Farm Broadcast Team

click on each person to see the individual bio
Andy Vance , Lindsay Hill , Gary Jackson

Our History

Founded in 1972 by Ed Johnson, the ABN (Agri Broadcast Network) has a rich history of service to Ohio’s agricultural community. Ed and his wife Marilyn started the network at their kitchen table. Using just a telephone, Ed would call each radio station throughout the day to deliver their reports.

Over time, the company grew into a prosperous network reaching 70 stations. Listeners fell in love with Ed and tales of his belgian draft horses and famous rooster, Abner.

In 1998, Lindsay Hill came to work for Ed at the ABN as an intern. Starting out in the studio during the early morning shift, she eventually moved on to another position in the company, and Andy Vance was hired to replace her in the studio. Thus, began their journey together.

After Ed Johnson's passing in 2001, Lindsay continued to work for the Johnson family as a marketing specialist for the publication Ohio’s Country Journal. Andy took an internship at 880 WRFD in Columbus. A year later, he was offered the position of farm director for Ohio Farm Radio. Lindsay joined him at the company and three months later they were married.

Just over a year later, WRFD discontinued the farm program and the couple decided to launch their own farm radio network to fill the void. They put a studio in their farm house and the Buckeye Ag Radio Network (BARN) took to the air in November 2005. Delivering farm news from the Hill family homestead, the network grew to 15 stations in the first year.

In 2007, Andy and Lindsay’s company, AdVance Broadcast & Communication, Ltd. took over operations of the ABN, bringing the couple full-circle and back to the place where they first met. Seeing the need to provide programming that went beyond the farm, they decided to continue running the BARN with a new focus on rural lifestyle programming. The BARN is the “Next Generation of Rural Radio” offering news and coverage of a broader range of issues of interest to the rural community. This farm to table approach can be heard on 25 radio stations across Ohio. In keeping with the rich tradition of the company, they continue to provide producer-oriented farm news and information to 65 radio stations affiliated with the ABN.

Additionally, they provide programming to serve listeners in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia and Indiana.

Additional Programming

In addition to our daily farm programming, ABN offers network syndication of the following program:

Produced by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and hosted by Joe Cornely, Town Hall Ohio is a weekly hour-long discussion program devoted to issuesof specific importance to rural Ohioans.