Was Inducted into IBA’s Hall of Fame in 2005
Along with the rest of the nation, IBA learned yesterday of the passing of IBA Hall of Famer, Orion Samuelson. “There are very few true legends in their own time,” remarked IBA president & CEO Dennis Lyle. “Orion Samuelson was undeniably one of them,” Lyle continued. “Whether visiting with the President of the United States in the Oval Office or with an Illinois farmer on a combine in the middle of a corn field, Orion was welcomed anywhere and everywhere. He truly defined agriculture journalism.”
We share the following report of Orion’s passing from the WGN-TV, his broadcast “home,” along with WGN-Radio, for 60 years..
Chicago has lost a broadcasting legend. And farmers across America have lost an advocate and friend.
Orion Samuelson died Monday, WGN Radio announced.
Samuelson brought agriculture to life through his decades of reports on WGN Radio and television.
Samuelson spent 60 years broadcasting until his retirement in 2020.
He grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Wisconsin, then went into the radio business.
He joined WGN Radio in 1960 and announced the news of President Kennedy’s Assassination.
He hosted a show called Top of the Morning on WGNTV during the 1960s.
Samuelson went on to host a farm show with Max Armstrong that was syndicated to 150 small TV markets across the country.
His love of the farming beat took him to 44 countries over the years. He was known as “the American farmer’s best friend” and is in the Radio Hall of Fame.
Samuelson would have been 92 on March 31.
***Courtesy of the Illinois Broadcasters Association***
