History of the Inter-County Leader

When the first 16-page issue of the Inter-County Leader rolled off the presses in the early morning hours of November 2, 1933, in Centuria, the headline across the front page read, "Farmers' Strike Called Off Temporarily". It represented the tone of the times. In the midst of the Great Depression, farmers were being subjected to foreclosures and bankruptcies because the prices they could receive for what they produced were less than their cost of operation. Many farmers felt their concerns weren't being listened to or reflected in the state's newspapers. It was from such a setting that the Inter-County Leader came into being. A group of farmers met several times that summer to consider purchasing the Polk County Ledger in Balsam Lake, but they liked the idea of starting their own newspaper. Area farmers were asked to pitch in five bucks apiece, and a cooperative was formed. While most cooperatives were being formed to sell farm products, this one aimed to serve the people with a forum for viewpoints and ideas.

Some of the co-op members knew Bennie Bye and approached him to serve as both the editor and manager. Bye had newspaper experience, working with area newspaper publishers W.R. Vezina at St. Croix Falls and E.E. Husband at the Ledger in Balsam Lake. A Grantsburg High School graduate, Bye was a printer's apprentice at the office of the Grantsburg Journal. "The Inter-County Leader enters the newspaper field with no sense of animosity toward our present weekly papers," wrote O.A. Bloom, one of the original organizers. "The Leader is owned by men and women in all walks of life: farmers, business, and professional men from all parts within our county and without. ... Our mission shall be cooperation for the best interests of all of us. The Inter-County Leader speaks for no special privilege. It will be an organ through which any of us may voice our opinions; in other words, a free press." Bye reinforced Bloom's message with his own words in the premiere issue of the Leader, including the following line: "The principal way in which we expect to make this paper different from the common run of papers is that we are in the business for service and not for profit, and intend to carry the truth to the public regardless of whose toes get pinched."

As the Leader grew, so did its need for space. With no existing building available in Centuria to accomodate the growth, the newspaper relocated to the Old Fellows Fall on Oak Street in Frederic in 1939. The village held a housewarming party, and more than 1,000 people came to view the new plant and to welcome a new business. A few years later, the new plant was expanded. In the early years, Bye lived above the print shop on Centuria's Main Street, with minimal earnings. The net earnings for the cooperative in its first four months of operation were just over $500. But the popularity of the Leader was evident by its subscription list, which grew from 1,700 copies to nearly 4,000 in its first four years.

Bye crusaded for the local farmers through his writing, but also worked behind the scenes, helping to publish a Farmers Union newspaper and getting involved with state editorial associations and attempting to further the cause of the common man. "We shall miss his patient attitude when trials and tribulations arise. We shall miss his geniality and kindliness, his tolerance and quiet, unassuming presence," stated a eulogy printed in the Leader in 1953 shortly after his death.

Due to "changing conditions in the printing field which made it almost impossible for two papers to exist in one town," according to The Frederic Star's editor Harvey Oleson, the Inter-County Leader purchased the Frederic Star in 1951. It was called the Inter-County Leader and Frederic Star for a while. Eventually, it came to be called the Inter-County Leader. Just a few days after Bennie Bye died in 1953, Romain Brandt was named new editor and publisher of the Leader. Brandt fell into the role with ease, penning a weekly column titled "Pause A Moment". He relied on co-worker Elmer Haumant, who had worked for The Star and was hired by the Leader upon the Leader's acquisition of that paper.

Haumant was a sportswriter, compositor, linotype operator, and advertising manager before being named editor and shop foreman in 1958 upon Brandt's departure for another job in Berlin, Wisconsin. Brandt went on to work at a handful of other weeklies before taking a job with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. He eventually became the executive director of the Association. Brnadt died in 1996.. Haumant, who had grown up in Frederic and became well-known for his "Sports Flashes" and "Sports Corner" columns in the newspaper, was a natural choice to edit the paper. He knew most people in the village well and filled the newspaper with insights on the news stories he covered. He wrote a column entitled "The Way We See It". In late 1963, Haumant resigned his position, and manager Ed Greinke promptly hired his replacement.

Bernice Asper entered into the world of small-town journalism on November 1, 1963. As the first and only woman editor of the paper to date, and the only female newspaper editor at that time, she recalls that filling the position seemed daunting in those first few months. And it didn't help that she was receiving angry letters from a phantom writer. "There were some people who felt I was in over my head, and of course, I thought I was too," she said. Asper, a graduate of Luck High School, had worked in various jobs in the area but had little journalism experience, aside from an office job at the Enterprise-Herald in Luck. Her high school journalism teacher had told her she would make a good journalist. However, due to the financial shortage during the Depression years, and after her father gave her $300 to help her on her way, she ended up attending Minneapolis Business College.

One of Bernice's first stories to write, just a few weeks after being hired, was that of the assassination of President Kennedy. She soon began a personal column, "As Per Bernice," which drew a following among readers and allowed her to render opinions on several personal and political issues in a homespun manner.

Asper was the only editorial staff person in those days, covering several meetings in person and by phone, coming in at 4:00 a.m. most days to get the job done. She did the payroll and helped insert papers. Manager Greinke and pressman Clyde Kunze would help out with photo and sports assignments. Kunze penned "Kunze's Korner", a weekly look at local sports that drew a heavy following. Longtime proofreader Bernice Abrahamzon added to the mix with her popular "Behind the Signpost" column, the longest-running local column in the Leader's history.

In the 1970s, a part-time reporter position was created to help cover assignments, followed a few years later by another, full-time position. While Asper was editor, the Inter-County Cooperative Publishing Association began publishing the Advertisers, allowing for further growth beyond the cooperative's base of newspaper production and job printing. After retirement, Asper stayed on the job, continuing her personal columns for a few years and covering a variety of assignments part-time. She entered full-time retirement in 1993, after 30 years as an editor and journalist for the Leader. She later served on the Polk County Board of Supervisors before passing away in 2007.

Upon Bernice stepping down from the editor's position, Gary King was chosen for the job. He had been hired by the cooperative in 1977, working as a darkroom technician and a sportswriter before taking over as editor of the newspaper. During his tenure, the Leader staff grew under the guidance of managers Frank Gursky and Doug Panek, allowing expanded coverage of Polk and Burnett County news. The press run for the Leader grew from approximately 3,600 in the late 1970s to approximately 7,500 in 2001. Satellite offices were open in Siren and St. Croix Falls in the 1980s and 1990s, and the staff was increased to six full-time positions. The field of journalism changed dramatically in the last 20 years of the last century, primarily due to advancements in technology. The typewriter is long gone, and the arrival of digital imaging has revolutionized the world of photojournalism. Gary King became the longest-serving editor of the Inter-County Leader, heading up the paper for 39 years, before his retirement in 2022.

Richard Lee, who became president of the cooperative in 2020, hired seasoned journalist Robert Tabern to take over as senior editor of the Inter-County Leader in July 2022, upon Gary King's retirement. Tabern's background was mainly in television and radio news before becoming editor of the newspaper, but he has adjusted well to the position. He often shares perspectives on news and journalism with his "Tabern Live" column. The changing world of technology has led many reporters to work remotely in the last few years, either from the field or at home, instead of coming into the office daily to file reports. An increasing number of "digital only" subscribers has been on the increase, too; however, thousands of Inter-County Leader readers still like to sit back every Wednesday and read the hard copy of the paper. Lee and Tabern oversaw the re-launch of a new redesign of the Inter-County Leader website in October 2025 featuring exclusive "web-only" news topics.