In honor of National Newspaper Week October 6th -October 12th, it is only fitting that we honor and recognize our own editor and owner of the Announcer, Wagner Post, Lake Andes Wave, and Avon Clarion, Barb Pechous. Anyone that knows Barb knows that she never likes to be in the spotlight, but thanks to a request from a subscriber we can do just that.

Barb was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa but grew up in Springfield and is a graduate of Bon Homme High School. Barb is the mother of three: Justin, Jessica, and Kristina. She currently has thirteen grandchildren, with one more on the way, and is a stepmother to Scott’s three children: Nick, Emily, and Rachel.

Barb has been part of the newspaper world for several years. She began with working at the Springfield Times as a type-setter and then advanced to editor. During her time at the Springfield Times, Barb first developed her passion for sports photography. In 2008, Barb was hired as the publisher/editor of the Wagner Post, Lake Andes Wave, and Announcer. After working for the business for six years, the owners saw what an amazing asset Barb was, and she became a business partner in 2014. Barb decided that she wanted to own and operate the Wagner Post and Announcer solely and did so starting in 2016 creating Pechous Publications LLC. Since first purchasing the Announcer, Post, and Wave, Barb has expanded her services to fit the needs of Wagner. When Wagner Printing closed its doors, Barb was willing to fill the need for the Wagner community, adding a print shop to Pechous Publications.

When Barb first bought the paper, she had a staff of three to help her put the three papers together. In the fall of 2020, Barb added another paper to Pechous Publications when she purchased the Avon Clarion. Barb did not want to see another small-town paper close its doors, especially in Avon as she and Scott had lived there for eight years before moving to Wagner and have many relatives and friends in the Avon area.

Staff have come and gone throughout the years that Barb has owned and operated the numerous papers, sometimes leaving her either producing the papers alone (which she did for over a year) or with the help of limited staff, and yet Barb never fails to give her all to her papers. Pechous Publications is first and foremost about its newspaper publications; Barb puts in an indescribable number of hours during weekdays, weekends, and even when she is on vacation to make sure that she is giving her readers the best product she can. Her drive, intelligence, and work ethic show in the number of newspapers she prints and mails out for her subscribers. Pechous Publication’s newspapers are mailed to 26 of the 50 states in the United States as well as the business prints and distributes over 8,000 newspapers and Announcers each week, 52 weeks a year and the Announcer being distributed throughout a 40-mile radius. In addition to her own four papers, Barb is also part of the Dakota Action Rocket. In addition to the newspapers, Barb has been an active member of the Wagner community throughout her years. She is a Wagner Chamber of Commerce member as well as an Avon Chamber of Commerce member, has been a Rotarian, served on the Wagner Labor Day Committee from 2011-2013, and is a Board Member of the Dakota Action Rocket. One of the most amazing aspects about Barb is that when she decides that she wants to do something, she goes “all in” and gives the task, project, hobby, etc. her all. She is always wanting to improve, learn more, and grow both in her professional life and in hobbies that she is passionate about. As most of the newspaper readers know, one of Barb’s biggest passions is photography. Even before she started her career in newspapers, she was actively learning and engaged in photography. During the early years of her photography, she would photograph weddings, families, and seniors. Her newspaper career has also shaped her as a photographer. Barb has changed her photography focus and has developed a love of sports, wildlife, and landscape photography. Sports photography became a natural interest for her when she began working for the Springfield Times as she would attend and cover the local sporting events for Bon Homme School District. With Barb’s mindset though, she did not just want to be an average sports photographer. She wanted to be able to provide her papers with top notch photos. Barb read and researched the best cameras and lenses to use, attended online and in person workshops, looked for guidance, asked questions from other professional sports photographers, and watched an endless numbers of webinars to hone her craft to get where she is today. Yes, Barb has an unending thirst of knowledge, skills, refinement, and creativity that have made her the professional photographer that she is today.

In addition to watching webinars, Barb has, within the past couple of years, taken her photography to the next level. She has attended several workshops with nationally known and award-winning photographers. This past August, she returned to the Badlands for another five day class, the Milky Way Masterclass Retreat, taught by Erik Kuna. Kuna is nationally known for his rocket and space exploration photography, but is also an amazing landscape photographer who focuses on night photography with implementing light painting. One of the biggest reasons that Barb wanted to attend class again this year, was to be able to work with guest professional photographer, Rick Sammon. Sammon is a professional photographer that is well known for his travel, landscape, wildlife, cultural, and nature photography. Being a part of once in a lifetime workshops like these have introduced Barb to the professional photography world of the photography genres that she is most passionate about. She now receives correspondences, guidance, and critique, as well as praise from many of these nationally recognized photographers.

Barb prides herself in not only putting out news and story filled papers with amazing sports pictures, but also that each paper promotes the individual town with all of the positive people, places, and events that are a part of each. Through the help of wonderful community members that share events, awards, and news with the newspaper, Barb is able to provide excellent as well as accurate coverage to the best of her and her staff’s ability. What initially started out as a job and career for Barb has evolved into a way of life. As Barb is one person in charge of four newspapers, the job does not come without its challenges. Unfortunately, she cannot be at every home game for every sporting event for each school. Barb handles this challenge by covering as many of the local home games as possible herself and obtaining outside assistance from other photographers to help ensure that each school’s sports are in their respective papers every week. These challenges come with personal and family sacrifices that she has to make in order to publish quality papers each and every week. Another one of the biggest challenges as a newspaper editor is weekly deadlines. Every Monday the papers are designed and completed, as all of the papers go to print early every Tuesday morning. This design and print deadline does not change even with Labor Day events as Barb will normally work all night, to provide timely coverage for these events.

One thing that both my co-worker Jessica Zeeb, myself, and Barb’s husband, Scott, would like the Wagner, Lake Andes, and Avon communities to know, is just how much passion, time, and effort that Barb puts into each week’s newspapers. Even though her job gives her much satisfaction, it is never done. Once one paper is published, Barb and her staff immediately begin on the next issue.

For me personally, I could not ask for a better boss and job. Barb has given me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful local people and businesses that I get to learn more about through my interviews. She allows me to pursue and share interesting stories about our local communities and I could not be more grateful. It is also a pleasure to get to watch her grow and evolve in her passion for photography. Not only is she immensely talented, but completely humble about her skills.

The Wagner, Lake Andes, Avon, and surrounding communities are very lucky to have Barb and her passion for her community papers. I hope you will all join Jessica, Scott, our special subscriber, and myself in celebrating Barb during National Newspaper Week. Thank you, Barb, for all that you do for our communities!