Farm broadcast legend, Orion Samuelson, has died. Samuelson, who was two weeks away from his 92nd birthday, spent 60 years at WGN Radio in Chicago and was the host for ‘U.S. Farm Report’ and later ‘This Week in Agribusiness.’ RRFN spoke with Orion’s broadcast partner for 45 years, Max Armstrong. “We had a wonderful run for those many years and, goodness gracious, the flood of memories as you can imagine.” Affectionally known as ‘O’, Samuelson changed the farm media business and also had a profound impact on all of agriculture. “Over the past 50 years, this guy probably is at least in the top ten of the most influential people in American agriculture and maybe in the top five.” In the conversation with Max Armstrong, memories were shared about Samuelson’s career, including Samuelson’s potential candidacy for the open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois in 2004, the year Barack Obama moved onto the national stage. Listen to the interview.
