Kaleidoscope (newspaper)

Kaleidoscope was an underground newspaper that was published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by John Kois, radio disk jockey Bob Reitman, and John Sahli (a member of The Shags), it was published from October 6, 1967 to November 11, 1971, printing 105 biweekly issues in all. The paper's first issue was printed with a borrowed $250 in an edition of 3500 copies, which sold out in two days.

In the first anniversary issue of Kaleidoscope a brief history of the paper's origins appeared:

'"The need for a Milwaukee-based underground newspaper was apparent early in 1967. It was talked about, tentative plans made and loose alliances formed, throughout the spring and summer, but nothing definite was done until July, when George Richard, a happy man of business, offered to underwrite the first issue. The first "staff" meeting was held in the Knickerbocker Coffee Shop. It was quite a crew: Bob Reitman, cemetery managing rock freak poet; John Sahli, industrial designing former gentle Shag; and John Kois, drifter free lance writer recently escaped from the coast."'

From its first issue, Kaleidoscope was subject to censorship attempts, including arrest of vendors in some suburbs and a drive to put its printer out of business; one case went to the U.S. Supreme Court (after the newspaper had folded), which ruled in Kois v. Wisconsin that the newspaper's publication of two photos and a poem entitled “Sex Poem” in an article about censorship did not constitute obscenity. "One of the requirements to get on this paper," John Kois told a reporter for Rolling Stone, "is that you have to dig fucking and doping."

Kaleidoscope was an affiliate of the Liberation News Service (LNS) and Underground Press Syndicate (UPS). It finally succumbed after four years to a combination of financial pressures, internal factionalism and burn-out. The 1971 death of printer Bill Schanen, who withstood a boycott of his printing business after he started printing the undergrounds on his presses, may also have been a factor in the paper's demise. Schanen's son continued to print the paper but refused to extend any more credit. With the paper $15,000 in debt to 42 creditors, and revenues sinking fast, it soon folded.

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