By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

In the world of radio where every frequency tells a tale, Farm Bureau Roundup, hosted by Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, has been bringing the voices of Texas agriculture to the airwaves for 70 years.

Past and present Roundup reporters celebrated the milestone in May at a gathering in Round Rock.

The 14-minute program first aired on May 22, 1954, on 62 stations in Texas. It was the creation of then-TFB Information Director Bill Hoover and Waco radio personality Goodson McKee.

Farm Bureau Roundup features the insights of nine reporters across the state with agricultural news from their region. It airs every weekend. TFB Network Senior Producer Tom Nicolette has been the host and producer of the program for 10 years.

“Farm radio is still so important, and our reporters help us deliver timely news about what’s happening in agriculture in Texas,” Nicolette said. “The diversity of the farm, ranch and consumer news reported provides value to anyone who tunes in.”

Farm Bureau Roundup is believed to be the longest continuously-running weekly agricultural radio news program in the country. The program currently airs on 106 station affiliates mostly across Texas, with a handful of stations in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

The five-year Farm Bureau Roundup Reunion brings current reporters, retired and past reporters and TFB staff and current TFB staff together.

“It is a great opportunity to reunite everyone who has become friends and acquaintances over the years and meet new people involved in the radio program,” Nicolette said. “The current group of reporters, who live all across the state, rarely see one another during the five-year interval. This reunion brings them together to catch up on what is happening in their lives, plus share stories of how they became involved in agriculture and how they were introduced to Farm Bureau Roundup.”

Roundup and the world of radio has evolved over the last seven decades.

Reporters now have various backgrounds, including broadcasters, Extension agents, farmers, ranchers, horticulturalists and retired agricultural consultants.

And the technology used to produce the program has advanced.

When the show began in the 1950s, it was produced on a reel-to-reel tape, Nicolette said. Recordings eventually evolved from cassette tapes in the 1970s to digital recordings today. Now, every step of the process is done with the help of the internet in state-of-the-art studios in Waco.

Current Farm Bureau Roundup reporters are James Hunt of Amarillo, Eddie Griffis of Lubbock, Barry Mahler of Wichita Falls, John Begnaud of San Angelo, Dr. Shane McLellan of Waco, Dr. Vanessa Corriher-Olson of Overton, James Duncan of Marshall, Harvey Buehring of Robstown and Jim Hearn of McAllen.

Current and past TFB Radio Network programs can be heard at texasfarmbureau.org/radio.