Lee first Farm Broadcaster inducted into
Georgia Broadcasters Hall of Fame

Georgia Farm Bureau staff member and the original host of the Georgia Farm Monitor television program, Jimmy Lee is now a member of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

The Georgia Broadcasting Hall of Fame recognizes those who have made substantial contributions to Georgia broadcasting. The Hall of Fame is housed at the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia’s main Athens campus. Lee’s induction ceremony was held February 22, 2006 during the Georgia Association of Broadcasters annual Winter Institute held at UGA.

Lee, at left accepting the award from Georgia Association of Broadcasters Chairman Randy Gravely, joins an impressive list of Georgia broadcasters, broadcast pioneers and managers elected to the Hall. Previous inductees include Judy Woodruff of CNN, Tom Brokaw, retired anchor of NBC Nightly News, and Larry Munson, Voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, to name a few. Lee is the first person with agricultural broadcasting ties to be inducted.

Lee celebrated 50 years in broadcasting in June, 2005. He began his broadcasting career in 1955 as an afternoon DJ for WRBN, Warner Robins. In 1962, Lee joined the staff of WMAZ Radio & Television as a newsman and announcer. The next year he was named Promotions Director for WMAZ AM/FM and Farm Director for the stations. He was later named Operations Director for WMAZ AM/FM.

In 1967, while still working at WMAZ, Lee began producing radio and television programs for the Georgia Farm Bureau.

The Georgia Radio Monitor shows, which began airing in 1965, were carried then on 40 radio stations and 50,000 watt WMAZ-AM.

Farm Bureau's television program, initially called the Georgia TV Monitor, began in June,1966 and three years later was renamed the Georgia Farm Monitor. It was initially broadcast on, and produced in the studios of, Macon’s CBS affiliate, WMAZ-TV, Channel 13, a Gannett station.

In 1970, Lee joined the staff of Georgia Farm Bureau as Farm Monitor TV program host and director of radio and television services. In 1977, he was named Information Director for Georgia Farm Bureau.

Jimmy Lee anchors the Georgia Farm Monitor when it was produced at WMAZ-TV, Channel 13 circa 1967.
In 1978, production of the TV show was brought in-house to Georgia Farm Bureau's studios and expanded into a network. Farm Bureau began broadcasting its weekly program on a total of eight stations.

From 1980 until 1985, Lee produced six daily radio programs for the statewide Georgia Radio News Service. He also produced a monthly radio essay that was distributed nationally by the American Farm Bureau Federation on 200 radio stations.

In 1983, Lee joined with Steve Bell at the University of Georgia to produce and co-anchor a spinoff of the Georgia Farm Monitor, which was called The Georgia Farmer. That show aired Friday evenings at 7:30 on the Georgia Public Television Network.

In 1985, Lee left Georgia Farm Bureau and founded Master Video Productions. From 1985 to 1997 he produced and hosted the Georgia Peanut Update, a weekly half-hour television program for the Georgia Peanut Commission that was broadcast on five television stations. He also began producing and hosting a daily radio program for the Georgia Peanut Commission still heard on radio stations across the state.

In 1997 he returned to Georgia Farm Bureau as a commodity promotion specialist. But he still produces television features for the Georgia Farm Monitor, which is now airing on 14 Georgia TV stations and nationally Sunday at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. on the RFD-TV Network.

Lee and his wife, Iris, reside in Macon and have one son, Jamie, and two grandchildren, Breana and Colby.