Orion Samuelson

Orion Clifford Samuelson ( ; March 31, 1934 – March 16, 2026) was an American broadcaster known for his agriculture broadcasts and his ability to explain agribusiness and food production in an understandable way. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early life and career Samuelson was born on a dairy farm near Ontario, Wisconsin, on March 31, 1934. Growing up on the farm Samuelson was expected to take over the family business, but a leg disease made it impossible to do heavy work and left him unable to walk for a substantial part of his adolescence.

He began at Chicago's WGN radio in a similar capacity on 26 September 1960 and was heard for sixty years as the station's head agriculture broadcaster through 2020, In May 1960, one of Samuelson's first assignments for WGN was to emcee the National Barn Dance, a long running program that WGN had just acquired when WLS radio discontinued its association with the Prairie Farmer magazine. WLS had converted to "The Station With Personality" and started playing rock 'n' roll. Three years into his tenure at WGN, Samuelson was the staffer who read the news of the John F. Kennedy assassination. His career led him to have dinner at the White House and travel to 43 countries, including Cuba, where he shook hands with Fidel Castro, Moscow where he met with Mikhail Gorbachev, and England to broadcast live from the Royal Agricultural Show. He traveled with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Prime Minister of India to see the Taj Mahal. including John F. Kennedy (when he was still a Senator), Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, via first-run syndication. In 2004, Dennis Hastert approached Samuelson about running for office against Barack Obama in the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois; Samuelson, though he was eager to enter the race, was forced to decline due a throat infection that doctors and his wife warned would be fatal if he attempted the campaign.

On the lighter side, Samuelson and a studio group dubbed the "Uff da Band" once recorded covers of Yogi Yorgesson's novelty songs "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas" and "Yingle Bells". Samuelson held the same position in the broadcasting industry for 60 consecutive years through 2020, second only to Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network announcer Vin Scully.

In 2001, Samuelson was named a laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and was awarded the Order of Lincoln – the highest award bestowed by the State of Illinois. The University of Illinois presented Samuelson with the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. He was honored at the 2010 Wisconsin Corn/Soy Expo in Wisconsin Dells. Samuelson received a custom-engraved Norwegian horse plaque to commemorate the occasion from presidents of the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, the Wisconsin Soybean Association, the Wisconsin Agri-Services Association, and the Wisconsin Pork Association. On December 9, 2010, the southwest corner of E. Illinois St. & N. Cityfront Plaza Dr. was named Orion Samuelson Way by the city of Chicago. In 2014, he was awarded the VERITAS award by American Agri-Women (AAW).

Samuelson served as a Board Member Emeritus for the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation (IALF) having previously served as chairman of the board. He also served on the Farm Foundation Bennett Round Table, and was a member of the board of the Agriculture Future of America, the board of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, and the board of directors of the Foods Resource Bank, and was a trustee of the Cornerstone Foundation of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, and a member of the board of trustees of the National 4-H Council.

On November 1, 2012, Samuelson published his autobiography You Can't Dream Big Enough via Bantry Bay Media.

In 2014, the CME Group and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation announced the inaugural recipient of the Orion Samuelson Scholarship ($5,000) for a senior at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The scholarship is presented to a college student seeking a career in agricultural communications.

On September 23, 2020, Samuelson announced his retirement from WGN Radio. His final broadcast on WGN was the noon business report on December 31, 2020. He was succeeded at WGN by Steve Alexander

Awards National Radio Hall of Fame, 2003 4-H Alumni Award Orion Samuelson was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 2001 in the area of Communication and Agriculture. American Agri-Women Veritas Award, 2014

Listen to Christmas Eve air check from Radio Hall of Fame