Big News! Echo-Journal now one paper

Two great area weekly newspapers are becoming one!

Publication Merge 9/26/13

September 26, 2013

Publication Merge 9/26/13

Big News!

Covering our communities for

decades

A better publication

BY PETE MOHS, Publisher

I was being introduced as the new publisher for Echo Publishing back in the spring of 2004 when a former Pine River Journal staff member surprised me with a question.

“When are you combining our two newspapers?” the woman asked, referring to the Journal and the Lake Country Echo weeklies.

“Why would we do that?” was my response.

I’ve thought about that question over the years, and the idea started to make sense after talking with staff, and with many of our readers and advertisers. More and more factors indicated that a combined publication would be a success. We also

It will be one of the biggest changes in the 78-year history had a handful of public meetings in the Pine River and Pequot Lakes communities to gain feedback.

The consolidation of Echo Publishing’s two weekly print products will become a reality with the debut of the pineandlakes Echo Journal on Sept. 26, 2013.

It will be one of the biggest changes in the 78-year history of the Pine River Journal and the 41-year history of the Lake Country Echo.

The weekly newspaper name features the familiar pineandlakes.com website name, which represents Pine River and Pequot Lakes. The legal name also includes the familiar Echo and Journal.

The combined newspaper will continue many editorial traditions and will include expanded editorial coverage and color photos, along

with a fresh page design while being printed on the larger broadsheet pages.

The Echoland-Piper Shopper, which began in 1975, will also be switched to broadsheet size starting Sept. 30, 2013. That change means an additional expense of replacing our store copy racks, but electronic equipment will be used to insert almost a dozen weekly advertising fliers instead of doing the extensive and expensive work by hand inserting.

The combined newspaper publication will make the weekly production more efficient. For example, our two papers recently covered a cross country meet and volleyball tournament that included athletes from both Pequot Lakes and Pine RiverBackus teams. Instead of writing two different stories for both publications, we would have one story. That allows additional time to possibly write an extra story – maybe a sidebar or column from the meet.

Speaking of sports coverage, the Patriots and Tigers will now have a section front as the schools will be featured on the first pages of the combined B section. The B section had primarily consisted of classified and legal advertising, which will now be the second half of the B section.

The B section will also include golf and outdoors.

The A section will feature frontpage coverage of the top stories from our expanded area, along with personality features on page 2, meeting, news, church and arts coverage for all of our communities. We will also have expanded editorial/opinion pages.

There’s great value in combining the two award-winning publications.

We will be able to keep many old traditions while giving the new publication a fresh look.

We hope the readers will appreciate the extra coverage, but I know communities are also sensitive about their hometown news.

Our editorial staff will pledge to cover all of our communities, but it won’t be 50/50 between Lake Country Echo and Pine River Journal coverage. That’s because the Echo averaged 24 pages in the A section while the Journal averaged 12.

We also have more communities to cover with the Echo.

The feedback was positive as we heard examples of readers from one publication having an interest in the other since they had family members or friends from those communities or they once lived in the other publication area.

I’ve also received feedback from other weekly newspaper publishers and editors that I’ve met with as a current board member for the Minnesota Newspaper Association. Some of them have combined publications, and were successful with quality coverage of all communities.

I realize both communities would like to have their exclusive newspapers, but the readers will gain an increase in news and sports coverage and opinion columns, and also advertisements.

The changes will make the Echo Publishing operation more efficient, but will also result in a better product for our readers. Please be patient with our changes, but we also welcome additional feedback.

Changes make sense

BY NANCY VOGT, Editor

When I became editor of the Pine River Journal last December, one thought became increasingly apparent with each passing week: a combined Lake Country Echo and Pine River Journal newspaper would make so much more sense.

That idea will become reality Thursday, Sept. 26, with the first issue of the pineandlakes Echo Journal newspaper - featuring a combined Lake Country Echo and Pine River Journal weekly newspaper in broadsheet, rather than tab-size, format (the size of most newspapers like The Brainerd Dispatch, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press or USA Today.)

The idea has been percolating among Echo Publishing management for quite a while for many different reasons, including financial. As editor, my reasoning comes purely from the news angle.

At an average of 12 pages each week, it’s often difficult, if not impossible, to cram into the Journal all the news stories and photos we have. As the person who most often checks three separate email accounts, I see first-hand the duplication of news items we receive for inclusion in both newspapers.

When we shared the idea of combining the newspapers into one publication with our Advisory Board several months ago, we asked each board member to look at both newspapers really closely. Some who subscribed to the Echo had never seen the Journal, and vice versa.

We were happy to hear very few, if any, negative reactions to our idea.

In fact, some Echo readers said they didn¹t realize what the Pine River area offered and they thought they’d be more likely to check out those communities. And some Journal readers said the same about Nisswa, Crosslake and other “Echo” communities.

Another Advisory Board member lives in Pequot Lakes but grew up in Pine River, and she still loves to read Pine River news.

The cities are a mere 10 miles apart; it seems senseless to use the Cass-Crow Wing County line as a news boundary so Echo readers don’t read about what happens north of Jenkins, and Journal readers don’t read about happenings south of Jenkins.

It became increasingly apparent that a combined newspaper is a win-win for both readers and advertisers alike.

That said, it isn¹t a decision we’ve taken lightly. The Pine River Journal has a deep history in that community, going back to when it was launched in March 1935. Despite changes in ownership and style over the years, that 78 1/2 -year history is nothing to just brush aside.

The Lake Country Echo was founded in February 1972 and has its own 41 1/2-year history in the Pequot Lakes area.

As the saying goes, nothing changes if nothing changes. The newspaper business has expanded far beyond the printed product, and even beyond the online product.

Our business is surging forward into the technological world of iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices.

The time has come for that evolution to include a merger of our two area weekly newspapers.

So what does that mean?

Basically, subscribers and others who pick up our newspapers will see more news and advertising from a broader range of communities.

We¹ve tweaked our design and can¹t wait to share our creative style.

I’ll still be editor and Pete Mohs will still be publisher. Kate Perkins and Travis Grimler will still be our staff writers.

We’ll function as has been normal since February 2012 with our production and main offices at the

Brainerd Dispatch, our sister newspaper under Morris Communications. Our office in Pequot Lakes will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to noon Monday-Friday, and often into the afternoons, for those customers who still want face-to-face contact without driving to or calling the Brainerd Dispatch.

Most important, we’ll continue to cover and report the news and events of Pequot Lakes, Pine River,

A combined newspaper is a win-win for both readers and advertisers alike.

Backus, Breezy Point, Crosslake, Emily, Fifty Lakes, Hackensack, Jenkins, Lake Shore, Manhattan Beach, Merrifield and Nisswa. As we’ve always done, our staff will determine the importance of news and publish it accordingly.

We have no plans to abandon any of the communities we’ve traditionally covered.

Current Echo subscribers will see Pine River-Backus High School sports coverage, and Journal subscribers will see Pequot Lakes High School sports coverage, including Athletes of the Week from both schools.

Journal subscribers will get recipe columns. Echo readers will get the popular Last Windrow column by John Wetrosky that runs in the Journal. On the flip side, Journal readers will see Craig Nagel’s Cracker Barrel column as well as political columns

by Pete Abler and Don Bye that run in the Echo.

As always, we welcome feedback, whether it’s praise, criticism or questions. You’ll find our contact information on page 5 of the Lake Country Echo and page 4 of the Pine River Journal.

Looking back over the years

T

he Pine River Journal got its start in 1935 when publisher Grant Bergstrom launched the premiere issue of the weekly newspaper from the basement of the Marlow Theatre (where G&S Plants is today) on Barclay The Pine River Journal building on Norway Avenue.

Avenue in downtown Pine ness – with Clark and Amanda and 1974 and worked until November River.

Two year suspension

Bergstrom continued publishing the newspaper until 1944, when he entered the U.S. Navy and temporarily suspended publication. In February 1946, the newspaper resumed printing.

The Amys

Clark Amy was hired as editor of the Pine River Journal in September 1946. Clark and Amanda Amy were married in 1948, and eventually became co-publishers.

In 1951, the Journal moved to its last location on Norway Avenue.

The Amys eventually purchased it in 1961. The Amys handled all the duties of a newspaper.

Clark ran the presses and wrote columns while Amanda reported the news from the school board to the city council and sold advertising.

The Journal was a family busi-

the help of children Ken Cronk, Wenonah (Cronk) Smith, Alison (Amy) Stephens and Steven Amy. Ken began working for the Pine River Journal in 1949 when he was in high school helping with printing and type setting. At that time the Journal was located in the basement of the Marlow Theater.

He worked at the Journal until January of 1952 when he entered the Air Force. Ken served 20 years in the Air Force before returning in February 1973 in time to help publish the Pine River Centennial issue.

He spent about three more months working at the Journal before taking subsequent publishing jobs at the Perham Enterprise Bulletin and the Lake Country News Chronicle in Two Harbors before retiring.

A growing Pine River Journal family

Wenonah started at the Journal in

1999.

Initially she did advertising sales, then helped put ads together, and finally was front office manager doing bookkeeping, taking classified ads, answering phones and helping customers. She got to know a lot of people in town and they knew her.

Wenonah’s daughter, Elizabeth “Betty” Danzik, began working at the Journal as a freshman in high school and continued working for 3-4 years after graduation.

Wenonah’s son, Bryan Nagy, did on-the-job training at the Journal during his senior year of high school.

Alison began spending time at the Journal when she was 7 and was a regular fixture there helping out from when she was 12 until she left for college.

Operations

machine at the Journal. The Linotype had 90 keys and cast individual characters into a complete line of type, which was referred to as a slug. Those lines of type were set and eventually inked to produce a printed page.

The Journal had two job presses for small printing orders. A large newspaper press printed the newspaper – often taking all night to print. The pages had to be handfolded and the folders were often working until 3 or 4 a.m. to finish the job. The business also had a 14and 8-point ball typewriter.

Switching gears

Due to poor health, Clark retired on March 14, 1974, and Amanda assumed the role of editor. Clark passed away in May 1986. Amanda continued the business until October 1988, when she sold to Keith and Martha Anderson, owners of Echo Publishing and Printing in Pequot Lakes. Amanda passed away in June 2008.

The Journal office in Pine River was closed in 2012, although the weekly newspaper, and the Echoland/Piper Shopper, continue as weekly publications. Business for Echo Publishing continues at the Pequot Lakes office and also at The Brainerd Dispatch, which is also owned by Morris Communications.

Chris Lupella was editor until 2005 then Kelly Virden took on the position until November of 2012.

Nancy Vogt from Lake Country Echo stepped in and is now dual editor of both the Echo and Journal publications.

Side notes The combination On Sept. 26, 2013 The Lake Country Echo and the Pine River Journal will merge.

Nancy Vogt will continue as editor of the newly combined publication, which will be more efficient and offer readers more information.

The first print Today this building is labeled G&S Plants. However in 1935 as the Marlow Theatre, it housed the very first production of the Pine River Journal.

Advertising A 1942 Red Owl ad printed in the Pine River Journal.

Ken, Wenonah and Alison all remember the days of the Linotype

pineandlakes.com

T

he Lake Country Echo has seen a handful of owners and unimaginable changes in technology, but the weekly newspaper that first published in 1972 has always had the same mission: to provide quality local news and advertising for its readers.

Getting started

On March 2, 1972, the first newspaper was published, though it was called the Country Echo then. Three men - brothers Larry and Ray Glassman, as well as Bill Walker, all immigrants from Illinois - founded Country Printing in 1972. Their intention was to start a free distribution shopper featuring advertising.

However, mailing costs were prohibitive, so they changed direction to publish a newspaper to take advantage of second class mailing rates.

That’s when Craig Nagel came on board as the Echo’s first editor, starting the newspaper from scratch. Nagel and Walker were friends in college, and Walker knew Nagel had co-edited their college newspaper and had a journalism background.

An illegal operation

After starting the newspaper, the businessmen learned it was illegal to use their government-backed Small

printing equipment and expand the reach of its publications. The Andersons added the word “Lake” to the newspaper’s name, so it became the Lake Country Echo. And Country Printing became Echo Publishing & Printing. The Andersons also bought the Pine River Journal in 1988.

Craig left the business soon after the Andersons bought it. Keith was publisher who wrote a popular column, Off the Top, and Martha did the office work. The Andersons hired Lou Hoglund as editor in 1982.

Selling the business

The Echo Publishing building on West Lake Street in Pequot Lakes.

Business Administration loan to finance a newspaper. So the Country Echo moved to a building that stood where the Pequot Lakes Post Office lot is now, while Country Printing remained at its West Lake Street location.

Nagel bought out the Glassmanns’ shares in the Echo and after resetting the loan, the whole operation moved to West Lake Street.

Country Printing eventually started a shopper, so duties included writing and editing stories, selling ads, print jobs and running the print shop.

In the early days, the Country Echo was printed in house and a copy cost just 10 cents.

Before the first edition went to press, Craig asked his wife, Claire, to draw a logo. Claire hand-drew the letters and added an outline of a loon, which Craig then fell in love with. The typeface has changed, but the logo still features a loon.

told that it was the first time a newspaper featured a loon as their logo.

Craig’s brother, Dick, now a Spanish teacher at Pequot Lakes High School, moved to Pequot Lakes in 1974 to help Craig edit the newspaper. He helped out for about a year.

Craig said Dick was instrumental in the Echo surviving and growing.

Later, Paul Thiede came aboard as an investor and took over as editor.

The Lake Country Echo added a free publication in 1975, the Echoland Shopper. It was first printed on yellow paper, with the late Ron Foss selling advertising for 37 years.

In 1977 the owners sold Country Printing to Bob Francis of Palm Beach, Fla., with the agreement that Craig stay on to manage the business. Francis owned the business for about a year, then Andy Andolshek of Crosslake bought it, again with the understanding that Craig would manage it.

First of its type

The addition of the Pine River Journal

Nagel believes the Echo was one of the first newspapers in Minnesota to switch from hot linotype to computer-generated type. Craig was also

In September 1980, Keith and Martha Anderson bought the business and proceeded to upgrade its

Keith and Martha lived in Pequot Lakes and retired in 1995, when their son, Peter, became publisher/ owner. He sold the business in 1999 to the current owners, Morris Communications of Augusta, Ga. Most recently, the newspaper is printed at the Brainerd Dispatch.

“The newspaper of the lakes” is what The Lake Country Echo would become because of its large circulation area. It’s the hometown publication for not only Pequot Lakes, but also Nisswa, Breezy Point, Crosslake, Ideal Corners, Lake Shore, Mission area, the Gull area and the Whitefish area.

Today

Pete Mohs, publisher since 2004 says that “the Lake Country Echo staff continue the tradition of hard work and passionate local coverage” Nancy Vogt has been editor since 2006 and currently serves as editor for both the Lake Country Echo and Pine River Journal and

Website In 2004 Echo added its online component, pineandlakes.com. For more information on this see page 4.

Shopper success The Echoland was combined with the Piper shopper (Pine River) in 2008 and continues to be a success in the lakes area, often having more than a dozen advertising inserts in a weekly edition. The shopper circulation averages 21,000 copies from the Brainerd/Baxter area to Walker.

Craig Nagel Craig Nagal was the first Lake Country Echo editor. He went on to become an author, writing books inspired by his popular column called The Cracker Barrel in the Lake Country Echo.

Pequot Office On a weekday morning in Pequot Lakes you can still find The Lake Country Echo office open, but the majority of production is now done at the Brainerd Dispatch office - also part of Morris Communications.

Thank you to our staff

DIGITAL Did you know?

“The Echo staff continues the tradition of hard work and passionate local coverage.” ~ Pete Mohs, Publisher Echo Publishing Publisher

Pete Mohs

General & Administrative

Joni Volkl News/Online

Becca Clemens News

Nancy Vogt Kate Perkins Travis Grimler Creative Angie Hoefs News/Design Marcy Nickel Tracy Wallin Advertising Kathy Bittner Lee Jonalyn Brzinski Connie Iverson DE Media Staff who are involved in Echo Publication Operations and production.

Publisher

Tim Bogenschutz

General & Administrative

Kari Alcock Kari Lake Terry McCollough Mindy Olson Gina Rudolph Tiffany Smith Ann Windorski Advertising

Susie Alters Phil Seibel

John Bennett Ashly Johnson Kelly Kragness Marva Pearson Glen Santi Sarah Schultz Carla Staffon Jill Wasson David Wentzel

Marketing

Jessica Vealetzek Lisa Henry Creative Services

Andy Goble Cindy Spilman Sue Stark

Information Technology

Jason Walkowiak News

Keith Hansen Michael Aulie Mike Bialka Matt Erickson Jan Finger Delynn Howard Kelly Humphrey Steve Kohls Jessica Larsen Jonah Lazerine Joseph Lindholm Jeremy Millsop Sarah Nelson Katzenberger Denton Newman Mike O’Rourke Renee Richardson Jennifer Stockinger Shelly Summer Bob Wallenius

Press Production

Dianna Blanck Darin Young David Bade Darren Beach Marty Chisholm Jeff Dummer Adam Gilson Shawn Hess Jeremy Lemoine Andrew Pucko Rodney Swanson Bradley Willemsen Circulation

John Gagliano Scott Gomon Jason Allord Charles Blume Blenda Hagberg Amanda Johnston Gregory Lambrecht Sabrina Ogborn Distribution

Jamie Olson Mason Allord Roy Banks Timothy Bautch Emily Coghlin Jennifer Dobson Zachery Lemoine Charles Marshall Kathryn Olson David Parker Brock Reynolds Pete Schuldheisz David Sims Leann Sobania Ryan VanHorn Tyler Willemsen

An award-winning company We have proven that we are not only a hometown newspaper with the best local coverage, but also a multimedia powerhouse complete with cutting edge digital products and services.

pineandlakes.com

Page views We’ve had page views every month for the last 14 months

from all 50 states!

Averaging 145,000 page views per month and 22,000 monthly visitors.

Opinion pineandlakes. com has a weekly question that you can participate in and see what others said.

Photo Galleries

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Special Publications SAMPLES

Recent Minnesota Newspaper Association Awards: 2013 First Place - Feature Photo, Kate Perkins Third Place - General Reporting, Lake Country Echo Third Place - General Excellence, Pine River Journal 2012 Third Place - Human Interest Story, Pete Mohs 2011 First Place - General Reporting, Lake Country Echo Second Place - Columnist, Katie Anderson Second Place - General Excellence, Lake Country Echo

Special publications are also available online. Check archived editions and enjoy easy scrolling and page turning.

Online Shopper The Echoland-Piper Shopper is also viewable online at pineandlakes.com!

2009 First Place - Use of Photography, Pine River Journal 2008 Second Place - Best Use of Website, Echo Publishing 2007 Second Place - Advertising Excellence, Lake Country Echo 2006 Third Place - Advertising Excellence , Lake Country Echo 2005 Second Place - Community Leadership, Pine River Journal 2004 Second Place - Typography & Design, Lake Country Echo

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