Radio days: Legendary farm broadcaster reflects on career

RALEIGH, N.C. — The magic voice coming out of a radio put Max Armstrong on the career path to become a radio broadcaster.

“That’s all I ever wanted to do from the age of 7 or 8 was to be on the radio,” Armstrong said. “I was crazy about radio.”

During the same summer Armstrong got his driver’s license, he also received his license from the Federal Communications Commission to work at a radio station.

“In those days you had to get a license to work at a radio station,” Armstrong said.

“We were visiting relatives in Michigan and I took the test in Detroit,” he said. “I started to work at a radio station in Mt. Carmel, Illinois, when I was 17, when dad didn’t need me on the farm and especially in the wintertime.”

Armstrong, who grew up on a farm in southern Indiana, worked at WGN Radio for 31 years and at Farm Progress as the director of broadcasting for 14 years. In addition, he worked with Orion Samuelson on the television show, “This Week in Agribusiness,” for 18 years.

“Orion and I were partners for 45 years,” Armstrong said.

On June 30, Armstrong retired from his broadcasting position with Farm Progress.

“I have exceeded my dreams in so many ways including the people I have been able to meet,” he said. “I’ve been on hundreds of farms all over the country.”

Working at WGN Radio during its heyday was really special for Armstrong.

“WGN was the most listened to station in the third largest city in the country,” he said. “A lot of grain traders listened to WGN. Orion and I moved the grain market a few times in the ‘70s with comments we made on the air.”

WGN radio and television were located in the same building.

“I would work on television and come back across the hall and I was on the ratio station again,” Armstrong said. “There was something pretty neat about that.”

Armstrong worked from the WGN studio from 1977 to 1999 and then built a home studio for his radio broadcasts. Working at the WGN studio was important for Armstrong, especially in the early years of his career.

“I think about what I would not have learned if I had not been there looking my colleagues in the eyes and sitting across the table from them in the studio,” Armstrong said. “Also working in the same office with Orion with our desks 10 feet apart, I learned a lot from him and he may have learned a little bit from me.”

“We complement each other so well,” he said.

In addition, the radio and TV broadcast team also had great support people working with them.

“Our camera guys have been a pretty small crew, about five guys over the years,” Armstrong said. “We worked with Ryan Ruh and Angelo Lazzara for a combined 61 years and now the production of the ‘This Week in Agribusiness’ is in their hands, so they are going to continue the production of the show with Farm Progress.”

Armstrong has worked with 14 U.S. secretaries of agriculture.

“But that’s not the highlight for me,” he said. “The highlight for me is being in the cab with a grower at harvest time.”

In the mid-’80s, the WGN radio broadcasters started taking calls from farmers in the cabs of their tractors and combines.

“That’s when the cell phones started showing up on farms, so we took calls on the air and it became a very popular feature,” Armstrong said.

Among the farmers who called the station was an American Airlines pilot who farmed with his brother along the Wisconsin state line.

“He would call and you would swear you were in the plane with him because he sounded like a pilot,” Armstrong said. “Sometimes he would ask the air traffic controller to give him special routings so he could check on crop conditions for us.”

Along with his radio and television work, Armstrong has written two books — “Stories from the Heartland” and the recently released “More Stories from the Heartland.”

“The books are about people I’ve met,” Armstrong said.

Now that Armstrong has retired from his broadcaster position at Farm Progress he won’t miss the daily early morning start time or the deadlines. However, he will miss the people.

“That’s why I want to stay engaged with old tractor shows, tractor rides and helping with parades by showing up with my Super M,” he said.

One of those special events is the Half Century of Progress Show set for Aug. 24-27 at the Rantoul National Aviation Center.

“I’ll be at the Half Century show every minute of every day,” he said about the vintage working farm show that he helped start in 2003.

“The first conversation about the show was with Mark Randall, who was the manager of the Farm Progress Show,” Armstrong said. “He called me and wanted to do something across the road with old equipment to mark the 50th anniversary of the Farm Progress Show.”

“I said there’s one guy to talk to and that’s Darius Harms,” he said. “When we put that in Darius’s lap, it was like throwing gas on a match.”

Harms was an amazing individual, Armstrong said.

“He was able to marshal the volunteers and that core of people are still there pulling the load yet today,” he said. “It has been really neat to see the show not only survive but thrive even after Darius’s passing because he gave it so much inertia.”

This year will be the 11th Half Century of Progress Show since the event is held every other year.

“The geography of people attending the show is amazing to me,” Armstrong said. “At the last show I met people from about three dozen states.”

Some of those who attend the show come from a considerable distance.

“A couple will be there from Belgium,” Armstrong said. “They come to every Half Century show and they farm about 60 miles out of Brussels.”

It is difficult appreciate the role this farm show plays in some people’s lives, the farm broadcaster said.

“There are people who put this on their bucket list as one of the last things they want to accomplish in their life — to be at the Rantoul show,” Armstrong said.

“There’s been a couple of times we were aware that terminally ill people were coming to the show and we made sure they had everything they needed to see everything they wanted to see,” he said. “That’s exactly what Darius wanted — nothing mattered besides making people happy.”

This year a special tractor ride will be held on Monday, Aug. 28.

“There will be 70 tractors driving from Farmer City to Decatur to be displayed at the Farm Progress Show site,” Armstrong said. “That doesn’t happen often. Generally the old tractors have been on the outside of the show.”