The Ohio Ag Net is a radio news network in the U.S. state of Ohio. Ohio Ag Net programming is heard on more than 70 radio stations statewide, including the major markets of Canton, Toledo, and Columbus. It is the direct successor to the original Agri Broadcasting Network (ABN.)
History
The Agri Broadcasting Network (ABN) was founded in 1972 by the late Ed Johnson, President of Agri Communicators Inc., which included the Agri Broadcasting Network (ABN Radio), Ohio's Country Journal, a monthly farm newspaper, and the television program AgriCountry. Johnson, a well-known farm broadcaster formerly of WRFD in Columbus, Ohio, launched the network with a small number of radio stations, and delivered programming over the telephone from his farm in Ostrander, Ohio. His unmistakable enthusiasm, passion for agriculture, and unique broadcast style won a faithful following, and the network grew. The network, by the late 1970s finally leased a land line loop to affiliates which also fed programming from the Ohio News Network and Sports Ohio Network (later ONN Sports). By the mid-1980s, the ABN became a satellite operation.
Adding the television program to his efforts in 1982, Johnson's fame grew from that of a well-respected agricultural journalist to a household name in Ohio. In 1992, he launched the magazine Ohio's Country Journal. The size and scope of the ABN Radio network also grew, expanding to a footprint exceeding 72 radio stations in Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia.
Following Johnson's death in 2001, the Johnson family sold the ABN to Clear Channel Communications, who moved network operations from Columbus and merged the network and programming into its