Long-time editor, publisher Kurt Krueger to retire after renowned 45-year career

Veteran journalist Kurt Krueger, a long-time editor and current publisher of the Vilas County News-Review and The Three Lake News, will retire at the end of this week after serving the two newspapers and their respective communities for more than four decades.
During 45 years at the newspapers, Krueger worked in all facets of putting out a newspaper 52 weeks a year. Though his job titles included news editor, editor, and publisher, he also was an award-winning outdoors columnist and photographer.
Krueger started out as news editor in the fall of 1979 under the tutelage of then News-Review owners Dan and Bob Satran. He became editor in the spring of 1985, when Delphos Herald Inc. purchased the newspapers, and he was named publisher in 2010, when former Publisher Byron McNutt retired.
Under Krueger’s direction of the newsroom his first 31 years, and as publisher the last 14 years, the News-Review and its sister paper, The Three Lakes News, won hundreds of state and national journalism awards.
While there were many awards for news and column writing over the years, Krueger said a highlight of his career were multiple Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) and National Newspaper Association (NNA) General Excellence awards for all facets of producing a quality community newspaper.

“I’ve got to thank Murray Cohen and Byron McNutt of the Delphos Herald in Ohio for giving the News-Review staff an opportunity to create a weekly newspaper product, without any micro-management, that was among the best in Wisconsin and the nation,” said Krueger. “And I’ll throw the national comment out because the National Newspaper Association awarded us four of the most coveted honors — a General Excellence award in competition with weeklies in all 50 states — in four of the five years between 2017 and 2022.”
McNutt, who worked with Krueger at the News-Review for 25 years, said the day of a 45-year-plus career newspaper person is over in this world of instant internet news sources.
“Then, to have spent those years at the same newspaper, makes it even more unique,” said McNutt.
McNutt said the News-Review is one of the most decorated, award-winning community newspapers in Wisconsin and has steadfastly chronicled the history of the area with unparalleled professionalism.
“Kurt strived every week to produce an editorial product worthy of state and national excellence. His readers came to expect nothing less,” said McNutt. “And, for as long as I’ve known him, Kurt has had a passion for taking and running the most artistic and newsworthy photos. He took that responsibility personally.”
Krueger said the culmination of decades of work to redesign various parts of the paper, improve news coverage, stay on top of breaking stories and maintain excellence came in 2020, when the News-Review topped all weekly newspapers in the WNA’s Best Newspaper Contest to win Weekly Newspaper of the Year.
“That was the fifth time between 2011 and 2020 that we won the divisional title as best among large weeklies in the contest, but the first time that our awards out-matched weeklies statewide regardless of size,” said Krueger.
Krueger is quick to point out that he always had the support of a top-notch, dedicated staff, including 36-year assistant editor and editor Gary Ridderbusch, who retired in 2021.
“I want to stress that we did all that with one of the smallest editorial staffs among the large weeklies for decades — probably with a staff of less than half the average large paper,” he said. “Our entire staff worked with considerable pride week after week to produce the best newspaper possible.”
Krueger said the staff also produced numerous special publications that were also award- winning — including the Salute to Emergency Personnel, a Progress Issue and the Headwaters Area Guide. A summer tourism publication, Vacation Week, ran for 12 weeks each summer.
“We had one of the most diverse and most talented production staffs in the state, producing exemplary ad layouts, page designs, special section covers and a variety of graphics that enhanced our coverage,” he said.
Krueger said the use of dedicated correspondents and freelance writers helped that effort, but it took some editing expertise to make the ‘community journalism’ effort work.
Meanwhile, he noted the rigid weekly deadlines of getting the paper to the press can test a newspaper staff.
“Our families suffered the consequences of quality journalism because when done right with a small staff, the newspaper business dominates a person’s schedule to the point where nights, weekends and real vacations are not guaranteed family time due to sports, meetings and special events in a tourism region,” said Krueger. “So I’ve got to thank my wife, Alice, and family for putting up with and supporting those distractions across the decades, which allowed me to be the best writer and photographer possible.”

Top photos, stories

Krueger said the legacy for quality journalism at the News-Review included great photography throughout the paper. There are dozens of plaques hanging around the newsroom for All Around Newspaper Photography, Best Photo Essay, Best Feature Photo, Best General News, Photo, etc.
“The wildlife was obviously a big hit with readers since the digital camera age hit with cheaper cameras in 2004,” said Krueger, who self-published a book in 2009 featuring his wildlife photos taken across the North Woods. One of Krueger’s favorite subjects in the book and newspaper was the bald eagle, as he captured the majestic bird with his camera, soaring above many North Woods lakes.
While there were the regular news stories that had to be covered for News-Review readers, Krueger said there were numerous on-going topics that stood out over the years, including Chippewa Indian treaty rights and spearfishing, national forest plans and timber harvest lawsuits, shoreland zoning issues and aquatic invasive species in lakes, and school referendums and budgets.
Other news topics that gained readership were the no-bid Eagle River City Hall construction scandal, local election stories, and more than 40 years of covering the World Championship Snowmobile Derby and taking photos inside the famous ice oval.
“I think we always had the community’s best interests in mind, whether it was supporting education through a school referendum, pushing for shoreland zoning regs to protect our vital waterfront resources for future generations, or calling for diversity in forest management,” said Krueger.

“There’s got to be a thank-you thrown out to all those public officials who trusted me with their comments, tips on potential stories, off-the-record insights — for they helped us create a dynamic, interesting newspaper that strived to be a government watchdog,” said Krueger. “We didn’t have the personnel or time to chase down every lead, but we broke some big stories — some of which resulted in criminal charges being filed against public officials for misconduct in office.”
Krueger said he was fortunate to have started an outdoor column early on, in 1985, which connected with readers and won dozens of WNA awards over the years.
“And that’s one part of this legacy that I can continue for a while, and hopefully with some improvement, now that I’ve actually got some time to pursue more diverse topics in that column. It’s not easy coming up with 52 columns a year for more than four decades,” he said.

Ink in veins

A Marion native, Krueger started his 45-year stint at the Vilas County News-Review on Sept. 17, 1979, hired by former News-Review co-publishers Bob and Dan Satran. A year and a half earlier, a young Krueger moved to Three Lakes in April of 1978, working as an aspiring reporter and photographer at the Northern Son until September 1979, when that newspaper closed its doors.

Krueger tells the story about meeting Bob Satran at a Derby media party in January 1979 and discussing future job opportunities. When the Northern Son closed for good on that Friday in September, Krueger got hired by the News-Review that weekend and went to work on the following Monday.
“I never missed a day of work,” said Krueger, ever grateful for the job opportunity with the Satrans and the hands-on training he received over the next six years until the Satran brothers sold the newspapers to the Delphos Herald Inc., owned by Cohen.
Krueger had newspapering in his blood, as his parents owned the Marion Advertiser in his hometown for many years. While Krueger grew up working in the newspaper industry, when he headed for college at UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater he originally had his mind set on a business degree.
“I guess I knew I always wanted to be in the newspaper business. My parents bought the Marion paper in 1967 when I was 9 years old,” said Krueger. “In college, I started in business, but then I said to myself, ‘you know newspapers,’ so I started taking journalism courses.”
But Krueger credits the Satran brothers for teaching him more about community newspapering than his college professors. After all, they were both graduates of the Marquette University Journalism School and had three decades of experience running the Vilas County News- Review.
“The Satrans’ gift to me was six years of training in every facet of newspapering, including their award-winning photography skills, page layout experience, nose for news, and aggressive attitude toward community service,” Krueger wrote in a recent column.
Fast forward about 40 years. For the past couple of years, Krueger has worked with a new, young staff under the direction of the new owner at the Vilas County News-Review, Multi Media Channels LLC, out of Green Bay. He admitted the transition has been tough at times.
“My hope is that our readers won’t let these temporary changes or the poor performance of the postal service impact their decision to renew a subscription or buy a newspaper off the newsstands, because this young crew of new writers will blossom in their efforts, just like the Krueger/Ridderbusch duo did so long ago,” said Krueger. “Those subscriptions are crucial to maintaining a successful and vibrant community newspaper, which is important for everyone here — including churches, nonprofit groups, sports teams, chambers of commerce and, of course, tourism.”
In addition to continuing his outdoor column, and contributing photos and stories to the News-Review, Krueger hopes retirement will bring more time for trips with his wife to visit grandchildren in neighboring states and distant relatives across the state and country.
Other hobbies that will consume some time include playing golf, shooting pool and volunteering with the Three Lakes Fish & Wildlife Improvement Association, where he’s been on the board since the late 1990s. Krueger also was a member of the Eagle River Rotary Club for the past 15 years, serving as program chairman and on the board of directors.
“I can’t wait to experience fishing, hunting or golfing on a Monday or Tuesday, the newspaper’s normal deadline days,” said Krueger. “It’s been a long time coming. But at the same time, this career has allowed me to experience some of those things and share it with our readers through photos, columns and stories.”
McNutt summed up Krueger’s career with just a few words: “In the newspaper industry, we recognize people like Kurt, who are dedicated to their craft, by saying: ‘He has ink in his veins.”