’s a happy thing,” Newell said during a news conference at the historic Tabernacle in downtown Salt Lake City.
“When [former church] President [Gordon B.] 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. (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lloyd Newell, left, smiles during a news conference at th.
