Name: Dave Shumacher

Job: Owner, Schumacher Auction Service at 1436 E. Main St. in Belleville (277-6975) (www.schumacherauctions.com)

Outlook: "We have been in business for a long time in Belleville and are serving the Belleville area conducting auctions of all types each month."

You may be more familiar with the voice of Belleville auctioneer Dave Schumacher, even if you haven't attended one of his auctions. Schumacher is also the voice of the daily agricultural and commodities reports on KTRS-AM 550. Schumacher recently unveiled a new name to his auction house that now solely under his name. He recently talked to business writer Will Buss about the move, his work on the auction block and over the air:

What is your business' new name?

"Basically, we started out under the Prindable/Schumacher Auction Service name 10 years ago as a combination of Jim Prindable and myself. Jim passed away 10 years ago, and we continued to operate as Prindable/Schumacher Auction Service. We went ahead and phased out the Prindable name and are now running as Schumacher Auction Service."

How long have you been working in auctions?

"I started in 1983 with my own company before joining Jim about 15 year ago."

What do you sell?

"It's pretty diverse. We deal everything from land, real estate and jewelry. In our gallery, we deal in estates and auction furniture and that type of thing. It's pretty diverse. We also sell collector cars and other automobiles. We sell everything from the low end to the high end."

How did you get started?

"I was the part-time cattle auctioneer in the stock yards in East St. Louis. I was intrigued with the industry and business. It was one of those things that just happened and I found it very interesting, so I pursued it."

What do you do in radio?

"I'm the farm broadcaster for 550 KTRS in St. Louis. I do a one-hour show six days a week."

What do you talk about on your show?

"We talk about the commodities market, conditions on the farm and how it relates to consumers and consumer reports as far as agriculture's impact on consumers and how consumers impact agriculture. We do daily updates on commodities as well."

How long have you been doing that?

"I've been there 16 years. I started in WIBV in Belleville and then went to KTRS a year after that."

What do you enjoy most about your work?

"I think the hype of the auction, the element of pace and which things are sold gives everybody an opportunity to bid. It's open to the world with the new technology, and our industry has become global since auctions are put on the Internet. We have buyers from all over the world on the Internet. It's changed quite a bit."

Contact reporter Will Buss at wbuss@bnd.com or 239-2526.