Ernie Rodina and the Better Horses Radio Program

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Let’s go to Ocala, Florida and turn on the radio. We come across a program where someone is talking about training, feeding, riding, and caring for horses. It’s the Better Horses Radio program. The host is a man from halfway across the continent in rural Kansas.

Ernie Rodina is the district sales manager for Purina Feeds and host of the Better Horses Radio program.

This all started when Ernie was growing up in the Kansas City suburbs, when he joined 4-H and found that he enjoyed horses. He got a pony named Red which he rode all the time. As he grew, he continued to ride that pony. He remembers saying to his sister, “Do I look too big on this pony?”

While he may have outgrown the pony, he never outgrew his love for the equine industry. He enjoyed horses and the western and rural lifestyle. He knew he wanted to work with farmers, ranchers, and horsemen.

After graduating from Ottawa University, he worked for Farmland Industries and then had the opportunity to join a management trainee program for Purina Mills. He trained in the rural community of Humboldt, Kansas, population 1,964 people. Now, that’s rural.

Ernie moved on up into a management position with Purina where he has been ever since. He serves a territory with more than 30 feed dealers in Kansas and Missouri, including greater Kansas City.

Animals with names

Ernie says with a smile that his responsibility with the company is to focus on animals with names. In other words, his emphasis is on horses and pets, not the mass numbers of livestock in a feedlot. The key driving element of the business is equine.

Ernie says, “When I got started, my goal was that when people heard the word “horse” they thought of Purina Mills and Ernie Rodina.” He says, “My job is to sell feed, but if we can help people raise their equine experience to a new level, we win.”

So Ernie set out to help horse owners. He started saving people’s names from customer meetings so he could send them helpful equine information. Nine years ago, he started sending that information in a tri-fold brochure. Now that has evolved into a 50-page newspaper which goes to 25,000 people.

Ernie began calling this the Better Horses Network. Meanwhile, Purina was sponsoring a weekly radio program called the Horseman’s Radio Weekly. When the host of that program retired, Ernie decided he would try producing his own radio show.

Ernie says, “It only took me doing it one time to realize, I needed a partner.” So Ernie brought in Dawn Dawson, an accomplished rider from Alma to join him on the show. Ernie says, “I brought her on as a guest and never let her go.”

Better Horses Radio

Each week Ernie and Dawn interview various guests and tell about current events and tips for improving the horse owners’ equine experience. The program, called Better Horses Radio, has expanded to be carried on stations in Kansas and Missouri, plus as far away as Lexington, Kentucky and Ocala, Florida.

Meanwhile, Ernie is involved in special events and horse organizations across the Midwest. His goal has been realized. In 2006, the Kansas Horse Council named Ernie its Equine Ambassador of the Year.

But some things don’t change. While out riding recently, he went by his sister and said with a smile, “Do I look too big on this horse?” That’s the type of humor which has made him a successful businessman and fun radio personality. 

Source: www.extension.org