75 years serving rural community

ALBANY, Minn. — In the heart of Minnesota’s dairy country, farmers have had a perpetual source of daily information for the last 75 years. KASM Radio Network in Albany caters to dairy farmers partly because its farm broadcaster, station manager and a sales representative all have roots on local dairy farms.

Farm broadcaster Joe Gill grew up listening to KASM on his family’s 36-cow dairy just west of town. He was full time at the station by the time he graduated from college and worked to follow in the footsteps of longtime personality and farm broadcaster Cliff Mitchell. Today, he continues to go about the daily business of delivering farm news and markets and covering farm events of local, state and national importance.

The family farm he grew up on is now run by his brother, Jerry, who milks 58 cows. Gill is still sometimes called into service on the dairy.

“There’s a lot of pressure (as a broadcaster) because I grew up down the road and everybody knows me, knows my nine brothers and sisters, my grandma,” Gill said.

Gill has worked hard to become a knowledgeable resource to the Stearns County dairy community and the areas surrounding it.

“But it’s good pressure,” he said. “It brings me a great understanding of what the area is. Not everyone is looking to buy a new tractor or put in a robot. Some of them milk 36 cows and still make small bales of hay. It’s understanding the traditions of what made this area.”

Those traditions include milking cows. Over the years, Stearns County has consistently led the state in dairy farm numbers.

Gill’s work is supported by Randy Rothstein, the station manager. Rothstein made a living as a dairy farmer until 1998, when the collapse of a loafing barn hay loft triggered the sale of the cows. He had a part-time sports play-by-play gig at the station at the time and was soon hired full time for both sports and sales.

“I had listened (to KASM) all my life, in the barn,” Rothstein said.

Diane Haskamp, a sales representative at the station, also has a dairy farm background.

Rothstein said he credits those kinds of connections for a good share of KASM’s endurance.

“First of all, the hard work ethic comes with it,” he said. “You can say you’re salaried, or hourly, but we don’t leave here until the work is done. Or if someone takes time off, someone else is always asking how they can help.”

Rothstein and Gill both say their service to agriculture helps sell advertising, bringing in the revenue that supports the programming.

“Everyone from the hardware store to the restaurant knows farmers are listening,” Gill said. “A business may not be selling robotic dairy stuff but they still ask whether we can surround their ad with an ag report.”

The station also attends World Dairy Expo and a long list of statewide agriculture events like the coronation of Princess Kay of the Milky Way and the state FFA convention.

“World Dairy Expo is so interesting … Joe gets the interviews so farmers don’t have to go to get that information,” Rothstein said.

Coverage of those events combines with daily ag-oriented items that are tucked in among local programs like funeral announcements, the Birthday Club and Aunt Sara’s Partyline. Polka music fills some of each day.

KASM extends its news coverage by carrying the national program “Dairyline,” along with “Brownfield Ag News.”

Gill’s sales barn reports from three nearby locations are popular among dairy farmers.

“Either I go or I stay in contact with the sales barn,” he said. “People really need that info.”

Having been a farm broadcaster for 16 years, Gill can recite many high points in his dairy industry coverage. One stands out.

“Back in the last years of (Congressman) Collin Peterson, he was at a meeting in Melrose to talk about the dairy margin program; it was a full house,” Gill said. “Peterson said something to the effect of, ‘If you don’t want to get on board with this program, there’s not much more I can do.”

It seemed like a pivotal point, and he still has farmers comment on that meeting, Gill said.

KASM’s programming may be built on 75 years of history and the many traditions that make it unique, but Gill said his service for farmers is also forward-looking.

“Dairy is one of the industries that’s seen the most change over the years,” he said. “We can focus on the future and bring that into what we do, and know change is OK.”