The Tribune-Phonograph’s place in history
Two communities, Colby and Abbotsford, have each had their own storied history of newspaper success and failure. The earliest newspapers were the
and Abbotsford Tribune.
The Colby Phonograph
In 1876, Griffen and Company started a newspaper in Colby called the Langlade Enterprise. After a short time, J.A. Parkhurst alone managed the paper. After two years, Parkhurst was elected county clerk which made it necessary for his moving the newspaper to Neillsville where it ceased publication sometime later.
In Sept. 1878, Sam and Joel Shafer published a live newspaper in the freight room of the Soo Line Depot, called the Phonograph, likened to a machine that will repeat every word you have spoken, their business was to repeat that which they heard, hence, the name. In the first issue, Sam Shafer announced in his editorial column that the paper would avoid politics in so much that it would not support any one man or party. Later they built a new printing office about one block west of the depot. There were over 200 subscribers to the paper in Clark County by 1880. Subscribers would often bring in wood for their subscriptions; the price was $1.50 and remained so for a long time.
In 1886, the Phonograph appeared as a six column quarto with four pages printed at home. Sam Shafer died in 1902 and Joel continued publishing the paper until 1916 when he sold it to the Harvey Brothers. They then turned around and sold it in 1918. The paper was sold to a group of business men in March of 1921 and the new owners induced Rob Markus with Wallace Sossaman as the printer, to come from Medford to manage the paper. After four years, Markus purchased the paper and published the Phonograph until 1963, when the paper was sold to Louis Janda.
Janda combined the papers soon after he bought them to form The Tribune-Phonograph.
The Abbotsford Tribune
Abbotsford’s first newspaper was dubbed the Abbotsford Clarion and was the result of moving the Dorchester New Era to Abbotsford around 1900. The paper, like much of Abbotsford, suffered from the business recession of 1910 when the Central Wisconsin Railroad moved its division point from Abbotsford. The following years saw such a decline in business and about 1920, the Clarion was sold and moved back to Dorchester. During its tenure in Abbotsford, several owners published the newspaper.
In the early 1920s, the Withee Journal moved to Abbotsford to begin publication of the Abbotsford Tribune. Also published from the Abbotsford shop was the Withee (Clark County) Journal, The Curtiss Advance, The Milan Sentinel, The Spencer Record and Unity Register.
In 1927, George A. Rogers and Otis C. Adams leased the Abbotsford shop from E.C. Clark and about one year later, purchased the papers. Adams, and sons Orson and Norman, purchased Rogers’ interest in 1929.
Robert Janda purchased the Abbotsford Tribune in 1934 and operated it until 1961 when his son Louis purchased the paper. A merger with the
took place in 1963 and at that time, the printing facilities were moved to Colby. The Abbotsford Tribune office on Main Street continued with job printing.
In January of 1971, J.A. and Carol O’Leary of Savanna, Ill., purchased The Tribune Phonograph and The Record Review from publisher Louis Janda.
In that first year of operation, the O’Leary’s split their time between the offices in Colby and Abbotsford. It was in Colby, in the old Colby Cafe, that the printing press was located.
Eventually, the O’Leary’s resolved to have everything in one place, and the office and printing press was soon on the move. They moved the TP Printing Company to its current location on 103 West Spruce Street in Abbotsford about three years after they arrived in the area.
Prior to being the TP Printing Company, the building was originally the White House Dairy, which produced powdered milk. It was later used to pulverize wood and create it into press wood.
By the time the O’Leary’s acquired the building in late December of 1971, it hardly resembled much of anything, and was in need of massive renovations.
In May of 1997, Jay O’Leary suffered a fatal heart attack. His daughter, Kris O’Leary, joined the paper to help her mother keep the company running. Kris’s husband, Kevin Flink, sold his farm and also joined the paper as business partners, taking over supervision of the pressroom in March of 1996.
In 2013, Kris and Kevin bought out Carol to be sole owners of TP Printing, which included The Tribune-Phonograph, The Record Review, Central Wisconsin Shopper and the Tribune Record Gleaner.
Carol, Kris and Kevin are also co-owners of Central Wisconsin Publications which publishes the Star News, Cornell Courier and the Star News Shopper. Carol still owns the newspaper printing press and TriStar Printing today.
The O’Leary family has had the longest ownership in the paper’s history. With more than 50 years they have strived to have a strong local paper covering local issues. They have also been blessed with employees that have been with them for almost as long.
THE EARLY NEWSPAPER DAYS -The Colby Phonograph office located on Division Street was operated by multiple publishers throughout its history. Rod Markus and Wallace Sossaman were the longest tenured employees of the paper at the time.COLBY CENTENNIAL BOOK PHOTO
