Living on the same farm he grew up on in Maysville, Missouri, Andrew McCrea spends his mornings feeding cattle. Other days, he finds himself speaking to people across the country.
“I love the time I spend at the farm,” McCrea said. “I’m fortunate that I get to do all of these things and still get to live here.”
As a student at the University of Missouri, McCrea was interested in farm broadcasting. Despite not taking any broadcasting courses in college, McCrea interned for BrownfieldAg News during his senior year, which turned into a career of broadcasting.
“I stayed at Brownfield part-time, which allowed me to go back to the farm after college,” McCrea said. “From there, I was able to do both.”
His involvement in FFA also allowed him to build a skillset he would use later in life.
“While at Mizzou, I was elected to a National FFA office so that’s to where I trace a lot of my speaking experience,” McCrea added.
McCrea conducts media training for people to become better leaders and speakers, a passion he developed as a 1993-94 National FFA officer.
“Certainly, FFA helped me become a better farmer, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that FFA would help me become a better leader and a better communicator,” McCrea said.
While working at Brownfield Ag News, he also started building the American Countryside program. “While I was at the Brownfield Network, I had the idea to do American Countryside features because I was traveling to speak to different groups,” McCrea said. “I asked them about interviewing people while I’m out traveling and meeting with different groups and do features, and they agreed.”
While traveling the country, McCrea took his voice with him and met with farmers and ranchers from all over.
American Countryside eventually aired on satellite and grew from a weekly to a daily program. He eventually moved to Farm Journal to take on responsibilities in television and print, two things he wanted to do at some point in his career.
His advice for those looking to get into broadcasting is to follow their passion.
“I got my start without a journalism degree. The ability for people to get into broadcasting is something they can do if they have a passion for it,” McCrea said. “After my internship, I knew I wanted to have a career in this field, and I took chances to get where I’m at today.”
