This Week in Christian History: Family Radio, Mass Crucifixion, New Bible Translation

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, February 04, 2018

Family Radio Launched - February 4, 1959

Family Radio's headquarters in Alameda, California. | (Photo: Family Radio Staff)

This week marks the anniversary of the first broadcast of Family Radio, a nondenominational fundamentalist Protestant nonprofit that became a national network of stations.

Founded the year before by Harold Camping, Richard Palmquist and Lloyd Linquist, its first program was broadcasted on FM radio station KEAR in San Francisco, California.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Family Radio President Camping garnered controversy for claiming that all local congregations had gone apostate and that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011.

Following Camping's death in 2013, the station saw an uptick in donations as well as new partnerships with groups like Answers in Genesis and Ligonier Ministries.