Press owner announces new publisher for Charles City, New Hampton, Nashua papers

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A new publisher has been named for the Charles City Press and for area sister papers the New Hampton Tribune and the Nashua Reporter and their associated shoppers.

Christopher Hall, former publisher and still current owner, announced that Greg Wilderman has taken over the position as publisher. Wilderman brings a long history of administrative positions in north Iowa newspaper print and digital sales and circulation.

Hall said that with his recent acquisition of several northwest Iowa newspapers and shoppers and continuing efforts to purchase additional properties, he was stepping back to more top-end ownership duties for all the properties and picking local publishers to handle the day-to-day management of the individual newspapers and shoppers.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Hall stressed. “My wife and I and our daughter will continue to live in Charles City. I will continue to have an office at the Press building. But as the number of newspapers owned has grown, it became clear that I needed someone who can devote all his attention to the Charles City, New Hampton and Nashua properties.

“We are lucky to get Greg as publisher,” Hall said. “He will do a great job serving these communities.”

Wilderman was with the Globe Gazette in Mason City and its parent corporation, Lee Enterprises Inc., of Davenport, for more than 30 years, starting as a sales consultant then moving into positions as classified advertising manager, retail advertising manager and circulation/audience director at the Globe Gazette, and for the last couple of years as central Iowa audience director for Lee, overseeing the Globe Gazette and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier operations.

Wilderman, age 52, is married to his wife, Tricia, an advertising representative at the Globe Gazette. They have four grown children, three of whom live in the area.

“These three newspapers – the Press, the Tribune and the Reporter – are what community journalism is all about,” Wilderman said. “They do a super job covering local news and sports, and provide an engaging way for businesses, organizations and individuals to reach many thousands of potential customers in the printed papers and shoppers and digitally online.

“I’m looking forward to meeting people in these communities and becoming part of what have been and will continue to be really effective and connected local media,” Wilderman said.

Christopher Hall announced in April that he and his father, longtime newspaperman Gene Hall, had purchased the Spencer Daily Reporter and Northwest Iowa Shopper, the Dickinson County News in Spirit Lake, the Le Mars Daily Sentinel and Le Mars Shopper, the Remsen Bell, the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune and the Cherokee Chronicle Times from Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

They then immediately entered into an agreement to spin off the Storm Lake and Cherokee publications to the owners of the Storm Lake Times.

Brad Hicks, then-editor of the Kossuth County Advance in Algona, a newspaper owned by Gene Hall, assumed duties as chief operating officer of that newly purchased media group and is now publisher of the Spencer Daily Reporter.

Christopher Hall said he continues to look for additional newspaper properties that have strong connections to their communities.

“I believe in newspapers and local journalism,” Hall said. “I know how important they are, both in informing and entertaining their readers and viewers, and in providing an effective way for advertisers to reach their customers and the public. I plan to be in this business for a long time, and am confident that strong local community newspapers will be around for a long time as well.”