Wings Over Jordan Choir
*On this date in 1937, we celebrate the founding of the Wings Over Jordan Choir. This choral group, organized by the Rev. Glen T. Settle in Cleveland, Ohio, was perhaps the most beautiful-sounding of all Gospel choirs.
Their otherworldly and almost ghostly sound was heard on over 50 recordings. In the days before television, when families would sit around the radio together, Wings Over Jordan was a popular program featuring this talented Black choir. Beginning in the late 1930s, the show was broadcast out of Cleveland on the CBS network.
Rev. Settle had this choir work with Worth Kramer (program director at radio station WGAR), who eventually stepped down as program director to run the Wings shows. As a bonus, the program featured outstanding Black leaders from all walks of life as guest speakers. One of Wings Over Jordan's first recordings was made for CBS radio on October 19, 1941. It was called I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray. The Wings Over Jordan Celebration Chorus was formed in 1988 to fulfill the original group's mission.
