I want to tell you for a minute about an unsung hero. Sorry, I can barely keep a straight face just writing that because unsung hero is probably an overstatement so far as our readers are concerned, but the term is still apt because he’s both unsung and a hero to this newspaper.
His name is Kurt Kuehnert, and after ten years, he recently retired from his Advertising Manager position.
Despite that his name has appeared consistently for ten years on this page in the flag (or masthead or however you know it) to the right of this column, the name Kurt Kuehnert is probably wildly unknown amongst our readers. But such is the way of ad reps, leaving all the glory to be had by the editors, reporters, photographers, and columnists.
While those popular bylines may steal the show, Kurt Kuehnert and his team of ad reps have consistently made sure the show was running to begin with and that we in the limelight had a stage on which to perform.
An ad reps job is insanely difficult because they’re the earners of a news business. They go out and procure all the revenue it takes to run a newspaper. And it takes A LOT of revenue. And what Kurt has done in the past ten years of managing our advertising is nothing short of a miracle…or maybe not a miracle but a job extremely well done.
I’ll liken Kurt to a train conductor. It’s been his job to pull this long and heavy machine down a railway with no end (because newspapers keep going and going and going) in sight. It takes stamina, but even more than that, it takes incredible leadership, faith, ethics, and organization. All of which Kurt has and displayed flawlessly (except for that one time he sold a full page ad for a ridiculously low sum…and then he did it again! Sorry, Kurt, I had to take stab at you somewhere in this farewell).
I could write an entire novel on my years working with Kurt and our experiences, but it would not only embarrass his humility, but it would be overstating what could be said in one phrase: Kurt Kuehnert was the true star of this show.
There are two kinds of ad reps. I call them builders and maintainers. Builders are great. They are eager and ambitious and can make a lot of money fast, but they tend to peter out. Maintainers make sure that what the builders built (if you will) stands long and tall and proud. Kurt is a maintainer. For ten years, he’s not only continually grown this publication through his experience and expertise, but he’s kept our lights running. But not entirely through ad sales or managing clients, as you might guess, but through his council, which is what I’m going to personally miss the most about not working with Kurt.
My Sun Day News has grown a lot over the years, and Kurt has been an integral contributor to every advancement. I can honestly say that My Sun Day News would never have grown into the respected publication it is today without Kurt’s valuable contributions.
And I think finally Kurt deserves to take center stage and accept a huge round of applause for his work with this news company.
So, Kurt, please take a bow.
PS: The goat will miss you.
