Airing on the Side of Agriculture

Curt Lancaster (Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, Waco, TX) began his broadcasting career at age 15 at KPOS-AM, Post, TX). He’s worked at seven radio stations and three radio networks (two of which he launched). Also, he worked at three television stations for voice work and writing and directing their talk shows and newscasts. Curt said, “There is nothing in the broadcasting business I haven’t done. I have been a General Manager, a disc jockey, newsman, writer and producer of radio and TV commercials, video camera operator, TV director, radio consultant, program director, and, yes, janitor.”

Joe Gill (KASM, Albany, MN) said it all began with a comment from my 6-year-old son, Ben, after school one day. He said, "Dad, our class is collecting postcards from all 50 states!" His excitement resulted in a few inquiring questions on Joe’s behalf. The first one was...why? He said this is how their class is going to celebrate 100 days of school. Getting 100 postcards in 100 days, while collecting cards from all 50 states. 

Dave Schumacher (KTRS, St. Louis, MO) says that “One of the more frequently asked questions I run into in my travels is: How did you become a farm broadcaster, and better yet how were you able to remain a farm broadcaster on a major metropolitan radio station for 20 years?” Twenty years ago this April 15, Dave had just left the National Stockyards, where he had been a livestock commission man and one of the cattle auctioneers for many years.

As most broadcasters, Melissa Gregory (KFEQ, St. Joseph, MO) followed a unique path to her communications career.  She explained, “A couple of years after high school, I was working for an airline when I got a call from my grandmother who had a friend who worked for a small radio station in Bethany, MO. They had just lost their afternoon girl and needed someone, so I decided to put in an application even though I had no experience.  Lo and behold within a couple weeks, I was interviewed and hired.” While there, Melissa did a small amount of farm broadcasting, including getting the area’s cash bids and doing the closing markets. A year later, another coincidence would happen.

Cattle losses from Goliath, the 2015 winter storm, could total more than 50,000 head across New Mexico and Texas Panhandle and South Plains, according to final estimates, reports Jerry Lackey (Agriculture Editor Emeritus for the San Angelo Standard-Times and Abilene Reporter-News and farm broadcaster emeritus for Voice of Southwest Agriculture Radio Network, San Angelo, TX. Jerry writes a regular newspaper column called Windmill Country.) “The blizzard arrived after Christmas and lingered for weeks with snow drifts as high as 14 feet in parts of eastern New Mexico and northwest Texas.

​WGFA (Watseka, IL) General Manager Stacey Smith found boat transportation to be the most convenient way to get to work at the station during December flooding. Stacey said, “It's not uncommon to flood here. And unfortunately, the floods are getting more frequent and in some cases severe.” The history of Watseka is that it was founded by Native Americans and settled primarily due to the trapping industry with both the Iroquois River and Sugar Creek meeting in town. “We are also very low in elevation. Similar to a bowl. And we are in the center of it. Our county government is currently working on getting a Federal declaration for Iroquois County. 

“Water is the number one concern in California,” reports Don York (KMJ, Fresno, CA). “Even with recent El Nino generated storms, there is much worry in the San Joaquin Valley about how much water will be available for farmers in 2016. For now, most farmers have to make use of groundwater pumping to irrigate their crops if they want to stay in business. New deep wells are very expensive to drill and could take more than a year of waiting before drilled because of long waiting lists.” Looking ahead, Don said, “This year could bring some relief in the form of surface water deliveries if more snow melts off into the rivers down to the reservoirs.” Don covers a wide range of other stories for a live weekday hour-long farm report on KMJ radio. “I broadcast to about a third of the state, thanks to our powerful AM signal.

After 36 years with Kansas and Oklahoma Farm Bureaus, Sam Knipp retired September 29, 2015. “After a few days, I hungered for continuing advocating for agriculture. American Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) offered me the opportunity to feed that urge. AFR has a 110-year history in Oklahoma as a general farm organization and insurance company servicing rural Oklahoma. Today, AFR has over 100,000 family members and is licensed to provide insurance in 24 states.