Max Armstrong’s broadcasting career began at age 11, when he strung an antenna wire from his bedroom window to a pole behind the chicken coop. That was on Jim and Stella Fay Armstrong’s corn and soybean farm in Indiana’s Wabash River Valley. Max turned on the transmitter he built from a mail-order kit, and WMAX was on the air. Its signal covered barely a quarter-mile, and who knows if anyone was listening, but the seeds were sown. WMAX didn’t last long, but Max has been broadcasting ever since.
In Stories from the Heartland, Armstrong — now an institution in farm radio broadcasting — shares stories of the people he’s met during his 40-year career. Compelling stories of struggle and triumph, colorful characters and rich recollections of his boyhood on an Indiana farm fill the pages, accompanied by photos in full color.
The book is only partly Armstrong’s story. He includes tales of a combine fire, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Louisville farm show, corn husking competitions, famous people and the not-so-famous but dear to his heart — and more. A sweetly nostalgic romp through farm country!
Stories from the Heartland by Max Armstrong, Bantry Bay Publishing, hard cover, 192 pages, color photos, available at www.octanepress.com.
