Ted Kimball

Edward Beatie “Ted” Kimball was a professional radio host. He was the first announcer of the “Music and the Spoken Word” weekly radio broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He was the son of the choir’s organist, Edward P. Kimball.

The program of beautiful music and short, inspirational messages first aired on July 15, 1929, from the Salt Lake Tabernacle. On that summer day, a local radio crew ran a wire from their control room to an amplifier where the Choir was singing—more than a block away. With the station’s sole microphone suspended from the Tabernacle ceiling, 19-year-old Ted Kimball stood atop a ladder and announced each song. Kimball —the son of the Tabernacle organist—stayed perched in place for the duration of the entire program because the mike was “live.”[1]

Eleven months later, Richard L. Evans took over the microphone when he became the long-term program narrator.

Kimball was born on February 17, 1910, in Salt Lake City. His early work was on the children’s show “Uncle Rosco and Big Brother Ted,” which he did with Rosco Grover. He worked for NBC as an announcer in Washington, DC. Afterward, he worked for Salt Lake’s KDYL for a year before moving to KSL where he stayed until 1960. He worked in various other businesses before returning to radio with a talk show for KSXX. In the early 1980s, Kimball worked part-time as radio host for KWHO-AM, a commercial fine arts radio station. He died on August 5, 1985.

Kimball served in the Navy for two years during World War II. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.