Susan Risinger joined the WJAG/KEXL & KQKX staff in 1989 as assistant news director and has been the farm director since 1991. “As for how I got into this business,” Susan said, “totally by accident.” She explains, “In 1981, I started working as a typesetter (now an ancient job description) for the weekly newspaper in Neligh, about 35 miles west of Norfolk, NE. After less than a year, I also was doing most of the writing for the paper, the accounts receivable bookkeeping, circulation, and a little advertising sales, too. And part of that job included calling WJAG three times a week to do a five-minute news piece. In 1989, WJAG was looking for an assistant news director. I was one of 84 applicants, and got the job – somehow.” A year later, the farm director left and Susan was doing fill-in stories in farm news and reading markets in the afternoon while they looked for someone else. “November came around, and we needed someone to go to the NAFB Convention to keep our membership. I got nominated -- and have been the station's farm director ever since (that was November 1991).”
How did she get her background in agriculture? “Most of what I know about farming I learned from University of Nebraska-Lincoln extension staff and area farmers,” she said. “My first official year as farm director, we put together a board of farmers, extension personnel and agri-businessmen to advise us on programming -- what should we cover, how should it be presented and what time of day was it best to present that information. They were active for about 18 months while we revamped our farm programming, but many of them are still contacting us regularly with ideas for keeping our product relevant and timely.” In 1992, Susan received the Profitable Agriculture Through Conservation Technology (PACT) Award, and in 2007 she was honored with the New Holland "Oscar in Agriculture." Also, Susan has won numerous Nebraska Associated Press, Nebraska Broadcast Association and Northwest Broadcast News Association awards for agricultural reporting. Susan is a past president of the Nebraska Associated Press Broadcast Association. She has received the media award from the Nebraska Forestry Service and both the media award and the meritorious public service award from the Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association.
About current conditions? Susan reports, harvest is moving along rapidly. “Field fires have been a little bit of an issue since we have had lots of sunshine and warm weather, but little rain, since about the third week in September. Susan is working now on their January farm show. “We usually have about 3,000 farmers over the two days of the show, and more than 120 vendors. We offer educational programming, and that's what I am working on right now. And it looks like Chip Flory will bring his Market Rally program for at least one day – we are still working on the details of that.”
