From creating social media posts to writing stories to leading search-audience strategy — and a whole lot more — lead digital producer Chris Kuhagen has a huge impact on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newsroom.
He’s involved in everything the Journal Sentinel does online — both our website and our social media platforms, like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.
But he also frequently writes what we call trending news stories — the kinds of stories people are talking about in the moment — particularly about sports and reality TV.
And he’s the newsroom’s go-to person for advice on everything to do with reaching an audience, especially our audience that’s using search platforms like Google to find out what’s going on.
He’s everywhere in the newsroom — in all the best ways.
Here, you can get to know Chris a little better, through this Q&A with JR Radcliffe:
Let’s start with your origin story — I know you’re from Greenfield. What brought you to journalism and how did you wind up here?
Sports and writing were always my passion. I still have a poster collage in my basement from a high school assignment that included all my interests and goals. Think of a vision board. And featured were headshots of many of the guys on “SportsCenter,” along with newspaper clips of current events. It was what I always wanted to do. Sitting at the kitchen table with my grandma and talking about what was going on in the world and the articles she circled in the Journal Sentinel was common during our chats.
I grew up reading the Journal Sentinel and the sports section was always close by, checking the latest scores, reading stories and even looking to see my name printed in it as a high school tennis player. I was so fascinated.
And then one of the first stops I made during my first week in college at UW-Whitewater was to the campus newspaper offices. It was the best decision I made. I soon got my first assignment, covering the club rugby team.
From there, I wrote about every sport and even got to travel, covering national championship teams.
My first byline in the Journal Sentinel actually came in December 2009 when I was a junior in college, on assignment covering the Division III national championship football game in Salem, Virigina, for the college paper.
The Journal Sentinel couldn’t get its reporter to the game because of a massive snowstorm in the mountains and I ended up writing a front-page story. It was a whirlwind experience and one I’ll never forget.
I continued to get more “shoe-leather experience,” as my mentor, the late Sam Martino, called it, including an internship covering high school sports with the Now Newspapers, now the community hub of the Journal Sentinel, in summer 2010.
It was a blast and I looked forward to returning the next year as a full-time reporter covering the city of Waukesha to help elevate coverage of this news-heavy community.
I valued my time covering city hall, the school board, town and county board meetings, as well as politics — from a visit by President Barack Obama and when Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan announced their presidential ticket in 2012 at the Waukesha County Expo. I was also in the courtroom throughout the SlenderMan case for several years and learned so much about the legal system in what became an international story.
I held other roles over the next several years, including editing some of our weekly publications and taking over our digital and social media efforts for our suburban team. That has set the stage for my current position as lead digital producer.
How do you describe your job? It feels like you’re up to everything, from creating content to managing it to figuring out what stories will find a big audience
It is a little bit of everything and I touch all corners of the newsroom with writing and reporting, to optimizing content, to leading our social media and search efforts.
Learning how people will find you in these ecospheres and what makes someone want to follow you or be a loyal reader is vital to anyone in the content business. And I’ve taken on this important role. How can we reach them? And in what medium should we tell this story? And in what format? These are all questions I ask every day for our content.
We’ve also prioritized our coverage of events in the moment, from providing up-to-the-minute updates in sports to other breaking news events to weather. People want the latest information about major events and I’ve been at the helm of this initiative.
But I’m also developing content, particularly what I see is trending in sports. I could be writing about Aaron Rodgers’ darkness retreat, or social-media reactions to a crazy ending of a game, or Simone Biles’ appearances in Green Bay and everything else going on with local athletes on and off the field.
Besides writing stories and being involved in our newsroom’s video strategy on social and YouTube, I really enjoy creating content through social cards for our newsroom’s Instagram accounts, especially around high school sports. I’ve been doing this in some capacity for about nine years.
As someone who grew up in southeast Wisconsin and played high school sports, I take great pride in sharing the accomplishments of our teams on platforms to reach this younger audience. Some of my favorite projects on social media are leading our user-generated photo galleries for prom, homecoming and graduation. Building connections and trust with our audience is how I’ve helped build a community on our social platforms.
What’s your process for discovering which types of topics or stories will appeal to our search audience? What tools are available to you?
I’m always analyzing and reviewing Google Trends and sharing those insights with our newsroom. It’s a tool that allows you to see popular search trends around topics and questions. You want to see what people want to know about Micah Parsons after the blockbuster trade. You want to know what kind of information people are seeking on Election Day. You want to to learn about what kind of stories to create around air quality alerts or during the historic floods. Or what folks are interested in during a Packers game or Bucks playoff game.
My tab to Google Trends is always open. It’s such a valuable tool that I use every day and during every big event. I’ve also been trained in other search-focused tools and I’m consistently monitoring social media to stay on top of the conversations that are happening on all the platforms.
Isn’t it kind of weird that you know what everyone is searching for?
As we’ve become such a digitally minded newsroom, it’s essential to get into the mind of the searcher. There’s so much competition out there locally and nationally, but understanding people’s search habits can help us stand out.
Search is how people are finding us more and more, so for us to be the place that people regularly come to, we have to meet them exactly where they are. If we’re not, someone else will.
You focus a lot on how keywords and headlines affect our stories. What are some lessons you’ve learned that people might be surprised to know about that side of the job?
The headline on a story is such an important part in digital journalism. Having the right headline can make the difference between someone reading it and scrolling right by. You have seconds to get someone’s attention, whether someone is on the website, on social media or on a search engine. But each platform is also so different in reaching an audience, so understanding each of our audiences on these mediums and what kind of headline will appeal to them is something I focus on as well. And I’ve led training sessions not only on headlines but other audience-driven topics. It’s a passion of mine in coaching others.
You’ve had big stories relating to a wide range of pop culture ephemera, from sports to reality TV to wrestling. Are you a ‘fan’ of everything you’re writing about? Would you be following this stuff anyway?
Oh, for sure. I’ve been a Wisconsin sports fan and reality TV show junkie forever.
I’ve been going to games for as long as I can remember, with some of my earliest memories attending college basketball games downtown in the 1990s and cheering on the Bucks’ Big Three at the Bradley Center and catching Brewers games at County Stadium. Now, writing about these teams is so cool. And for pop culture, I still remember watching the very first season of “Survivor” with my dad 25 years ago. I was hooked. “Big Brother” and “Amazing Race” are also at the top of my list.
And even as people’s viewing habits aren’t the same as in 2000, there’s still so much interest in these shows online. Wisconsin is also home to many of the most successful reality TV contestants and I’ve loved diving into this arena — from “Survivor” fan favorite Andrea Boehlke of Random Lake, to historic “Big Brother” winner and Marquette University grad Xavier Prather to following the journeys of local folks on “The Amazing Race” and even recently “Love Island USA.”
How do you know when it’s too much? As in, at some point, it has to be exhausting writing about everything Aaron Rodgers says.
Ha ha! Can there be too much Aaron Rodgers? Of course.
I guess I’ve taken it upon myself to become the unofficial Aaron Rodgers trending reporter. Whether you love him or not, there’s no question he generates conversation online. Still, you can’t write about everything. Finding a local angle, especially now, is something I always try to get for our audience in Wisconsin. But, yeah, I’ve probably watched nearly every appearance of his on “The Pat McAfee Show” in the last four years and we’ll have at least one more year.
The 2025 season is sure to bring a few more headlines for Rodgers, right? Get your popcorn popped for the Packers’ Week 8 against the Steelers.
What’s the hardest part of this job?
The world of digital is always changing, so staying on top of everything is paramount and that can be challenging. For example, something we learned about a social platform earlier this year might not even be relevant today. Our strategies are changing as the world changes. But staying relevant in the digital landscape, especially as AI enters the mix, is a must. We’re competing with so much out there online and on social and people’s attention spans are shorter. Meeting this need can sometimes be hard but it’s something I take great pride in.
What other things are you into outside of the job?
When I’m not reviewing search trends or scrolling social to find the latest trending story, you can find me cheering on our local sports teams. You really can’t beat a summer day baseball game at American Family Field. Is this finally going to be the Milwaukee Brewers’ year? And you can find me on weekend early mornings at the Milwaukee County golf parks as the sun is rising. Oh, and spending time with my young nieces and nephew is the best.
Reach Chris at christoper.kuhagen@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Chris Kuhagen is the Journal Sentinel’s go-to person for, well, many things
Reporting by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
