The ''Bugle'' or ''Bugle-American'' (the original name) was an underground newspaper based in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. Distributed throughout the state from September 1970 to 1978, it was published weekly for most of that time for a total of 316 issues. The ''Bugle'', an early example of the

alternative newsweekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

genre, was less radical than the city's other underground newspaper, '' Kaleidoscope'', although it was not viewed that way by the local media such as the '' Milwaukee Journal'' and '' Milwaukee Sentinel''. The paper was founded by Denis Kitchen, Dave Schreiner, Mike Hughes, Mike Jacobi and Judy Jacobi, some of them former

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

students at the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

. The tongue-in-cheek name was inspired by that of the ''

Daily Bugle The ''Daily Bugle'' (at one time ''The DB'') is a fictional New York City tabloid newspaper appearing as a plot element in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The ''Daily Bugle'' is a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe, most ...

'', the fictional newspaper published by

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

-hater

J. Jonah Jameson John Jonah Jameson Jr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and he ...

. Because of Kitchen's interest in

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

, the ''Bugle'' featured a comics page with the works of both local artists like Kitchen, Jim Mitchell,

Don Glassford Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

, Bruce Walthers, and Wendel Pugh, and work by nationally known artists like Robert Crumb. For a time Kitchen syndicated these strips to about fifty college and alternative papers around the country. On February 22, 1975, the ''Bugle's'' office on Bremen Street in the

Riverwest The neighborhoods of Milwaukee include a number of areas in southeastern Wisconsin within the state's largest city at nearly 600,000 residents. Two residents of the same neighborhood may describe different neighborhood boundaries, which could b ...

neighborhood was firebombed. About the same time, the car of ''Kaleidoscope's'' editor

John Kois John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

was also bombed. The newspaper's next issue, delayed a week, was aided by financial support from such fans as

George Reedy George Edward Reedy (August 5, 1917 – March 21, 1999) was the tenth White House Press Secretary, and served under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1964 to 1965. Life and career Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Reedy attended Senn High School in ...

, Leonard Cohen and Bryan Ferry. Neither bombing was ever solved; many suspected involvement by the Milwaukee Police Department's

Red Squad In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket R ...

.Armstrong, David. ''A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1981), p. 148-149 ''et seq.'' Veterans of the ''Bugle'' (in addition to Kitchen) include Tony Capaccio (later editor of '' Jane's Defence Weekly''),

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

(the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

s pop music critic since 1990), Rob Fixmer (later technology news editor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''), Gary Peterson, and

Peter James Spielmann Peter James Spielmann (born 1952) is a veteran reporter in the foreign service of The Associated Press, and is an editor and supervisor on AP's North America desk. He taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism from 1989–93 ...

of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

References

{{reflist Publications established in 1970 Publications disestablished in 1978 Alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States Underground culture 1970 establishments in Wisconsin

See also

References