Agriculture is BIG business in Oklahoma, with gross cash receipts of more than $4.7 billion in 2005 from a variety of livestock and crop enterprises. Those in agriculture demand accurate and timely information from a source they can trust and no one is more trusted or relied upon than Ron Hays, Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network. Studies by the National Association of Farm Broadcasters confirm that farmers and ranchers are heavy and regular users of radio as a business medium listening for markets, news and weather updates that can impact their bottom line.

There are several reasons why the Radio Oklahoma Network is the BEST agricultural information vehicle that reaches the farmers, ranchers and agribusiness community of Oklahoma!

The BEST People!

Ron Hays is the dean and premiere farm broadcaster in the southwest and he has developed a lot of loyal listeners across Oklahoma that trust his handling of the farm and ranch news and markets on a day to day basis. Ron is in his 33rd year as a professional farm broadcaster thirty of those years here in Oklahoma and has traveled more than a million miles reporting both to the farmers and ranchers of our state as well as about the business of Oklahoma Agriculture to a broader non farm audience.

Ron was recently inducted into the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He has been honored as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year, has won an "Oscar in Agriculture" three times and has received local, state and national honors from a wide spectrum of farm organizations, rural youth groups and his broadcast peers. He's involved in Oklahoma Agriculture like no other broadcaster or journalist in the state- serving as Chairman of the OSU Oklahoma Ag Leadership Advisory Council, and a past member of the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation and the OSU Dean's Advisory Council. He has served as a speaker or Master of Ceremonies at countless functions down through the years and folks recognize his signature line "Howdy Neighbors" as a signal that the best information is coming their way from Ron Hays.

Ron is joined by veteran broadcast personality Ed Richards on the RON Ag Network team. Ed Richards is a veteran broadcaster who grew up in Oklahoma and has stayed in Oklahoma radio. Ed graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a bachelors degree in Communications and has served as program director, news director, music director and air personality for many stations around the state. He is a one time nominee for the Country Music Association Broadcast Personality of the Year. He has been broadcasting ag and markets reports since 2000.

Ed became interested in radio during his time in the U.S Navy where he hosted a music program and that interest grew into a broadcasting career. Being a product of rural Oklahoma all his life, Ed is in touch with the ag industry and the many producers who make up the business. He takes pride in his agriculture and market reports, knowing the information is very important to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers.

The BEST Content!

When you have Ron Hays and Ed Richards as your farm broadcast team- you have the very best farm news content that is broadcast in the state-PERIOD! Ron has been doing this job for since the 1970s he knows virtually every farm and ranch leader in the state and- just as important- they know him! He writes a daily email farm news update highlighting some of the farm news stories that he has reported on the radio that morning which is read by lots of folks in the ag community on a daily basis and they feed back to him what is going on in their part of the ag industry. It's like having over 800 sources reporting back to you daily!

Ed really enjoys keeping Oklahoma's farm community up to date on the commodity markets daily and has a classic radio delivery that is easy to listen to that helps you grasp the mood of the markets and along with market analyst Tom Leffler brings to the RON audience not just the prices but the "why" of the market as well.

The BEST Affiliates!

The Radio Oklahoma Network is growing as more stations are finding that the Ron Hays/Ed Richards broadcast team, along with the innovations that make RON the most user friendly radio network in the state for radio stations, adds up to a "win-win" for their radio station and their listeners. Our station list continues to grow, and will soon boast the largest radio station lineup reaching Oklahoma's agricultural community.

The BEST Website!

The Radio Oklahoma Network offers a great website for those interested in the business of Oklahoma Agriculture to land on daily, www.OklahomaFarmReport.com! We offer several audio reports from the RON network daily - special audio features found nowhere else, links to the top agricultural news of the day, links to several vital information sources for Oklahoma agriculture and a link to our daily Oklahoma Farm and Ranch News E-Mail. Check it out today!