When travel restrictions were relaxed earlier this year, Carey Martin (Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, Waco, Texas) took advantage of the opportunity and kicked off a summer road trip to visit network affiliate stations and see rural Texas.
“My wife and daughter loaded up our truck and spent the summer seeing Texas,” Martin said. “I had a lot of great phone relationships with radio station owners and managers, but I wanted to meet them in-person to shake hands and share a meal.”
After logging nearly 5,000 miles on the road this summer, Martin said he only managed to see about half of the network’s 117 stations.
“Texas is a big state, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. We visited 53 of our stations, so there’s still more traveling to do,” he said.
Travel restrictions due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in Texas have put a stop to most nonessential travel for now.
Being a history buff, Martin made several historical stops during his summer travels.
“Texas has an incredible history. We fought our own revolution for independence from Mexico, so there are some amazing historical sites to see,” he said.
With Texas being such a large state, agriculture in its different regions is very diverse.
“We saw the feedlots in the Texas Panhandle, miles and miles of cotton around Lubbock, sheep and goats in the Hill Country, and the never-ending acres of sorghum in South Texas,” Martin added.
Plans are already being made to continue the station visits as soon as things settle down with COVID-19.
“My goal was to see every single station by the end of the year,” he said. “We may not make that goal, but we’re going to get it done as soon as we can.”
SECOND PHOTO: Carey Martin, right, with KSSL Station Owner Cathy Long, middle, and her husband, Rock
THIRD PHOTO: Carey Martin, right, with KHLB Station Owner Kaycee Ingleby
