Kurt Krueger, a longtime editor and current publisher of the Vilas County News-Review and The Three Lake News, retired Dec. 31, 2024 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. 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 during his first 31 years, and as publisher the last 14 years, the News-Review and its sister paper, The Three Lakes News, has won hundreds of state and national journalism awards, according to a Dec. 25, 2024 article in the Three Lakes News and Vilas County News-Review. Among those honors: Newspaper of the Year in 2020.
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 in the article. “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.”
