![Orion pub photo 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Orion_pub_photo_2008.jpg)
Orion Samuelson ( ; born March 31, 1934) is a retired American broadcaster, known for his agriculture broadcasts and his ability to explain
agribusiness
Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy,
in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise.
The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...
and food production in an understandable way. He was inducted into the
Radio Hall of Fame
The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988.
Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicatio ...
in 2003.
Career
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. He was a good guy and a good listener.
Samuelson was born on a dairy farm in
Ontario, Wisconsin
Ontario is a village in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 554 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Ontario is located at (43.723396, -90.591999).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area o ...
, near
LaCrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
. Growing up on the farm Samuelson was expected to take over the family business, but a leg disease made it impossible to do heavy work.
He considered becoming a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
pastor before deciding on six months of radio school. His early work was based in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, at
WKLJ in Sparta,
WHBY
WHBY (1150 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Kimberly, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton- Oshkosh areas. The station is owned by Woodward Communications and it airs a news/talk radio format. WHBY's studios and micr ...
in Appleton, and
WBAY-TV
WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic B ...
/
AM in
Green Bay.
Samuelson was heard on
WGN radio
WGN (720 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, with radio studio, studios on the 18th floor of 303 East Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WGN has a talk radio, news/talk format, ...
in Chicago for sixty years as the station's head agriculture broadcaster from 1960 through 2020. In May 1960, one of Mr. Samuelson's first assignments for WGN was to
emcee the ''
National Barn Dance
''National Barn Dance'', broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the ''Grand Ole Opry''.
''National Barn Dance'' also set the stage for other ...
'', a long running program that WGN had just acquired when
WLS radio
WLS (890 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio radio format, format. WLS has its ...
discontinued its association with
Prairie Farmer
''Prairie Farmer'' is a weekly newspaper which covers agricultural and rural news in the state of Illinois. It was first published in 1841 in Chicago, Illinois by John Stephen Wright and was called ''The Union Agriculturist and Western Prairie F ...
magazine. WLS had converted to "The Station With Personality" and started playing
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
. Three years into his tenure at WGN, Samuelson was the staffer that read the news of the
John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was Assassination, assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Time Zone, CST in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Deale ...
. His career led him to have dinner at the White House and travel to 43 countries including
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, where he shook hands with
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
where he met with
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
, and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to broadcast live from the Royal Agricultural Show (aka
Royal Show). He traveled with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Prime Minister of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to see the
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...
.
He interviewed and or met every US president from
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
to
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
,
including
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
(when he was still a Senator),
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
,
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
,
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
,
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
,
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
,
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
,
and finally, after he was 20 years out of the Oval Office,
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
.
During the 1960s, Samuelson hosted an early-morning show on
WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
, ''Top 'O' the Morning'', first with organist Harold Turner, then with Max Armstrong. From 1975 to 2005, Samuelson was the host of
U.S. Farm Report, a weekly television news magazine dedicated to agriculture. ''U.S. Farm Report'' continued without Samuelson after his departure. 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. Both shows aired on 190 Midwest stations via
first-run syndication.
Politically, Samuelson supported the production of
ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was the ...
from corn, to help American farmers.
On the lighter side, Samuelson and a studio group dubbed the "
Uff da
''Uff da!'' (sometimes also spelled ''oof-da'', ''oofda'', ''oofala'', ''oof-dah'', ''oofdah'', ''huffda'', ''uff-da'', ''uffda'', ''uff-dah'', ''ufda'', ', or ''uf daa'') is a Scandinavian exclamation or interjection used to express dismay, ty ...
Band" once recorded covers of
Yogi Yorgesson
Harry Stewart (October 21, 1908 – May 20, 1956), born Harry Skarbo, was an entertainer, singer, comedian, and songwriter. He was best known for his portrayal of Yogi Yorgesson, a comically exaggerated Swedish American.[I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas
"I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas" is a 1949 Christmas novelty song and monologue written and performed by Harry Stewart as fictional Swede "Yogi Yorgesson". Stewart was backed by the Johnny Duffy Trio on the song.
Synopsis
The song is made of two part ...]
'' and ''Yingle Bells''. Samuelson held the same position in the broadcasting industry for 60 consecutive years through 2020, second only to
Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network
The Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network is a network that consists of 27 radio stations that air Major League Baseball games of the Los Angeles Dodgers in parts of seven states and one U.S. territory and in three languages. , 20 stations broadcast ga ...
announcer
Vin Scully
Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...
.
In 2001, Samuelson was named a laureate of
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
and was awarded the
Order of Lincoln
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
– the highest award bestowed by the
State of Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
. The
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
presented Samuelson with the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. He was honored at the 2010 Wisconsin Corn/Soy Expo in
Wisconsin Dells. Samuelson received a custom-engraved Norwegian horse plaque to commemorate the occasion from presidents of the
Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, the
Wisconsin Soybean Association, the
Wisconsin Agri-Services Association and the
Wisconsin Pork Association. On December 9, 2010, the southwest corner of E. Illinois Street & N. Cityfront Plaza Drive was named 'Orion Samuelson Way' by the city of Chicago. In 2014 he was awarded the VERITAS award by American Agri-Women (AAW) Organization.
Samuelson serves as a Board Member Emeritus for the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation (IALF) having previously served as chairman of the board. 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.
On November 1, 2012, Samuelson published his autobiography "You Can’t Dream Big Enough" was published by Bantry Bay Media.
In 2014 the
CME Group
CME Group Inc. (Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, New York Mercantile Exchange, The Commodity Exchange) is an American global markets company. It is the world's largest financial derivatives exchange, and trades in asset class ...
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
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
, Urbana-Champaign. The scholarship is presented to a college student seeking a career in agricultural communications.
On September 23, 2020, Samuelson announced his retirement from WGN Radio. His final broadcast on WGN was the noon business report on December 31, 2020.
Awards
*
National Radio Hall of Fame
The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988.
Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicatio ...
, 2003
*
American Farm Bureau
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), also known as Farm Bureau Insurance and Farm Bureau Inc. but more commonly just the Farm Bureau (FB), is a United States-based insurance company and lobbying group that represents the American agri ...
's Distinguished Service Award, 1998
*
4-H Alumni Award
* Oscar
*
Norsk Høstfest
Norsk Høstfest (Norwegian language: "''Norwegian Autumn Festival''") is an annual festival held each fall in Minot, North Dakota, US. It is North America's largest Scandinavian festival.
History
The event is held on the North Dakota State Fair gr ...
Scandinavian-American
Nordic and Scandinavian Americans are Americans of Scandinavian and/or Nordic ancestry, including Danish Americans (estimate: 1,453,897), Faroese Americans, Finnish Americans (estimate: 653,222), Greenlandic Americans, Icelandic Americans (es ...
Hall of Fame
* Orion Samuelson was inducted as a Laureate of
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 2001 in the area of Communication and Agriculture.
American Agri-Women Veritas Award, 2015
Listen to
Christmas Eve air check from Radio Hall of Fame
References
External links
This Week in Agribusiness- Weekly commentary
*
Tribune Radio NetworkOrion Samuelson, Keynote Speaker ProfileAmerican Agri-Women Veritas Award
Legendary agribusiness broadcaster Orion Samuelson on 60 years
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Orion
American television personalities
People from La Crosse, Wisconsin
Radio personalities from Chicago
1934 births
Living people
American Lutherans
American people of Norwegian descent