After 42 years on the air and four million kilometres on the road as a farm broadcaster, Hoss Hammer signed off Feb. 28 at the Farmers Ladies Bonspiel in Red Deer, Alta.
The voice of Hoss Hammer has been heard over the airwaves at CKGY 1170 in Red Deer for 23 years.
In an interview at the Calgary Bull Sale, where he had time to gossip with friends and watch the event without feeling the pressure of reporting it, Hammer summed up his broadcasting career: “It’s been a good run.”
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He officially finished his noon farm show at the end of December when he decided it was time to make room for his replacement, Darrell Renaud.
Now it’s time for family life with his wife Ena, their three children and six grandchildren. The alarm clock won’t ring at 4 a.m. any more and Ena won’t carry a beeper to take calls from farmers who have story tips and ideas for the farm show.
Hoss started as a broadcaster in the late 1950s as a sports reporter when he attended the University of British Columbia as a physical education major. He later studied agriculture but didn’t complete the degree.
Football was his life and he eventually played two seasons with the B.C. Lions as a defensive back.
“I liked to hit guys,” he said.
After 14 years of school and professional ball, injuries slowed him down and now he has arthritis and is waiting for a knee replacement.
A farm boy from the Calgary area, he returned to his roots in Alberta in 1957.
He worked for CFCN in Calgary, CJDV which is now Q91, a country station network in central Alberta and CKRD in Red Deer.
He started with CKGY 23 years ago as full-time sales rep and farm reporter. He fought to make agriculture front-page news, not filler. Three times a day he supplied livestock and grain prices with a mix of feature stories.
Hammer insisted half his stories be local pieces about farm families. Calling his brand of reporting, “news on the ground,” he loved the immediacy of radio and figured he was slipping if he didn’t have one scoop a week.
The days were long, starting at 4 a.m. nearly every day of the week. He wrote his scripts early in the morning and learned the best time to reach farmers was at 7 a.m.
“I got called up by the farm wives and farmers regularly. If I said anything wrong they tuned me up. I didn’t mind.”
Hammer talked about farm events, funerals and weddings, rodeos, sales, shows and fairs. He attended most of them and reported the happenings back to his listeners.
When the days started to stretch out to 18 hours, he cut back.
His air time changed over the years. His original broadcasts were three, 10-minute shows a day. Those were cut back to two, five-minute broadcasts.
In addition, Hammer was a volunteer announcer for rodeos and livestock shows all over Alberta, as well as the Toronto Royal Winter Fair, Regina’s Canadian Western Agribition, the Brandon Winter Fair and the Denver National Livestock show. He has announced as many as 204 days a year.
“There’s not many places in Alberta I haven’t announced at, from 4-H shows, open shows, bull sales.”
After sitting through so many sales he felt entertainment was needed. He introduced music at rodeos and livestock shows rather than trying to carry on a patter about the quality of the animals. He figured his audience, the judges and ringmen knew more about the cattle than he did, so he offered some fox trots instead.
Hammer loves to talk, joke and tell stories. When he walks through a livestock show, he seems to know everybody and their business. He remembers the kids, the wives and the anniversaries.
Describing himself as the middleman between producers, agribusiness and the consumers, he wants to tell an upbeat story.
“If you’re going to be a goodwill ambassador for agriculture, you have to be positive,” he said.
Producers today are more informed and better managers than ever before, he said, and more women have become involved.
Hammer has also witnessed the growth of the environmental movement, the people he calls “bunny huggers” who don’t understand how hard farmers work to make a living.
His efforts have not gone unnoticed.
He has received the Order of Canada and was the first broadcaster named to the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1991. During that presentation, Hoss experienced stage fright for the first and only time in his life as a public speaker.
He is one of two Friends of 4-H and is an honorary member of the Canadian Angus Association.
He has worked with the Calgary Stampede since 1957 and was awarded the silver horseshoe award for his volunteer work.
His most touching recognition however, came March 1 when 493 friends gathered in Red Deer for a farewell. He didn’t know what to say, so delivered his traditional signoff: “Serving Canada’s finest farm families. Hoss reporting. It’s been a pleasure.”
