Click on the images below to read Andy and Lindsay's Bios.
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On-the-air with ABN |
 Greg Soulje
Ag Meteorologist
Greg Soulje brings over 20 years of experience as an agricultural, broadcast meteorologist.
Even before Greg graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Meteorology, he worked in weather; delivering forecasts to his south suburban Chicago High School radio station, and later, the National Public Radio affiliate in DeKalb, Illinois.
His first position took him to WLS-TV, ABC 7 in Chicago where he was an off-camera meteorologist and weather producer. In June of 1986, he joined Central Weather Service, Inc. (now a division of Murray and Trettel, Inc. located in suburban Chicago.) He worked alongside veteran Agricultural Meteorologist Earl Finckle for over 10 years.
Greg’s years of training and experience have prepared him to be a specialist in short-term, medium and long-range weather forecasts. His predictions are well-respected and often used by those in the agricultural and private sectors with weather-sensitive concerns. Major radio outlets such as WGN Chicago and Tribune’s Agri-Voice Radio Network regularly bolstered their broadcasts with his forecasts.
Greg is heard daily on over 230 stations and in 6-states across the nation’s heartland. Greg also periodically offers meteorological insight as Weather Analyst for the Chicago Board of Trade’s Crop Report (USDA) press briefings.
From April 1998 to July 2005, Greg was a valued member of the U.S. Farm Report team as its on-camera Meteorologist where he delivered highly-reliable weather forecasts to millions of viewers.
Today, Greg and his reliable forecasts are seen every week on RFD-TV’s “This Week in Agribusiness."
Greg has been a Professional Member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) since 1985. In 1999, he was awarded the AMS’s Radio Seal of Approval for quality weather broadcasts. He has also been a member of the National Weather Association since 1986.
Greg resides in the western Suburbs of Chicago with his Wife, Debbie, sons Jacob and Christopher.
Click here to read Soulje Says |
Jim Bower
Midday and Afternoon Market Analysis
Jim Bower is Owner and President of Bower Trading, Inc., a full service commodities futures and options brokerage firm specializing in trading the global agricultural marketswith an emphasis on meeting each client's unique needs and requirements. Jim has more than 30 years of experience in the commodities and futures business.
Bower Trading, located in Lafayette, Indiana, is nationally recognized as a leader in the futures and options industry with expanded emphasis into the global marketplace, especially Brazil and other South and Central American countries. Jim founded Bower Trading as an introducing broker of Refco, LLC in 1988.
In 1971 he graduated Cum Laude from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York where he was a Midshipman. Jim taught at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Northwestern Michigan from 1971 to 1975, earning the designation the Head of the Deck Officer Training Program.
In 1975 James began his career as a manager of Conti Carriers and Terminals, and later, as an account executive for Conti Commodity Services. Bower was recognized as the youngest account executive to earn the ranking of the top ten world-wide producers for two consecutive years.
www.bowertrading .com
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Gary Wilhelmi
Morning and Afternoon Market Commentary
Gary Wilhelmi is a nationally recognized trade analyst offering radio commentary on over 140 stations, working as DTN’s man-on-the-floor and serving as the prime market analyst for Ag-Day TV. Over one million people listen to his commentaries each day. Born in 1941, Gary studied law, history and finance at the University of Illinois.
Upon graduation in 1964, he entered the brokerage business and worked as a fully registered broker through 1980. He has been an analyst on the trading floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while doing radio broadcasting in the form of analysis and explanation since 1980. Gary considers his work to be largely a teaching function for farmers and ranchers as he does not trade himself and doesn’t tell others what to do in the markets.
Gary serves as a mentor for the Illinois School of Agriculture and offers seminars at the university. He has also mentored many college graduates from Michigan helping them to find jobs at the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Gary is married with six children ranging in age from 21-36 years old. He has served as a foster parent for ten years in Hinsdale, Illinois helping to raise about sixty children.
To schedule a personal consultation with Gary, call Walsh Trading at (800) 993-5449 or email gwilhelmi@verizon.net
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 Mike Zuzolo
Midday Market Analysis
Mike Zulolo is the Chief Analyst for Risk Mgt. Commodities Inc., and is located at their headquarters in Lafayette, Indiana. A Lewisburg, Ohio native, Mike graduated from Miami University—Oxford in 1989, with a degree in Political Science, and minors in History and American Studies. In 1995, Mike became a registered Associated Person for Utterback Marketing; and after a few years there, became that company’s livestock analyst. In late 2001, Mike and three other men left Utterback’s to begin their own commodity Introducing Brokerage Service. What started as two offices in Lafayette and Chalmers, Indiana, has now grown to branch offices in Hutsonville, Illinois and Minden, Nebraska. RMC also has a formal joint venture with Tom Hall, who manages Great Lakes Investments in Galion, Ohio, near Mansfield.
Because of its independent research of the agricultural, livestock, financial, and energy sectors, Mike’s comments and analysis can be found in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Angus Journal, the Western Livestock Journal, and Agri-News. Mike is also the featured guest analyst on the University of Illinois Agricultural radio program every Friday. He is also a frequent guest on panel meetings throughout Illinois and Indiana. You can find his comments often in the Dow Jones Newswires, covering corn, beans, wheat, and livestock. Many may remember Mike as the guest speaker at the Farm Focus Show in Van Wert, Ohio the past few years.
Mike and the team at Risk Mgt. Commodities Inc. have become known for their consistent, clear, and personalize approach in making recommendations to their clients. The integration into their analysis of world economic factors, political economics, and exchange rates has allowed RMC to forecast commodity prices and use and “Overvalue” and “Undervalue” approach to marketing. They are one of roughly two dozen firms who give supply-demand projections estimates on grains to the Dow Jones Newswire Survey.
To visit them online, click here.
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 Alan Brugler
Daily Market Analysis
Alan Brugler is a registered Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and President of Brugler Marketing & Management LLC. Alan grew up on a grain and dairy farm in Northeast Ohio. He received simultaneous Bachelors and Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University in 1976. He worked for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation from 1976-1992 as Director of Market Information, and was responsible for the Agri-Map, AgriVisor, ACRES and AgriQuote marketing programs. From 1992-2002 he served as editor and Director of Research for DTN AgDaily, writing nearly 10,000 columns for DTN's 120,000 farm and agribusiness clients. He still writes a weekly charting column for DTN, and serves as a consulting analyst. In addition to ABN and DTN, he also writes the weekly MarketWatch column for AgWeb, and appears regularly on AgDay TV and Weekend Marketplace.
Brugler Marketing currently provides two market strategy and analysis publications to commercial ag producers, Ag Market Professional and Special Research Reports. Alan teaches seminars on advanced Technical Analysis and Advanced Options use in cooperation with a number of land grant universities, and is a popular outlook and strategy speaker. His firm also does custom research on marketing and ag economic issues.
Visit him online by clicking here, or to email Alan, click here.
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Adam Vrabel & David Harangody of ManFinancial
Weekly Grain Market Analysis
Market Watch is produced by ManFinancial and hosted by Adam Vrabel, options analyst, along with David Harangody, corn & oil seed specialist. This two-minute weekly commentary comes direct from the Chicago Board of Trade.
ManFinancial has a 200 year tradition of global trading in future option & securities brokerage. They have offices in Chicago, London, Paris, NYC, Kansas City, Singapore, & Taipei; among others. ManFinancial holds membership on major securities & future exchanges worldwide and has over $130 Billion USD assets. The company's board of trade activity is approximately 100,000 + trades per month including corn, beans and wheat.
www.ag-tradingfloor.com
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Doing the Chores in The BARN |
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Tony Day
Director of Network Operations
Tony is stationed in Lima keeping things going at the northern command as Director of Network Operations. Arriving at the studio at 4 a.m. each morning, Tony makes everything happen in-studio. He also coordinates our help in the northern studio for farm programming, and all other network programs. In his spare time he also spins records as a local DJ. Rumor has it that he's also a big fan of the Green Bay Packers! |
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Robyn Callicoat
Director of Partner Relations
Robyn and her husband, Ty, live in Clark County with two their two sons. As Director of Partner Relations she is the first point of contact for our radio affiliates. Beyond that, she coordinates with our local stations on ABN/BARN remote broadcasts and securing sponsorships for the events. Robyn's previous experience includes working at ABN back in the good ol' days, so we are pleased to welcome her back to the company. In her spare time, she and her husband are active in Farm Bureau, particularly the Young Farmer Committee, and she is also Longaberger Basket consultant should you need a friendly rep! |
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Beth Carper
Director of Network Traffic
Beth and her husband, Mike, reside in Delaware County. Previously, Beth spent many years at ABN, where she worked her way through almost every position in the company giving her a wealth of experience to bring back to us. Beth is instrumental in working with our affiliates on behalf of our advertisers to ensure that their contracts are carried out properly. Outside of her duties in our BARN, she spends a great deal of time in her own barn with Mike and her daughter, Marla, raising and showing Shorthorn cattle. She is very talented in the kitchen having owned and operated her own baking/catering business. |
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Kirby Hidy
Director of Local Sales
Kirby and his family are coming back to Ohio after having spent ten years in Texas. Wearing his trademark cowboy hat, he will be leading the way in our effort to reach out to local advertisers and build relationships within the ag community. He brings a wealth of experience having served as Director of the Division of Markets for ODA and working in farm radio at WRFD in Columbus. Along with his wife and three children, they are looking forward to being back in Ohio among family and friends. |
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Andrea Blamble
ABN Intern - Event Coordination/Local Coverage
Andrea will be a sophomore at Ohio University this fall majoring in Broadcast Journalism and pursuing a minor in Political Science. Andrea has been involved in 4H for the past 10 years. She currently works for WOUB TV/Radio station which is a PBS affiliate located in Athens, Ohio. At Ohio University Andrea is very active in the Student Senate. She is the Parliamentarian and works along side the Executive Committee. |
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Dustin Homan
ABN Intern - Event Coordination/Special Projects
Dustin will be attending the Ohio State University this fall majoring in Agricultural Education & Leadership Development. Dustin currently serves as Ohio FFA State President and has been busy traveling the state to visit with FFA chapters and members. |
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.
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