Airing on the Side of Agriculture

 Nicole Chance is a sophomore studying agricultural communications at University of Illinois. This past summer, she worked as an intern for Gale Cunningham (WYXY-FM, Champaign, IL). About Gale, Nicole said. “His passion for the agriculture industry is one that is hard to put into words. His unceasing dedication to FFA and 4-H clubs is just the beginning of many contributions he has made to the youth in both Illinois and Indiana.” Nicole continued, “Gale cares about each and every one of the people he interviews and his goal is to provide content that will allow listeners to be excited and encouraged about the industry they represent.”

In September, Pam Jahnke (WOZN/Q106 Radio, Madison, WI) led a 33-member group on a 10-day tour of local farms in Germany and Austria. Most of the tour participants were either still actively farming, retired farmers or people that grew up on a farm. 

Janet Adkison, NAFB Past President, and Washington Bureau Chief for RFD-TV and Rural Radio, spoke September 21 to the Ag Seniors luncheon meeting held at the national headquarters of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, DC.

Tom Donley is a product of Adams County, IL, where he graduated from Unity High School in Mendon. He is studying journalism at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Tom worked with Jim Dewey (WTAD, Quincy, IL) for a couple of weeks during the winter semester break and returned as an intern this summer. “All summer long I have been prepping Tom to cover for me while I traveled to Asia with the United Soybean Board See for Yourself tour.

She began her duties August 31. “Carah will be a huge asset to the Red River Farm Network (RRFN). She is an excellent farm broadcaster and will be a wonderful addition to our organization,” said Mike Hergert, RRFN President, who served as NAFB President in 2001. Carah joins Mike, Don Wick and Randy Koenen.

Making pottery is a favorite hobby for North Carolina farm broadcaster Rhonda Garrison (Southern Farm Network, Raleigh, NC). “For as long as I can remember I’d wanted to learn to make pottery, but had little opportunity or time while living in the Texas Panhandle,” Rhonda said. In the summer of 2007 she moved to North Carolina with three dogs, and only one family member east of the Mississippi so, she said, “I finally had lots of time, and little did I know that I’d moved to the epicenter of handmade pottery on the East Coast!” She explains how she got started. “In the fall of 2008 I took my first class that involved throwing clay on a potter’s wheel at a city-owned art studio, and about the best I could do was throw a fit.

Kelsey Litchfield from Rio, IL, joined the RFD Radio Network team in Bloomington, IL, this summer, reports Rita Frazer. A junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kelsey is studying agricultural communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism. She is a member of 4-H House Cooperative Sorority, Collegiate Farm Bureau, Explore ACES steering committee, and Illini Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. Recently, she was elected to serve as Member Relations Coordinator on the National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow officer team. Also, Kelsey is the 2015 Jim Evans Scholarship recipient sponsored by the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation.

Marlin Bohling describes new RD-TV Studios in Nashville, “The new RFD-TV studios are a feat of engineering. Designed and constructed by companies from New York, the main television studio room is actually comprised of six different sets located around the periphery of the main room,” reports Marlin Bohling, Markets Editor (RFD-TV and Rural Radio, Nashville, TN).  He added, “The five cameras, including an overhead jib camera, are all located in the center of the room and can pivot to cover all of the different sets, which are used for everything from our ag news and market reports to western sports coverage, weather, stand-up teases, and cozy interviews in a living room setting complete with a realistic ‘digital’ fireplace.” He continued, “Hundreds of lighting components are all computer-controlled and instantly reconfigurable. Ten giant LCD monitors arranged on end and combined in two banks of five serve as an amazing backdrop to our news stage and can show any combination of images, graphics, and videos in any size configuration for a dynamic high-action set. New world-class hardware and software systems allow for top tier production capability rivaling other national networks.”