Tribune-Phonograph staff

The Tribune-Phonograph, The Record-Review and the Central Wisconsin Shopper History

The Tribune-Phonograph and The Record Review were purchased by J.A. and Carol O'Leary in 1971. In 1981 they started The Central Wisconsin Shopper, covering western Marathon and northeastern Clark Counties. In 1986 the O'Learys purchased The Star News and The Shopper in Medford. The purchase also included The Shopper and The Star News interest in Tristar Printing Co., the central printing plant in Abbotsford.
• J.A. O'Leary was an expert in computer knowledge and was responsible for the papers being two of the first weekly newspapers in the state to use computer typesetting and billing. With the purchase of The Star News, all the papers forged ahead and were pioneers in electronic classified ads, pagination and photo scanning.
• Upon the unexpected death of J.A. in 1997, his widow, Carol, and daughter, Kris, took over the helm of the newspaper and printing operations. Carol has been working in the newspaper business since 1964, filling in for almost every position, including the pressroom. Today, she is the publisher of all three papers and is looking forward to turning the operation over to the next generation.
• Kris O'Leary graduated from UW-Eau Claire with a BSW in social work. She was employed as a social worker for Taylor County for five years prior to joining The Star News staff as the General Manager and the Human Resource Manager for the Medford and Abbotsford newspaper offices. Her husband, Kevin Flink, is the Pressroom Supervisor at TP Printing. They are the parents of five children, John, Lucinda, Conrad, Warren and Hazel.

The history of The Star News coincides with the history of Taylor County, in that both were born in 1875.
The first newspaper in Taylor County — the Taylor County News — was published on March 31, 1875 by the two Ogden brothers. Read more about this on The Star News.




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	The Tribune-Phonograph, The Record-Review and the Central Wisconsin Shopper History The Tribune-Phonograph and The Record Review were purchased by J.A. and Carol O'Leary in 1971. In 1981 they started The Central Wisconsin Shopper, covering western Marathon and northeastern Clark Counties. In 1986 the O'Learys purchased The Star News and The Shopper in Medford. The purchase also included The Shopper and The Star News interest in Tristar Printing Co., the central printing plant in Abbotsford. • J.A. O'Leary was an expert in computer knowledge and was responsible for the papers being two of the first weekly newspapers in the state to use computer typesetting and billing. With the purchase of The Star News, all the papers forged ahead and were pioneers in electronic classified ads, pagination and photo scanning. • Upon the unexpected death of J.A. in 1997, his widow, Carol, and daughter, Kris, took over the helm of the newspaper and printing operations. Carol has been working in the newspaper business since 1964, filling in for almost every position, including the pressroom. Today, she is the publisher of all three papers and is looking forward to turning the operation over to the next generation. • Kris O'Leary graduated from UW-Eau Claire with a BSW in social work. She was employed as a social worker for Taylor County for five years prior to joining The Star News staff as the General Manager and the Human Resource Manager for the Medford and Abbotsford newspaper offices. Her husband, Kevin Flink, is the Pressroom Supervisor at TP Printing. They are the parents of five children, John, Lucinda, Conrad, Warren and Hazel. The Star News and the Star News Shopper History The history of The Star News coincides with the history of Taylor County, in that both were born in 1875. The first newspaper in Taylor County — the Taylor County News — was published on March 31, 1875 by the two Ogden brothers. Read more about this on The Star News. Jay and Carol O'Leary bought The Star News, and the Star News Shopper, in August 1986. At the time, the O'Learys owned The Tribune-Phonograph of Abbotsford-Colby, and The Record-Review of Edgar and Marathon, as well as the Central Wisconsin Shopper. Jay O'Leary had been experimenting with computers for several years — he was so knowledgeable about computers and computer programs, that he usually had to explain new equipment and software programs to computer dealers —and The Star News soon became one of the first newspapers in the state, daily or weekly, to use computers for typesetting and scanning photographs. The Star News began using pagination — designing and making up newspaper pages entirely on a computer — in 1992, becoming one of the first, if not THE first weekly newspaper in the state to do so. 1992 was also the year that Bob Anderson retired as manager, although he continued to write his weekly Common 'Tater column until 1997. Today, QuarkXpress software is used to design pages, while news copy is set on a Macintosh Microsoft Word program and ad copy is set on Multi-Ad Creator software program. Pages are printed on a high-speed laser printer, and photographs, negatives and prints, are scanned and stored in a computer, and then retrieved electronically and imported directly into the newspaper pages when they're made up. In 1997, we began using digital cameras to supplement our more traditional cameras. The digital cameras allow us to instantly view the photo we're taking, and the camera is then plugged into a computer where the photo is stored until needed. It also extended our capabilities for doing color photographs. In May of 1997, Jay O'Leary died unexpectedly, and his widow, Carol, and daughter Kris, took over management of The Star News. Don Woerpel retired as editor in 1999 after 17 years with The Star News. Under his leadership, the newspaper won several state and national journalistic excellence awards. The first woman editor, Laurie Sacho, stepped into Don’s shoes after his retirement, and, under the guidance of Carol and Kris O’Leary, took the newspaper into the new millenium and the 125th anniversary of The Star News.