FOR HUB CITY TIMES

MADISON — Bob Meyer is known by farmers across Wisconsin for his booming voice and dedication to agriculture. Central Wisconsin knew him first, though, as a successful Loyal FFA member and later as a local radio personality. All will now know him as a 2023 inductee into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. The 2023 inductees were announced by the WBA in a March 22 news release.

Meyer’s competitive public speaking experience through elementary and high school led to him pursuing a career in radio. Starting with a three-year stint in the mid 1970s, Meyer returned to WDLB-WLJY in Marshfield in 1986 as assistant farm director. Later that year he began a 30-year run as the morning drive announcer on 1450 WDLB-AM. With that, Meyer became co-host of the Goetz Farm Radio Network’s morning farm show Daybreak. In 1987 he was named Program Director for WDLB. In 1991, Meyer became Farm Director for the Goetz Farm Radio Network. Over the following decade, GFRN increased its program offerings and its affiliate list to cover the state of Wisconsin.

In 2003, GFRN was acquired by Learfield Communications; as a part of Brownfield Ag News, Meyer could now be heard on more than 350 stations in ten states.

During his long career, he conducted more than 20,000 interviews with newsmakers and people of interest in agriculture. Meyer has served on numerous boards and committees for organizations, including Wisconsin Farm Technology Days and the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. His continued support of the FFA garnered him the Honorary American FFA Degree. For 30 years he has been “the voice” of the annual Wisconsin State FFA Convention.

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame was created in 1989 to honor broadcasters that have devoted a minimum of 15 years to the broadcasting industry, including a minimum of 10 years as a Wisconsin broadcaster. The award recognizes an individual’s history of exemplary leadership in community and statewide service as a broadcast professional.

The first 12 members of the Hall of Fame were inducted during the 1989 WBA Summer Conference. Since 1989, 156 outstanding broadcasters have been honored with Hall of Fame inductions.

Inductees are chosen each year from nominations by WBA members, family members and friends. Broadcasters who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame include managers, personalities, engineers, reporters, educators and those broadcasting pioneers who were all of the above.

In October 1989, Alfred C. Sykes, then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, came to Wisconsin to formally dedicate a Hall of Fame display, including plaques honoring the inductees, at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library in Madison. In 2010, due to remodeling of the SHSW facility, the display was removed and put in storage.

The display now resides at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. The Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame also has a permanent, virtual display at the online Wisconsin Museum of Broadcasting which debuted in 2009 at www.wisconsinbroadcastingmuseum.org, where the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame Gallery is one of our major attractions.

The 2023 Hall of Fame honorees will be celebrated June 15 at the 2023 Summer Conference at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake.