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Paul Heil's
THE GOSPEL GREATS Program
P. O. Box 1372
Lancaster PA 17608-1372
Phone (717) 898-9100
Fax (717) 898-6600
mail@thegospelgreats.com
Member of:
Southern Gospel Music Guild
Southern Gospel Music Assn.
Gospel Music Association
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PROGRAM
HOST: Paul Heil
Paul Heil is generally recognized as the best-known
radio voice in Southern Gospel music today. Now into his fifth decade of
radio, television and commercial announcing, Paul Heil has been honored with
numerous industry awards and fan awards for his work in Southern Gospel music.
His smooth, friendly, thoroughly-professional production style is regularly
in demand. He's also been the producer and voice of the popular Southern
Gospel Music Month Daybook series which was distributed to more than
900 radio stations each September for several years. And he has produced
countless special radio features for various record labels which have been
distributed to thousands of radio stations.
Indicative of the depth of his involvement in Southern Gospel music, Paul
was a founding member in 1986 of the Southern
Gospel Music Guild, a national organization of Southern Gospel music
industry leaders, dedicated to the growth of the music and the resultant
spreading of the Gospel. Paul served as president of the Southern Gospel
Music Guild longer than anyone else (nine years). He has also served as a
vice president of the Gospel Music Association
and is a member of the advisory board of the
Southern Gospel Music Association (Hall of
Fame and Museum).
 Paul and his program, The Gospel Greats, have won the highest
Singing News Fan Awards for which they were eligible every year since
1987. The Singing News Fan Awards are generally recognized as the
most prestigious fan-voted awards in the Southern Gospel music industry.
(The "Favorite Syndicated Radio Program" award category was retired after
2005.) And Paul was honored with the Marvin Norcross Award, a
prestigious individual award presented by Singing News magazine for
lifetime accomplishment in the field, in 1991.
In 1997, the Southern Gospel Music Guild awarded Paul their "Hearts Aflame"
award as "Radio Personality of the Year."
 In 2000, Gospel Voice magazine named their
annual award for radio excellence "The Paul Heil Award" and presented
it for the year 2000 to its namesake, Paul Heil.
In 2003, Paul was inducted into the Pennsylvania Southern Gospel Music Hall
of Fame by the Pennsylvania Southern Gospel Music Association. Heil is a
life-long Pennsylvanian and remains a supportive member of the PSGMA. (See
photo at left, pictured with Shelia and a small piano bearing an inscription
commemorating the induction.)
In 2004, the Southern Gospel Music Association honored Paul with its highest
overall award, the "James D. Vaughan Impact Award," (seen at
right) presented each year to the one individual who has had the greatest
lifetime impact on the field of Southern Gospel music.
 (The award
is named in honor of Vaughan, considered the founder, nearly a century ago,
of what has come to be known as Southern Gospel music.)
In 2007, SGNScoops Magazine presented Paul with their highest honor,
the "Sharon Smith Impact Award" for outstanding contributions and
overall impact on the world of Southern Gospel music. And voters in
thesoutherngospel.com's 2006 Southern Gospel Music Awards voted Paul their
"Favorite Radio Personality."
In 2009, the Southern Gospel Music Guild bestowed its "Lifetime Achievement
Award" upon Paul "in appreciation for your extraordinary accomplishments
and distinguished service in Southern Gospel music." The Guild
represents industry leaders in the Southern Gospel music field.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Paul has been selected for biographical
representation in "Who's Who In Religion," "Who's Who In The East," "Who's
Who In Entertainment," "Who's Who Among Emerging Leaders in America," "Who's
Who In Media and Communications," "Who's Who In The World" and "Who's
Who In America," all respected biographical reference works published
by Marquis Publishing, available in most public libraries.
A special version of The Gospel Greats program aired for many years
(during the late 1980s and early 1990s) around the world on the Armed Forces
Radio Network. It was the first Southern Gospel radio program ever accepted
for distribution to America's military stationed around the world. An expanded
version later aired on the AFTRS FM program service, also a first. Armed
Forces Radio personnel presented Paul with a special plaque in honor of his
"outstanding support" for America's military personnel stationed around the
world through this broadcast. (Cutbacks in air time allocated to faith-based
programming during the Clinton administration ended the program's run there.)
 Today The
Gospel Greats program airs each week on about 200 radio stations
throughout the United States and in Canada. It is also heard
around the world on the internet,
accessible wherever anyone has a computer and an internet connection.
And The Gospel Greats was the first nationally
syndicated Southern Gospel radio program to be heard on either of the
two major satellite broadcasters. It was heard first on Sirius through
WSM, Nashville, but later exclusively on XM. Since the Sirius/XM merger,
the program now is heard multiple times each weekend on both satellite
services — XM's enLighten34 channel and Sirius channel 67.
 Prior to his present work, Paul was an award-winning radio news
director (1969-1977) and a television news director (top 50 market, 1977-1979).
During his college years, Paul created and operated a live radio network
serving a dozen college radio stations throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania,
called the Keystone Collegiate Radio Network. In the early 1980s,
he syndicated a weekly half-hour public affairs program to more than 60
Pennsylvania radio stations called Pennsylvania Newsmakers.
Heil has an earned B.A. in English from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown,
Pa., and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Emmanuel Baptist
University.
 Paul's wife,
Shelia, is also a full-time, behind-the-scenes part of The Gospel
Greats program. She handles most listener correspondence, schedules
interviews and manages the office (which includes just about everything).
For many years she wrote Singing News magazine's Northern Notes
column, reporting news of Southern Gospel happenings north of the Maxon-Dixon
line. Paul and Shelia met back in 1981 (or so) at (of course) a radio
station that was airing The Gospel Greats program. Messages for Shelia
(including information for her column) can be sent to
shelia@thegospelgreats.com.
(Photo by Aaron Crisler 2007,
www.gospelmusicupdate.com.)
In recent years, Paul has come to be known for his "Paul's Epistles,"
thoughtful and compelling devotional messages which are published in his
weekly e-mail newsletter. And Paul has even
been asked to preach on occasion at his home church. He has also been the
featured speaker for such organizations as the Southern Gospel Promoters'
Association.
Additional information about Paul and his family can be found in Singing
News magazine, January, 1999, in a special "At Home With..." feature.
Singing News magazine also did a special "Industry Insider" feature
interview with Paul in its June, 2006, issue
Read Paul's 20th Anniversary interview on this
page.
E-mail for Paul can be sent to
paul@thegospelgreats.com.
NOTE: We still have a limited
supply of a special full-color printed newsletter we did in 1994 which has
in-depth stories about The Gospel Greats, our offices, studios and
a reprint of a previous Singing News article about Paul and Shelia
(and the unusual way they met!). While supplies last (and we
have a real good supply) , if you would like a complimentary copy
just e-mail your request to Paul at the address above. Be sure to ask
for the 1994 newsletter and supply your postal mailing address.
 Also
available is our special 25th Anniversary Souvenir Booklet
— a 24-page full-color keepsake booklet published in 2005 that
includes the entire history of The Gospel Greats program, plus reprints
of feature articles, listener letters and testimonies, answers to some
of the most commonly asked questions about the broadcast and countless other
items of interest. Includes many photos, including historical photos. The
booklet is available through our webstore.
Click here
for further information about this booklet.
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Entire site Copyright
1999-2007 Heil Enterprises.
All rights reserved. No material from this site (text, artwork or other
elements) may be otherwise used without the express
permission of the copyright
holder. Copyright for non-original items incorporated into this site
by permission is retained by the original authors.
"The Gospel Greats®" is a registered trademark of Heil
Enterprises.
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