NAFB Blog

As Carrie Muehling celebrates 10 years as Agribusiness Director at WJBC (Bloomington, IL), this month, she reports on a unique Moms Tour. “This fall it has been fun to ride along with area farmers as they bring in a record harvest of corn and soybeans. One of those opportunities came with McLean County farmers, Gerald and Tyler Thompson (father/son), as they hosted a group of local moms who are part of the Illinois Farm Families program.” Illinois Farm Families began this program a few years ago with Chicago-area field moms, and while that original program continues, others have popped up all over the state.

Ken Root was part of a small delegation that traveled to South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia in October to look at investing in farm land. Underwritten by People's Company, a farm real estate firm based in Des Moines, IA, Ken was accompanied by a videographer and an investment analyst. Trip video will be used at the January 23 Land Investment Expo in Des Moines. Ken’s group was shown several farms by Koos DeKlerk, general manager of Emvest Investments, and Susan Payne, Executive Chairman of Emvest Investments.

KICD/KLLT Radio hired Ben Maurer for a 10-week internship this past summer. “Ben assisted us in the news, weather and farm departments. He traveled with our farm broadcasters, Dan Skelton and Troy Leininger, to some of the county fairs this summer, and he conducted interviews with 4-H’ers showing at the fair,” reports Kevin Tlam, Operations Manager of KICD. Ben is in his senior year at South O’Brien High School and plans to attend Iowa Lakes Community College.

Haylie Shipp (Northern Ag Network, Miles City, MT) has accepted a full-time position with her hometown radio station, KLTZ/KLAN (Glasgow, MT) while remaining a part of Northern Ag Network and on their regional airwaves in Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota weekly. She will host a daily "tradio" program, managing a number of the station's sales accounts, and doing some voice-tracking. “Outside of that, they've given me the flexibility to start any and all ag programs I want on the stations,” she said.  “As an affiliate of Northern Ag Network, the stations will continue to carry those programs, but I'll now have the opportunity to make this station even more of a financial and agricultural powerhouse.

54 years and counting is the latest benchmark for Orion Samuelson, reports his longtime colleague, Max Armstrong. “As I continue with him on the Saturday Morning Show broadcast (the hour-long weekly show on WGN Radio), I have been heard on WGN every week for nearly 37 years,” Max reports. “Every few weeks, when Orion is in Arizona, I originate that entire hour from my home studio south of Raleigh, where Linda and I bought a horse farm this year.”