From time to time, I hear longtime residents lament: “What a shame the Westport News went out of business.”
It didn’t.
Our “hometown newspaper” still publishes a print edition, every Friday.
It’s hard to find. I don’t think it’s sold anywhere in town. It gets delivered (often 4 days late) by mail, to some (but definitely not all) Westporters.
Westport News, complete with ad sticker on page 1.
It’s online too. It’s been rebranded as “CT Insider,” though it still says “Westport News” there as well.
Yet many older readers think the paper is defunct. And most new ones have never heard of it.
They don’t know that, beginning in 1986, I wrote a weekly column for the Westport News called “Woog’s World.”
And they — including many old-timers — don’t know that until last Friday, I kept writing it.
My second-to-last “Woog’s World.”
Once a week, for 36 years, I offered my thoughts on Westport. For the past 10 or so years, I wasn’t sure anyone read them.
Feedback was non-existent. More common was: “I miss ‘Woog’s World,'”
My final newspaper column ran this past Friday.
The timing is right. “06880” is demanding more and more of my time. I know my audience, and I know their eyeballs are here.
For those who had no idea I wrote a regular newspaper column — and those who either remember the old Westport News, or never heard of its heyday and are curious to know more — I’m posting that final “Woog’s World” below.
Enjoy. And — if you’re interested — here’s a link to the Westport News website.
I mean, “CT Insider.”
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The final “Woog’s World”:
My first Westport News byline came in 1969.
My last will be in 2024. It’s this one.
I’ve had a great run. From those first days as a Staples High School sophomore covering the baseball team, to today’s farewell “Woog’s World,” I’ve had the honor of reporting, recording and ruminating on more than 50 years of Westport life.
I’ve been the “Up at Staples” columnist, a two-year gig I inherited from a senior when Vietnam, drugs, student power and more rocked our town. I wrote about Staples soccer, football, basketball, wrestling and baseball too, for the sports pages. I’d type it all up, drop my “copy” in a box outside the Brooks Corner office, then head off to school.
As a Staples High School senior, I praised Players’ production of “The Time of Your Life” — and slammed the choice of the play.
As sports editor from 1976-79 – my first real job after college – I wrote, edited, laid out and filled up to six pages, twice a week, about everything from the Wreckers and Little League to Olympic and professional hopefuls.
It’s hard to imagine now, but for much of the second half of the 20th century, the Westport News was how Westporters got their news. From its downtown office, the News covered everything and anything that happened in town.
Reporters had specific beats. One handled Town Hall; another, education. Jeanne Davis was the flamboyant arts editor. Still, the most popular feature was the all-inclusive Police Reports. No matter who you were, if you got nabbed you could not keep your name out of the paper.
The perfect story presented itself when the furniture store across the street burned to the ground. It was right in front of us – and a Tuesday afternoon, perfect for our Wednesday edition deadline.
A Congressional race, Gorham Island, and school bus schedules were front-page news in 1978.
I kept writing after becoming a full-time freelancer. In 1986, editor Lise Connell offered me this “Woog’s World” space. Every Friday since – for 36 years, which is about 1,800 columns – I’ve contributed 800 words about whatever went on in Westport that week. Or had gone on in the past. Or was coming ‘round the bend.
Subjects ranged widely. I wrote about a Staples student who won both the Siemens Westinghouse and Intel science contests in the same year; teenagers who overdosed on angel dust, and a high school alcoholic.
I wrote about controversies, like the Compo Beach playground that was built only after a court injunction. (Spoiler alert: Now one of the most popular spots in Westport, it will soon be renovated as a townwide project.) I covered the Y’s long, torturous move from downtown; the closing, opening, remodeling and other ups and downs of our schools, and the everlasting debate about the future of Baron’s South. (If I wrote for another 36 years, until 2060, I’d still be reporting on that topic.)
Every Christmas, I offered a poem. Every January, I imagined headlines for the coming year. Once, decades ago, I came out as gay in my “Woog’s World” column.
A few headlines, out of 1,800.
Lise Connell – a demanding, decisive and thoroughly wonderful boss – was one of several memorable editors. Larry Fellows had been a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Woody Klein was previously the editor of IBM’s “Think” magazine. The Westport News – the flagship of what became the Brooks Community Newspapers – punched far above its weight.
Those days are well known to anyone who lived in Westport between about 1965 and 2000. If you were a Westporter, you read the Westport News.
But the world of journalism has changed seismically since then. The Brooks family sold their chain of papers to Hearst Media. Print circulation declined, while online options surged. Readers could access the Westport News – and sister publications – any time, from anywhere. Stories were posted any time too. A new century ushered in a new era.
I’ve aged a bit, from the early days.
Through all the changes, I’ve enjoyed chronicling all things Westport. No, that’s not right; I’ve loved it. I appreciate beyond measure the chance to share my thoughts and insights, week after week (year after year) (decad after decade), about what is happening (and has happened, and may one day happen) in this historic, ever-changing, passionate, quarrelsome, weird and wonderful community.
I’ve been privileged, for 36 years, to have had my say. I’ll continue to say it on the “pages” of my “06880” blog (www.06880.org).
And now – 55 years after my byline first appeared in the Westport News – I’ll sign off the way I was taught, my first day on the job as a high school sophomore.
For decades – in a throwback to the days of telegraph transmission — “-30-“ meant the end of a story. The writer had done his job; now it went to the editor and (how’s this for a memory?) typesetter.
“Woog’s World” is done. I give hearty, loving thanks to decades’ worth of colleagues, friends, and most importantly, readers. It’s been a true honor, and a great privilege. -30-.
The Riccis — who will keep the Old Mill Grocery name, adding “by Romanacci” — have made significant changes to the interior. It’s got a new floor, a large community table, and — like their restaurant — an open kitchen, like Elvira’s had.
