Numismatic dealer Jim Smalley, a long-time member of his local Regina Coin Club (RCC), has been recognized as the Canadian Western Agribition’s longest-serving farm news reporter, a role he has held for nearly five decades.
Billed as “the best beef show on the continent and the largest livestock show in Canada,” the Canadian Western Agribition typically takes place during the last week of each November.
Smalley has covered the show since 1975, its fifth year, and plans to retire in 2024, when he will mark his 50th anniversary as a broadcaster.
“It’s an incredible honour,” he told CTV News in December. “I am just so honoured to be here. It was just beyond description.”
With the show’s newsroom facility named in his honour, Smalley hosts an hour-long news show, “Saskatchewan Agriculture Today,” every weekday on Regina’s 620 CKRM radio station.
“Apart from his loving wife Penny and his family, Jim has another passion. Coin collecting,” reads a CKRM report from last October.
“An avid, some would say rabid collector, Jim loves the stories behind the coins in his collection, some of which are hundreds of years old. It’s no wonder. Jim loves history, and he loves telling stories. A perfect match for his love of collecting.”