Airing on the Side of Agriculture

Ken Root (Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network, Guttenberg, Iowa) has retired!

“I pulled the plug on my broadcasting career January 3, 2020. Since then I’ve received several emails; and my wife, Jane, put together a party and decorated one wall with letters from friends who wished me good things in retirement and often cited their memories of our interactions during my long and checkered career. I received 100 letters that Jane made into a wall of memories for me,” Root said.

On December 10, 2019, Orion Samuelson (WGN Radio, Chicago, Illinois) marked his 45^th year of doing a live year-end TV-radio interview with the Secretary of Agriculture in his office in Washington, D.C.

If you were confused when you read George Bower (KICD, Spencer, Iowa) is a new NAFB member, you’re not alone. He left broadcasting for 10 months, but now he’s back.

In 2019, on its 100th birthday, Colorado Farm Bureau awarded Farm Broadcaster Brian Allmer  (Brian Allmer Radio Network, Briggsdale, Colorado) with its Service to Agriculture award.

Stu Ellis (WHOW, Decatur, Illinois) has been a well-known agricultural communicator in Illinois for nearly 50 years. 

Mace Thornton is vice president of communications and marketing for the United Soybean Board and U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Avery Davidson has taken the place of Carey Martin at Louisiana Farm Bureau, who recently moved to Waco as manager of the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. Davidson, a native of New Iberia, Louisiana, also co-hosts the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s weekly TV show This Week in Louisiana Agriculture and has covered agriculture for both radio and television for a number of years.

Clinton Griffiths (Farm Journal Broadcasting, South Bend, Indiana) finds it very easy to stay busy these days. 

The only farmer-and-rancher-owned radio association is expanding its reach. The Nebraska Rural Radio Association (NRRA) has reached an agreement to purchase seven additional radio stations in Nebraska. Legacy Communications has agreed to the deal, which includes six stations in the Scottsbluff market and one station in Holdrege. 

Bill Zortman (KELO/KELQ, Sioux Falls, South Dakota) grew up as a farm kid in Onawa, Iowa, feeding sheep, hogs, and cattle with his family.