J. Spencer Kinard is an American radio and television personality He was a reporter for KSL television when he was invited to replace Richard L. Evans as voice of the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...

. Kinard had previously worked for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in New York. He spent 18 years as the voice of the choir."2001 Board Members & Scholarship Recipients Announced!". ''University of Utah Alumni Association News''. 200

Accessed 30 March 2007.

Early life

Kinard attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1966. He went to work for CBS News in New York, where he also completed a CBS News fellowship at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He returned to Utah in 1971 to work for then-CBS affiliate

KSL-TV KSL-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television property of locally based Bonneville International, the for-profit bro ...

in Salt Lake City. After covering the funeral of Richard L. Evans that November, he became determined to break the story of who would replace Evans as voice of the choir. In the meantime, Alan Jensen (who had substituted for Evans from time to time) announced for the choir.

Career

In January 1972, Kinard was invited to audition for the position of announcer. He was introduced to the choir the next week and officially took over the helm at the Tabernacle Choir's ''

Music and the Spoken Word Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

'' broadcast in February 1972, where he continued for 18 years."History: J. Spencer Kinard"
from ''Music and the Spoken Word'' website (accessed 30 March 2007) In the meantime he remained at KSL, where he gradually gained more responsibilities and eventually became news director. On November 1, 1990, the '' Deseret News'' reported that Kinard had resigned as vice president of news and public affairs for KSL: The next day, the ''Deseret News'' followed up with an article entitled "Kinard - At His Request - Is Released From Choir Post".

Later years

Kinard went on to become deputy director of the Utah Travel Council, where he worked for nearly twelve years until his 2006 retirement."Speaker Bios". ''2006 Winter Opportunities Summit''. Spirit of British Columbia. http://www.wintersummit.ca/bios.htm. Retrieved 5 March 2007. Kinard is a member of the board of trustees of the

.*"Board of Trustees". University of Utah. www.utah.edu

Accessed 30 March 2007 *Gardiner, Dunstin. "LDS authority to address graduates". ''The Daily Utah Chronicle''. 30 March 2007

. Accessed 30 March 2007. He has been chairman of the national

Radio-Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

and was president of the University of Utah Alumni Association (2005–08).

References

External links

Kinard biography
at the official ''Music and the Spoken Word'' website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinard, J. Spencer Latter Day Saints from Utah American radio personalities American television personalities Living people Columbia University alumni University of Utah alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Latter Day Saints from New York (state)