Gospel Music Heritage Month Returns This September; GMC Unveils Celebration Plans

For the second consecutive year, GMC joined with the
United States Senate and the House of Representatives to create the
“National Gospel Music Heritage Month” initiative. The dual legislation
passed by the House and the Senate designates September 2009 as “Gospel
Music Heritage Month,” honoring gospel music for its valuable and
long-standing contributions to American culture. The initiative was
created by the Gospel Music Channel; joining GMC as sponsors of “Gospel
Music Heritage Month” are The Recording Academy((R)), the Gospel Music
Association (GMA), the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) and The
Stellar Awards.

On-air, Gospel Music Channel will celebrate the heritage
of gospel music each weekend in September with world television and
network premieres, documentaries, concerts, original specials and
series, interstitial pieces, music videos and more. Highlights include
concerts and documentaries featuring Al Green (Sept. 27, 8pm), Dr. Bobby Jones (Sept. 27, 9pm), the world television premiere of Smokie Norful Live (Sept. 20, 9pm), the GMC premieres of How Sweet the Sound (Sept. 13, 8pm), the Verizon-sponsored search for the best church choir in America, hosted by Donald Lawrence and the dazzling concert film Gospel (Sept. 13, 9pm) featuring James Cleveland, Walter Hawkins and Shirley Caesar; special Saturday night-long tributes to the biggest names in contemporary Gospel/Christian music including Third Day (Sept. 5), Michael W. Smith (Sept. 12), tobyMac (Sept. 19) and Kirk Franklin (Sept. 26); a special encore of the 2009 Stellar Awards
(Sept. 6, 8 pm) and much more. Entertaining and historical short-form
and interstitial pieces will be seen throughout the month.

Online, www.gospelmusicheritage.com will feature
historic and classic performances and other footage, expanded
interviews, historical trivia, and a calendar of gospel-related events.
GMC affiliates will be able to access a toolkit including web banners,
logos, and other materials to help promote the month.

On-demand, programming and content will be available in
GMC’s Video-on-Demand offerings as well. In addition, GMC is teaming
with a wide spectrum of partners to promote the month, including: Cable
operators Cox Communications, Comcast and Charter; The House of Blues;
EBONY/JET Magazine Group; Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs); Parable Christian Stores and others. Also, GMC gospel singers
will be singing the National Anthem and a PSA will run on the jumbotron
at professional sporting events around the country, including Chicago
White Sox, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Chargers, NY Red Bulls/Giants
Stadium and WNBA games.

Gospel Music Channel is the fastest-growing network in
television and can be seen in 45 million homes on various cable systems
around the country, on DIRECTV on channel 338 and on Verizon FiOS on
channel 224.