Title: Ernest C. Martin Radio Program Collection, 1950-1968

Arrangement
The collection was arranged by Harry Rice, Sound Archivist. The finding aid was created in August 2015 by Harry Rice and Lori Myers-Steele, Collections Archivist. The finding aid was updated in February 2016 to reflect the inclusion of reference/listening CD copies of select recordings.
Listen to Ernest Martin's radio singing.
Abstract
Ernest Martin was a talented musician and singer, originally from Clay City, Powell County, Kentucky. In the 1930s, Martin had some success in country music on such radio stations as WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee. However, at age twenty-two, in about 1936, Martin began a career as an independent Baptist evangelist which lasted well into the 1980s. Martin traveled thousands of miles conducting church revivals and recorded radio programs of preaching and singing. These programs were broadcast on radio stations throughout central and eastern Kentucky including the cities of Corbin, Frankfort, Harrodsburg, Hazard, Mt. Sterling, and Stanton. With his sons Ernest and Vernon, Martin also made several commercial recordings in various formats including 78 rpm, 45 rpm, LP, eight-track, and cassette tapes.