“God’s Got a Television”

This chapter examines how television became an important medium of communication for gospel music in Chicago. Mahalia Jackson was the first gospel artist to attract significant attention from television studios. As early as 1951, she appeared on Studs Terkel's Studs' Place telecast. In 1958, she was a guest on an episode of NBC's The Dinah Shore Show. She also had her own television program, called Mahalia Jackson Sings. This chapter discusses some television programs dedicated to gospel music, beginning with TV Gospel Time, produced by Howard Schwartz's Allied Productions, followed by Jubilee Showcase on Chicago's WBKB and Isabel Joseph Johnson's Rock of Ages. It also looks at the Barrett Sisters, dubbed “The Sweet Sisters of Zion,” and gospel extravaganzas such as the All-American Gospel Spectacular of 1964 at the Regal Theater and the Defender's gospel festival at the Trianon Ballroom as part of its annual Home Service Show.