Famed Broadcaster Dies
Published: Friday, March 27, 2026
Orion Samuelson, retired farm broadcaster for WGN Radio in Chicago, died March 16 at his home in Huntley, Ill. He was 91.
Born in 1934, Samuelson grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. After graduating from high school in 1951, he briefly went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison before attending a broadcasting school in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1952.
He then worked at several radio stations in Wisconsin before he was hired as WGN's farm service director in 1960.
Over the years, Samuelson—known by colleagues as "The Big O"—was promoted to vice president and director of agricultural services at WGN. By the mid-1980s, Samuelson and associate Max Armstrong were delivering 13 daily agribusiness reports for WGN and 14 daily reports for the Tribune's radio network.
Samuelson also appeared on WGN-Ch. 9, including on short TV newscasts and hosting an early morning weekday show, "Top O' the Morning." In 1975, he began hosting "U.S. Farm Report," a half-hour weekend TV program syndicated to more than 150 stations that reached more than half the nation's farmers at its peak.
One of Samuelson's most visible radio commitments was co-hosting a midday farm news program, "The Noon Show." For the final 26 years the program aired, he co-hosted it with Max Armstrong. In summers, the duo hosted the show live from state and county fairs in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
In 1996, Samuelson and Armstrong left WGN as full-time employees, though they continued to be heard on the station and continued to host the syndicated "Farm Report" TV show, which Samuelson hosted and produced until 2005. Samuelson remained on WGN until retiring in 2020.
Samuelson was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. The same year, the National Assn. of Farm Broadcasters named Samuelson the 2003 Farm Broadcaster of the Year. In 2005, he was inducted into the Illinois Broadcasters Assn.'s Hall of Fame.
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