In 1951, Word Records was established in
Waco, Texas by Jarrell McCracken, Baylor business major Henry SoRelle and radio/television executive Ted Snider. The event is based on a full-length match, between the forces of good and evil, with Jesus Christ and Satan coaching the two teams. McCracken was familiar with play-by-play broadcasting, having created virtual baseball games for radio broadcast based on wire reports. McCracken originally presented "The Game of Life" on Sunday nights, at various churches around the central Texas area. Everywhere he presented "The Game of Life", he got requests for copies. Eventually, he had a short run of records pressed to offer at churches where he spoke. The fictional radio station in the recording has the call letters "WORD", which was printed on the label of the custom record. After being asked by a friend when he was going to release a follow-up, McCracken then decided to pursue the label on a more serious level. Subsequent records focused on other spoken word recordings, but Word soon branched out into
southern gospel music. Early employees for the label included Tom Norfleet,
Kurt Kaiser and
Ralph Carmichael.
Canaan Records was also re-opened in early 2007, with Dave Clark at the helm.
Larry Norman's
Solid Rock Records had a distribution deal with Word, from 1975 to 1980. Artists on Solid Rock included Norman,
Randy Stonehill,
Daniel Amos,
Tom Howard and
Mark Heard. In 1983,
Chris Christian signed a distribution deal, to move his label
Home Sweet Home Records from
Benson Records to Word Records. It is still active, and remains under the independent ownership of
Chris Christian.
Light Records was distributed in the 1970s by Word Records, before being sold to Ralph Carmichael in the 1980s.
Reunion Records signed a distribution and promotion contract in the 1980s. The agreement lasted well into the 1990s. Today, Reunion Records is distributed through
Provident Label Group.
Star Song Communications was distributed by Word Records, but left their distribution deal in the late 1980s to sign with
Sparrow Records, which was taken over by Chordant Distribution and then by
EMI. Distribution deals with other labels in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s allowed Word Records to rise to the top, virtually housing a who's-who in Christian music. They distributed, promoted and advertised the biggest names in
contemporary Christian music. Artists included:
Amy Grant,
Michael W. Smith,
Rich Mullins,
Russ and Tori Taff,
Benny Hester,
Paul Smith,
the Imperials,
Petra,
Helen Baylor,
Sandi Patti,
Kenny Marks,
Wayne Watson,
Carman,
the Archers featuring
Steve Archer,
White Heart,
Gaither Vocal Band,
Bill Gaither Trio,
Point of Grace,
Love Song,
Sweet Comfort Band,
the Nelons,
Happy Goodman Family featuring
Rusty Goodman,
Florida Boys,
Guardian,
Phil and Brenda Nicholas and other artists. In the 1976, McCracken sold part interest in his label to the
American Broadcasting Company. and Nelson made two major changes—developing the present swirling "W" logo for book products which was unveiled in 1995. Headquarters moved from Waco, Texas, to its present headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Nelson split the record label and book publishing arms in 1996, when the labels were sold to
Gaylord Entertainment. In an agreement with Gaylord, Thomas Nelson continued to use the "Word Publishing" name for its book imprint until 2002, at which time it became "W Publishing Group" and retained the swirling "W" logo. A highly controversial ad campaign introduced at the CBA convention in 2002, created litigation and settled later. After Colin Reed took over Gaylord Entertainment in 2001, the hotelier made corporate changes at the company, including the ousting of longstanding president Roland Lundy. The Word Entertainment group was sold to then-
AOL Time Warner in 2002. That same year, former
Atlantic Records Christian division manager Barry Landis briefly took the position of president of the label group division. Word went through a period of restructuring, closing their
Los Angeles music publishing office, absorbing
Myrrh Records,
Squint Entertainment, and Everland Entertainment into the Word Label Group, and reducing in-house staff.
Curb Records also gained a stake in the company during this time. In 2004, the company was sold again as part of Time Warner divestiture of its music division, selling it to a group of investors led by
Edgar Bronfman Jr. to form a newly independent
Warner Music Group. In March 2016, it was announced that Mike Curb acquired 100% of Word Entertainment (excluding the print music division) from Warner Music Group. However, WMG has continued to distribute Word's output for the general market. The print music division (Word Music and Church Resources), excluding Word Publishing, was subsequently acquired by
The Lorenz Corporation in February 2017. == Artist roster ==