A champion of youth, valuable mentor

ONTARIO, Wis. — In 1934, on a 30-cow dairy farm in Vernon County without rural electrification or indoor plumbing, one of the greatest voices of agriculture — the original “ag-vocate” — was born.

Orion Samuelson always remembered where he came from, said Brian Winnekins, owner and farm broadcaster at WRDN Radio in Durand. According to Winnekins, that is what made people revere Samuelson.

Samuelson, 91, passed away March 16 at his home in Huntley, Illinois.

“Orion meant a lot to a lot of people,” Winnekins said. “He never forgot little Ontario, or the farm he grew up on, or Cashton or Sparta, and I think that is what made him as successful as he was.”

Winnekins said Samuelson naturally became a mentor for him, in his own radio career. Both had a keen interest in following farm markets, and a small town radio station in Sparta was part of the early years in both their careers. Samuelson began broadcasting on WKLJ, an AM channel from Sparta, while WCOW, Sparta’s FM channel, was Winnekins’ second radio job.

Samuelson wanted to be a farmer until God intervened, Winnekins said. At the age of 14 Samuelson was diagnosed with a rare condition that caused his hip bone to decay, keeping him wheelchair bound for nearly two years, dashing his hopes of farming.

“When he was laid up, he spent a lot of time listening to the radio; that is when he started seeing broadcasting as a potential career,” Winnekins said. “His FFA advisor got him started in public speaking contests to help develop his skills. That’s why he was always such a big supporter of FFA and 4-H.”

Winnekins’ path first crossed with Samuelson’s when he joined the National Association of Farm Broadcasting in the late 1990s, after being promoted to farm director at WBOG in Tomah.

“They have a new member get together, with a lot of the old guard members, and that is where I first met Orion and Max (Armstrong) in person,” Winnekins said. “With his background of starting in Sparta, and WBOG being an affiliate station of their program, he told me if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to ask. We just really hit it off, right away.”

In 1999, Winnekins decided to take Samuelson up on the offer, appealing to Samuelson’s willingness to help youth.

“The Monroe County Fair was having issues with their junior livestock auction,” Winnekins said. “A lot of people weren’t attending — it was always going up head-to-head against a country music show, so there weren’t a lot of bidders. There was a lot of concern about it, and someone approached me. I said, ‘Why don’t I give Orion a call? Maybe we can have him come on Saturday and we’ll highlight the kids, and have him at the very beginning of the auction to meet with everybody.’”

Despite his trepidation at what the potential price tag for Samuelson’s attendance might be, Winnekins picked up the phone and made the call.

“I told him what was going on and he said, ‘Brian, I’m there,’” Winnekins said. “He could have commanded a whole ton of money, but what he charged us didn’t even pay for the fuel for the airplane, much less the pilot.”

The sensation Samuelson’s presence created in the 4-H barns was astounding, Winnekins said.

“You couldn’t move in the area around our booth, because the kids were swarming everywhere, wanting to be interviewed by Orion,” Winnekins said. “They were bringing their cattle up, we had lambs there, some people brought their pigs up on leashes so they wouldn’t run away, they brought their chickens. It was crazy.”

Winnekins said the station’s owner, who was serving as the in-station engineer for the remote broadcast, expressed concern over the wild departure from normal programming.

“He was getting concerned that we weren’t even playing three songs an hour,” Winnekins said. “I told him there was no way I was going to tell Orion Samuelson he only had two minutes to interview a kid — that this was the point, we really wanted to highlight these kids and their projects, and it was only for one afternoon, and we had a ton of sponsors.”

Winnekins said there was an effect Samuelson had on the youth, their parents and ultimately the junior livestock auction.

“I don’t know who was more excited, the kids or their parents,” Winnekins said. “Every radio in the barn had our station on, listening to the interviews. The kids who weren’t up by our booth were falling over themselves to get my attention.”

For the next several years, Samuelson’s Saturday afternoon visits to the Monroe County Fair became an annual occurrence, Winnekins said.

“There was a noticeable difference in the auction,” Winnekins said. “By 2003 or 2004, they gave up doing country music shows — there were more people at the junior livestock auction with Orion than there were at the Martina McBride concert.”

Winnekins forged a personal relationship with Samuelson.

“I always called him my NAFB dad,” Winnekins said. “If I had a question, I always knew I could call Orion.”

In 2003 Winnekins was honored by the NAFB with the Horizon Award, given to up-and-coming farm broadcasters. The same year, Samuelson was honored as the organization’s Farm Broadcaster of the Year.

“That was a big deal in my career, and it was special to win it the same year as Orion was honored,” Winnekins said. “You have to be nominated for that. I never confirmed it, but I have a funny feeling Max and Orion nominated me, and that Max nominated Orion.”

Samuelson nominated Winnekins in his bid for NAFB president in 2013, an endorsement that paved the way for Winnekins’ election. In 2020 Winnekins took his turn being named Farm Broadcaster of the Year in a virtual presentation, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“They announced the award and almost immediately my phone rang,” Winnekins said. “It was Orion, congratulating me. He told me how proud he was of me, and of what I’ve done with my station, and to be able to say we were the only two farm broadcasters from WCOW to have been named Farm Broadcaster of the Year. That was really a special phone call. He never told me this, I only learned of it, doing an interview with Max after he passed away — he only planned to stay at WGN for maybe five years, then he wanted to buy a radio station in a small Wisconsin town, just like I did — that I was living his dream.”