Morning News

Gospel a Big Hit in Atlanta

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KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the heart of the Bible Belt, gospel music is becoming a big hit with radio listeners.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Brian Cabell has more on the city at the center of gospel ground swell.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is Jesus my Lord...

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday morning in Atlanta, and the sounds of gospel fill the air.

LARRY TINSLEY, GOSPEL DISC JOCKEY: You're in tune with Atlanta's number-one station, V-103. We are giving God the glory.

CABELL: People are listening. Larry Tinsley's five-hour-long "Sunday Morning Praise" is the most popular radio show in Atlanta, no matter what the time, what the format. It beats pop, country, urban and talk.

Atlanta, in the minds of many, is the capital of gospel music. Not surprising, perhaps, since Atlanta was the home of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, in which spiritual music played such an important role. The tradition is carried on today in the city's churches.

TINSLEY: Atlanta is being called the "black mecca." And when you have the amount of African-American concentration that we do here in Atlanta, Georgia, God is going to be in the mix somewhere.

CABELL (on camera): In the last three years, sales of gospel CDs and tapes have increased 50 percent, to about $150 million a year.

CABELL (voice-over): Dottie Peoples, who was nominated for a Grammy this year, is Air's (ph) biggest star. She's seen changes in the industry.

DOTTIE PEOPLES, GOSPEL SINGER: I remember that if you sold 10,000 copies, you were doing good. But, now, artists are selling 100 and on up. So, therefore, people are going out and supporting gospel more.

CABELL: They are. And in Atlanta, they're doing it in the so- called "megachurches" where gospel dominates.

There are three gospel-oriented megachurches in Atlanta, each with at least 10,000 members. Here, big-name artists and the up-and- coming have venues to perform before large, appreciative audiences in the center of a dynamic movement where spirituality and song have converged.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.

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