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In the early 1930s, Theodore H. Epp graduated from the Southwest Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly afterward, he became a pastor in Goltry, Okla., and helped an associate with a radio ministry.
In 1938, Epp accepted a job as a prison chaplain in Kansas, bought a house and planned to settle. Later that year, while visiting his parents in Nebraska, he was urged to establish a radio ministry here.
It is unclear what exactly changed his plans, but in April 1939, Epp and his wife, Matilda, came to Nebraska with $65 in cash, their entire savings. After renting near 19th and R streets, Epp paid $35 for three weeks of radio time on KFOR, then with studios in the Lincoln Hotel at Ninth and P streets.
The first broadcast aired May 1, 1939, and the Back to the Bible radio ministry was born.
The following year, the Epps moved to Grand Island, where they wrote scripts at their home and broadcast them over KMMJ.
In 1942, Epp's...