Gary's resume is a study in the history of farm broadcasting in Ohio with his tenures at Ohio's heritage rural radio station WRFD, several years as Northwest Ohio's preeminent farm broadcaster at WIMA/WIMT, and then a stint as Farm Director at ABN Radio following our late founder Ed Johnson. In his most recent efforts, Gary helped launch and served as cohost for Dan Wilson's In Ohio Country Today, seen on several television stations across the state. But, as Gary says, he got the radio "fever" back when we put him behind the microphone earlier in the spring, and we're glad we were able to bring him out of remission and back on the air.

Gary will be serving alongside Lindsay and I on the air each day, continuing to grow and expand our already extensive news coverage and live broadcast schedule. If two heads (and microphones!) are better than one, wait 'till you see what we'll do with three professional broadcasters on the air. It's an exciting time to be "In the BARN!"

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

 
Gary Wilhelmi
Morning and Afternoon Market Commentary

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

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.

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.