You Can't Dream Big Enough: The American Farmer's Friend for over 60 Years

With over 60 years in broadcasting, more than 50 of those at Chicago's WGN, Orion Samuelson has compiled a record of service to the nation's farmers and ranchers that will likely never be surpassed. In his long-awaited memoir, “You Can't Dream Big Enough,” Orion covers the highlights and lowlights of his exciting career, from dinner at the White House to a caviar and vodka banquet in the Kremlin. His agricultural travels took him to 43 countries and he criss-crossed America in his private plane, “Air Orion,” on which he had a near-death experience. Orion tells about a bone disease that left him house-bound for his first two years of high school, and, in the prime of his career, an attack by flesh-eating bacteria that not only nearly left him mute, almost killed him. But he has hardy Norwegian blood coursing through his veins and even at his 50th WGN anniversary in 2012, his reply to “How much longer?” was, “I'm only half done!” Longtime WGN listeners will love reading his memories about such legends as Paul Harvey, Wally Phillips, Bob Collins, Spike O'Dell, and Roy Leonard, to whom Orion will always be grateful for introducing him to Sophia Loren. From hosting the legendary WGN Barn Dance, to reporting the bulletin that President John F. Kennedy had been shot, to tracking the increasingly wild swings of the farm markets, Orion's “biiiiiiiiiiggg voice,” as Paul Harvey uniquely described it, has been a welcome daily visitor in homes across the Midwest. The most honored agriculture journalist in the country, Orion is a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame, the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, the National 4-H Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was awarded the State of Illinois' highest honor: the Order of Lincoln. Proud of his Norwegian heritage, but also willing to poke fun at it, Orion enjoys telling Ole and Lena stories, a couple of dozen of which are scattered throughout his book.