Reverence, always. Number 8860726. Norma Kate Sullivan so grateful for CBS 2 run, My childhood dream became the honor of a lifetime, Robservations: Sun-Times moving to Old Post Office; ABC 7 opens weekend anchor slot; Medill tracks local news decline, Robservations: StreetWise raises cover price; Sventoonie takes a break; Friends of Chicago Reporter mark 50. His early work was based in Wisconsin and he was working in Green Bay when his big break came and he headed south to Chicago in 1960 to work at WGN Radio where he served as head agriculture broadcaster, presenting16 agricultural reports daily. The money-saving move of starting at a community college rarely works as planned. I think what has been missed by many is that Orion was an agvocate at least 40 years before most farmers knew they should be, said Max Armstrong, who has worked with Samuelson for the past 43 years. His grandparents were Norwegian immigrants, and the first time Orion made his way to Norway, the spot his grandparents chose to homestead made more sense: steep hills with buildings carved into them. Over the past six decades, Samuelson said, he has worked with some of the greatest broadcast people, including Wally Phillips, Bob Collins and Spike ODell. [2], Many of those living in the Midwest over the past six decades remember the big, booming voice of Orion Samuelson that explained the business of agriculture and food production in an understandable way. McDonald posted to Twitter on Monday afternoon, her first post since Samuelsen went on the air a week ago and announced his diagnosis and that he'd been battling the disease for 19 months.. Her quick thinking and determination got him into surgery and saved his life and his voice. No ones shared more airtime with Orion than Max, and hes the first to admit he got a lot of spillover from Orions popularity. Sirott: When you were growing up in Wisconsin, did you have ambitions to be a broadcaster? Samuelson hosted a similar show, This Week in Agribusiness, along with his longtime collaborator Max Armstrong, until his retirement, and continues to make occasional commentaries on that show with Armstrong as host. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. If someone brought Orion fresh sweet corn or asparagus, he shared it with the engineers. Few partnerships in agriculture are as easily recognized as that of Max and Orion again, by first names only. U.S. agricultural journalist to earn the Writer of Merit designation and is a five-time winner of the top writing award for editorial opinion in U.S. agriculture. Sun-Times editor Chris Fusco leaving for California news startup, My childhood dream became the honor of a lifetime, Robservations: Sun-Times moving to Old Post Office; ABC 7 opens weekend anchor slot; Medill tracks local news decline, Robservations: StreetWise raises cover price; Sventoonie takes a break; Friends of Chicago Reporter mark 50. That was the ticket. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. "When I made the drive in my 1949 blue Chrysler New Yorker 60 years ago, I was very uncertain about what I was getting into, because I was a farm kid [thinking], What will I do in the big city?. Radio greats like Paul Harvey called on them to explain issues and provide a counterpoint when the latest anti-ag book came out. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. I was the youngest at the radio station by nine years, he recalled. [1] He produces and hosts the Farm Progress America and Max Armstrongs Midwest Digest daily radio programs. Like the farmers hes served all these years, Orion celebrated that last first day on the job long ago. WGN Radios Orion Samuelson has graced airwaves throughout the heartland in places across the Midwest and beyond. When I started, Orion was so highly regarded by everyone at WGN. We operate in different ways. There are tens of thousands of folks who are really going to miss you. Samuelson's first day on the air at WGN was on September 26, 1960 at "milking time", 5 a.m., at age 26. But he remembers the first time he spoke competitively: My knees never stopped shaking!. Max Armstrong joined Orion at WGN in 1977, and as they spent the next 43 years together on air, they developed a seamless rapport. Holly Spangler has covered Illinois agriculture for more than two decades, bringing meaningful production agriculture experience to the magazines coverage. Orion got plenty of practice thinking on his feet, as WGN took the show on the road for 40 to 50 remote broadcasts a year to county fairs, the Illinois State Fair, the Farm Progress Show and more. He listened to the veterans around him, picking out the good things they did that people liked. No funeral arrangements have been announced. COVID-19 has complicated traditional funerals. Plant-based product fixes nitrogen for corn, Report provides rangeland carbon market insight, Kansas State University veterinarian shares tips to prepare cattle for summer, Commodity Classic offers look at latest in ag equipment, tech, Orion Samuelson: Explaining agriculture to Chicago, Max on Orion: Champion for the American farmer. He was a good guy and a good listener.[3]. I told him Ive done it and you can do it, too., Orion is one of the hardest working people youll every run into he has a tremendous work ethic, Armstrong said. Perfect for elementary students, homeschoolers, and libraries! On December 9th 2010 the southwest corner of E. Illinois Street & N. Cityfront Plaza Drive was named 'Orion Samuelson Way' by the city of Chicago. [1] He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. CHICAGO ( NewsNation Now) One of the most famous voices in radio will end a remarkable 60-year career later this month. You can find a comprehensive archive of his material here. The lesson I share with young people is in order to make a living talking you have got to be a good listener, said Orion Samuelson, farm broadcaster at WGN Radio. The first was the cancellation of the network broadcast in 1952. An award-winning writer and photographer, Holly is past president of the American Agricultural Editors Association. For 42 years, Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson have partnered together, first on WGN radio, and later on the TV Show U.S. Farm Report, until creating the show This Week in Agribusiness.[1]. [1] He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Famein 2003. Orion Samuelson was born on a dairy farm in Ontario, Wisconsin, near LaCrosse. He also serves on the Farm Foundation Bennett Round Table, and is a former member of the board of the Agriculture Future of America, the Board of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, the board of directors of the Foods Resource Bank, a former trustee of the Cornerstone Foundation of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and a former member of the board of trustees of the National 4-H Council. American agricultural broadcast journalist, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Christmas Eve air check from Radio Hall of Fame, "Robservations: WGN Radio names Steve Alexander to succeed Orion Samuelson - Robert Feder", "Legendary agribusiness broadcaster Orion Samuelson on 60 years", "President Trump makes surprise phone call during Decatur Farm Progress Show", "Radio Hall of Fame - Orion Samuelson, Farm Broadcaster", "WGN's Orion Samuelson to have heart surgery", "Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation Board of Directors", "CME Group and NAFB Foundation to Award First-Ever Orion Samuelson Scholarship for Agricultural Communications", "Orion Samuelson to retire after 60 years at WGN Radio", "Laureates by Year - The Lincoln Academy of Illinois", Legendary agribusiness broadcaster Orion Samuelson on 60 years, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orion_Samuelson&oldid=1105630782, Short description is different from Wikidata, BLP articles lacking sources from May 2008, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Orion Samuelson was inducted as a Laureate of, This page was last edited on 21 August 2022, at 02:59. Her guest asked her, if she didn't read them, how did she know how left-wing they were? DePue: I must tell you that I've got a military background. Particularly when I, on a Sunday, went with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Prime Minister of India to see the Taj Mahal. She would never subscribe. Working with Armstrong was a success, Samuelson said, because both of them are good listeners. Orion says he tried to pass along two pieces of advice to his children: Always be honest in what you do, and speak your thoughts, but dont let politics or religion destroy relationships. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue recently honored Samuelson with a proclamation heralding the broadcaster's long career in ag journalism. "So I think Ill find things to do.". WGN Radio personality Bob Sirott sat down with Samuelson for a trip down memory lane. I didnt know what cattle dairy and beef were.. [7] The induction ceremony took place on May 27, 2016, where Armstrong was honored along with 6 others. She began her career with Prairie Farmer just before graduating from the University of Illinois in agricultural communications. At age 26, Samuelson got the call to join 50,000-watt powerhouse WGN, where he began as farm director on September 26, 1960. Before the program was over, hed scored a job at WKLJ in Sparta, Wis., less than 20 miles from the home farm. In 2017, Max Armstrong was elected President of the NAFB. Families from the city would spend the weekend on a farm and then the farmers would go into the city for a weekend.. There are options, 'Stranger than fiction': Tick bite may cause allergy, How to get out of a payday loan nightmare. There were many tears shed, including from listeners who called in, many of whom never met Samuelsen. He called the manager of the station in Green Bay and said he was going to try to steal his farm director.. Enjoy the next phase of your life. His surgery went well on Monday, he is out of ICU and looking forward to checking out of this luxury hotel (hospital) as soon as he gets a bit more strength back, Samuelsons wife, Gloria, wrote in an email. It was devastating. He was born on March 31, 1934 in . As a kid, Orion served as "that voice on the radio" that I became . [3] He interviewed and or met every US president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Donald Trump,[5] including John F. Kennedy (when he was still a Senator), Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton,[6][5] and finally, after he was 20 years out of the Oval Office, Harry S. That teacher, Robert Gehring, went far out of his way to help a kid who really needed to catch a break. Televised "Hometown Heroes" featuring Orion Samuelson to air on NewsNation on Dec. 18. Dont make a mountain out of this lets wait and see what weve got was his approach to crises large and small. In addition to hosting his signature farm reports on radio and TV, and anchoring "The Noon Show" from 1960 to 2003, Samuelson emceed "The National Barn Dance" and read the first bulletin on the air of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. The first is a short musical number (in thirty-two-bar form) in which Yogi shops for his wife and, considering buying a nightgown for his wife but not knowing her size, opts to buy her a carpet sweeper as his gift to her. 2023 www.detroitnews.com. And then Id drive 17 miles to the radio station, Id get home in time to help milk cows at night. Indeed, entire generations have grown up on the farm conditioned to shush around the table or in the truck or across the milking parlor when Orions voice came on the radio. [4] The show is a weekly agriculture television show, produced by OMAX Communications, LLC in cooperation with 22 Creative Group and Farm Progress. He went one further when he got Orion into public speaking contests. (And dont you wonder about the kid who beat him? If you eat, youre involved in agriculture is the line hes used thousands of times at such events. Orion Samuelson is a 89 years old American broadcaster from . It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.Andr Maurois (18851967). Samuelson considered becoming a Lutheran pastor before deciding on six months of radio school. And yes, those programs often started and ended with an Ole and Lena joke. Samuelson held the same position in the broadcasting industry for 60 consecutive years through 2020,[9] second only to Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network announcer Vin Scully. During his over 60 years as a farm broadcaster,. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. Everyone loved him the engineers and everyone behind the scenes, he describes. The feeling is mutual. Reliable and true., And quotable. "I couldn't believe it was happening," he says today. On the eve of his 60th anniversary as the booming voice of agriculture and business at WGN 720-AM, Orion Samuelson says it's time to retire from the Nexstar Media Group news/talk station. Throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Prairie Farmer owned WLS, airing farm and rural programming such as the National Barn Dance and more. , who would go on to found the agricultural communications program at the University of Illinois. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Group Inc. | All Rights Reserved. [14], In 2014 the CME Group and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation announced the inaugural recipient of the Orion Samuelson Scholarship ($5,000) for a senior at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Over the years, Orion originated broadcasts all over the world, including 10 times in China and four in Russia.
