The Closing Market Report turned 40 years old this year. Illinois Public Media’s daily program focusing on the agricultural commodities market first aired on WILL-AM in January 1985.
A formal celebration of the program’s anniversary came this month at the All Day Ag Outlook at the Beef House Restaurant in Covington, Indiana.
The daylong annual conference for farmers is co-sponsored by IPM, the University of Illinois Extension and farmdoc, an information service for farmers based at the University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. And it features some of the same market analysts who regularly appear on the Closing Market Report.
One of those analysts is Wayne Nelson of L & M Commodities in Indiana. He appeared on the program in its earliest days and still provides analysis today.
During lunch at the Ag Outlook, Nelson stood up to lead an audience of about 175 in a coffee-and-ice-water toast to the Closing Market Report’s 40 years on the air, to its founding by the late Charles Lindy, WILL’s Ag Director at the time, and to its current host, Todd Gleason, who was Lindy’s student assistant back in 1985.
“And I think Todd, who helped Charlie start it, came back and has kept it running, that you had the outstanding and leading industry way of receiving good market information from different people, every day of the week,” said Nelson, while an embarrassed but pleased Gleason looked on.
Gleason was around as a University of Illinois student for the launch of the Closing Market Report. But its real founders were Lindy, Archer Daniels Midland investment advisor Paul Coolley, commodity trader Paul Bates and U of I ag economist Darrel L. Good.
Since its first sign-on in 1922, WILL Radio has carried programming designed for farmers and farm families, such as commodity market updates throughout the day and the Illinois Farm Hour, a midday staple on the station for many years.
But the Closing Market Report marked a refocusing on WILL’s agriculture programming, with an emphasis on the commodity markets. At the time, when the noon hour was the traditional time slot for farm radio programs, Charles Lindy chose 2 PM. Besides being a timeslot that no one else wanted, it comes just after the commodity markets have closed for the day.
“That’s a good timeslot,” said Gleason, “because we know what the end of the trading day looks like, and analysts have a better chance to give opinions, without the market changing on them.”
Since its first broadcast forty years ago, the Closing Market Report has continued in the 2 o’clock hour on WILL-AM, supplemented by a weekly program, Commodity Week. Its hosts have changed, from Charles Lindy to Carrie Mohr, to Dave Dickey and now, Todd Gleason.
The commodity market day has lengthened since 1985. The Chicago Board of Trade still closes its open outcry session at 1:15 PM, but trading continues for certain investment products through the evening. Gleason says 2 PM is still a good time to pause and take a look at trading on Illinois’ major crops, such as corn and soybeans.
“You really have an opportunity to discuss what happened in the previous 20 hours within the marketplace,” said Gleason, who produces and hosts Closing Market Report as an employee of Illinois Extension. “And surprisingly enough, I have this conversation five days a week, 250 days or more a year. And I love it every day. It is the same, but different. Every day, there is always something new to talk about.”
While continuing on WILL-AM, the Closing Market Report was an early adapter to podcasting, and is also available at willag.org, a website produced by WILL and Illinois Extension. Gleason says that nowadays, more people listen to the program online than over the air.