Ron McCrea is a third generation newspaperman. Originally from Saginaw, Michigan, he received a B.A. in political science from Albion College in 1965. From 1965 to 1966 he was a Robert R. McCormick Scholar at the Medill School of Journalism of Northwestern University. In 1969 he completed an M.A. in law and diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Tufts University. His first professional employment was as copy editor at the Boston Globe from 1968 to 1970. From 1970 to 1977 he was news editor of the Madison Capital Times. During this period he was a lecturer in journalism at the University of Wisconsin and a winner of an Alicia Patterson Fellowship.
In 1977 McCrea was one of two hundred employees from five unions who struck Madison Newspapers, Inc., the owner of the Capital Times. At this time McCrea became editor of the Madison Press Connection, the newspaper organized by the striking unions. After the demise of the Connection in January 1980 because of financial problems McCrea worked on the foreign desk of the Washington Post. Soon after he returned to Wisconsin to head the communications office of Governor Anthony S. Earl.
