Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
9/12/02
Contacts:
Doug Cooper, WOI Market News, (515) 294 - 6275, levachek@iastate.edu
Elaine Edwards, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515)
294 - 5168 eedwards@iastate.edu
Tonya Shinn, ISU Extension Intern, (515) 294 - 5597, tonjacoy@iastate.edu
Changing with the Times: WOI Market News
ALLEMAN, Iowa--Listening to the latest farm market reports on 640 AM, it's hard to imagine the rich history behind WOI Market News at Iowa State University.
WOI Market News has accomplished a feat that very few programs can boast, having only three directors in its 60 years on air.
In 1943, Ronald C. (Cap) Bentley set out to provide a greatly needed service to Iowans and surrounding states, timely and accurate market reports. Bentley saw that producers were at a disadvantage compared to sellers. Sellers received their market information from wire services, while producers had to wait until the next morning's paper.
In 1965, "Mr. Market News" Bentley retired and handed over the title of Market News Director to Dallas McGinnis. McGinnis would take WOI Market news out of the broadcast booth with remote broadcasting. The program would broadcast live from farm shows and expos, interacting even more with the agricultural community.
Doug Cooper, WOI market news director, notes "a lot of farmers came to see WOI Radio and TV as a friend of agriculture" through the works of Bentley and McGinnis.
WOI Market News will be part of the ISU Exhibit at the 2002 Farm Progress Show. Doug Cooper will be reading live market reports and doing the Midday Report at noon each day of the show.
In October of 1990, WOI hired its third news director, Cooper. Growing up in town, Cooper didn't know the first thing about market reports. But as a kid, Cooper watched Cap Bentley on TV because in those days there was only one channel to watch. "[I] never dreamed that one day I would be in line to replace the man who replaced Cap Bentley. There have only been three of us and I'm proud of that," says Cooper.
As an ISU student, Cooper worked at WOI Market News where he learned to read markets from McGinnis. McGinnis would come to be a valuable contact for Cooper after graduation when Cooper started the first market program at a Mason City radio station.
Much has changed from the first market reports given by Bentley. Originally a half-hour, market reports have been trimmed down to six minutes at the very most, in part due to a large non-farm audience. Given 13 times a day, reports contain the prices and changes in the market.
Prior to computers, markets used to be read from red ticker tape. Ticker tape was coded and interpreted by the receiver who wrote everything down. Ticker tape information was discontinued in the early 1980s with the introduction of satellite information. Information is now available by Internet, satellite, TV, and Data Transmission Network (DTN). Even after the introduction of computers in market news, information read on air continued to be handwritten until Cooper took over as director. Currently, markets are read directly from the satellite information screen.
With all the changes in technology and methods of delivery, one thing about WOI Market News has not changed since it's beginning, providing accurate, timely information on the radio.
Originally part of WOI Radio, WOI Market News has become a division of Iowa State University Extension. Being on the air for almost 60 years, while only having three directors, WOI Market News has proven it can change with the times.
-30-
Extension programs are available to all without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.