Back in the day, my generation learned about snow days by listening to the radio.
Westport’s WMMM and Bridgeport’s WICC would go through the list.
It was alphabetical — and agonizing.
Ansonia Public Schools. Bridgeport public schools. Darien public schools. Even Our Lady of Fatima, wherever that was.
Who cared? What about Westport?!
Sometimes they’d be closed. Sometimes they wouldn’t. It was a crapshoot.
Then came a more high-tech method: emails and voicemails.
Still, it was a crapshoot. Longtime superintendent of schools Elliot Landon made it a point of pride to keep Westport schools open.
“Today is Monday, January 26. The Westport Public Schools will be open!” he cackled.
It didn’t matter that schools from here to Buffalo were closed. Suck it up!
Former superintendent of schools Elliot Landon. He is probably smiling because he just announced that schools would be open.
But this is 2026. Social media is everywhere. High school students make full-length documentaries; 8-year-olds create Instagram reels.
So, to announce tomorrow’s snow day — which there was little doubt about, from Friday’s predictions on — Westport Public Schools officials got creative.
Assistant superintendent John Bayers headed to Long Lots Elementary School. He consulted with Leo the Lion — the mascot. They punted.
The decision was left to Long Lots’ staff: teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians, and the school resource officer.
Fashion and hip hop closed out VersoFest yesterday. The 5-day event was the best attended and most diverse in the 3-year history of the Westport Library event.
The penultimate event was “Glam to Punk Fashion Roundtable: Alice Cooper, Bowie, Blondie and Beyond.” Christine “The Beehive Queen” Ohlman moderated.
Christine Ohlman (left) leads the fashion panel.
The finale was “Hip Hop Panel and Performances: 51 Years of Wild Style, the First Hip Hop Motion Picture” with Tony Tone (Cold Crush Brothers).
Hip hop on stage. (Photos/Dinkin Fotografix)
VersoFest ’24 drew plenty of Westporters — and many others from throughout the tri-state region.
All were impressed by the depth and breadth of the programming, as well as the venue. Those who had never been in the Westport Library before were awed by the space.
And amazed that no one said, “Be quiet. This is a library!”
Congratulations to all who made it happen: Library staff, sponsors, performers, panelists, and anyone else.
In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, WMMM was Westport’s local radio station.
Broadcasting from studios above Oscar’s (now Rye Ridge) Deli, 1260 AM offered local news and sports, plus middle-of-the-road music.
They were there for the Save the Children radio auction, the Great Race, Festival Italiano and the Oyster Fest.
Of course, John LaBarca hosted a weekly Italian house party — and made trips (as Santa) to deliver holiday gifts to the Southbury Training School.
WMMM is no longer (though the FM station lives on, as 50,000-watt WEBE 108). WMMM’s last owners — the Graham family — donated WMMM to Sacred Heart University. In 2000, the call letters were changed to WSHU-AM.
But WMMM is back, at 105.5. Those are the call letters now of a radio station serving the Madison, Wisconsin area.
I don’t know how former Westporter John Kelley stumbled on the station, but he shared the news with “06880.”
PS: When WMMM was our station, the letters stood for “Modern Minute Man” (owner Red Graham owned Minuteman Travel, too).
Out in Wisconsin these days, they call it “Triple M.”
The “new” WMMM …
… and the original.
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The Fortunoff brothers — Aaron, a Staples High School freshman, and Brett, a Bedford Middle School 7th grader — spent all of yesterday outside Stop & Shop.
The boys were collecting cereal and donations for Cereal4All. The non-profit provide cereals to local food pantries.
Their hard work paid off. Shoppers donated 989 boxes of cereal, and added $2,100 in cash.
If you missed the Fortunoffs, but want to help, you can Venmo @lauriefortunoff, or click here for an Amazon wish list.
There will also be a collection box at Temple Israel in Westport throughout May.
Aaron and Brett Fortunoff, with a few of their many cereal boxes.
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Suzuki Music Schools are best known for their violin instructions.
Sophie B. Hawkins does not play the violin.
No matter. The Westport-based singer/songwriter is the special guest performer at Suzuki’s annual gala (April 26, Aspetuck Country Club, Weston). She’ll be accompanied by Suzuki students.
The event includes a cocktail hour with open bar, dinner, and a live auction.
Last year’s gala raised nearly $40,000 to support their Bridgeport Outreach programs, to provide music lessons to children in need.
This year’s goal: raise enough funds to provide violins for those children to take home for practice.
Community Conversations: “It Will Go On” curator Victoria McCraven and Black Art Library founder Asmaa Walton (Thursday, April 11, 6 to 7 p.m.; Zoom only): A discussion about the current exhibit, and New England’s first Black art library installation. Click here to register, and for more information.
MoCA Some Noise: Open Mic Night (Friday, April 26, 6:30 p.m.): A night of creativity and talent, celebrating the power of expression and connection through music, poetry and more. Click here for more information.
Voices of Women: Natalia Kazaryan (Saturday, April 27, 7 p.m.): Georgian pianist Natalia Kazaryan celebrates the contributions of women composers. Click here for tickets, and more information.
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Stéphanie Szostak — the Westport actress whose credits include “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Iron Man 3” and “A Million Little Things.” — is a keynote speaker at the American Cancer Society’s annual Women Leading the Way to Wellness luncheon (May 15, 11 a.m., Stamford Marriott).
Szostak speaks often about overcoming failure, being an outsider and living with authenticity.
Kitt Shapiro — owner of WEST boutique, and a longtime supporter of the ACS — is a tri-chair for the event.
The luncheon highlights the importance of being one’s own health advocate. Over the past 10 years it has raised more than $1 million to support women’s health research, advocacy and more.
A deer silhouetted in the Vista Terrace woods, in Longshore near the 1st and 2nd holes on the golf course, starts this week’s “Westport … Naturally” feature off on a handsome note.
Mark Graham — native Westporter, former radio personality, and noted softball player — died this week. He was 64.
His many friends mourn the loss of a larger-than-life personality. With his father, Red Graham, he owned WMMM and Minuteman Travel. Mark spent many years on air, when 1260 AM was Westport’s local station.
Mark Graham
He was a longtime “BOSS” figure. It stands for Boys of Summer Softball, a long-running Sunday morning game behind Town Hall. Mark always stood out, in his St. Louis Cardinals uniform.
He was familiar too at the Fairfield County Hunt Club, wearing his Cards jacket and a cowboy hat.
“Mark was a gentleman, someone whose company I always enjoyed,” says Alan Neigher. “His stories of Westport in the 1950s and ’60s were unmatched for detail, humor and irony.
Neigher also calls him “a kind and generous man.” His Graham Family Foundation helped numerous local charities, in arts, education, physical disabilities and sports. The fund was started by his parents, Red and Peggy.
Dick Kalt spoke often with Mark about the “challenges and fun” of running a radio station in town. Dick calls him “a warm and committed person, with a great sense of humor.”
Mark studied speech, dramatic arts and journalism at the University of Missouri. After working at various radio stations in New York and Connecticut, he spent 1987-97 as co-owner and operator of WMMM. In addition to broadcasting, he worked in sales, and as general manager.
The Cardinals connection came about when he was overnight news anchor at KMOX in St. Louis. He was heard in 44 states, and throughout Canada.
Radio played a part in Mark’s marriage too. He met his wife Angela while broadcasting from Saugatuck’s Festival Italiano. They were married in 1990.
In addition to his wife, Mark is survived by his son Harrison, who recently graduated from New York University.
Funeral services will be announced later. To leave an online condolence, click here.
Alert “06880” reader and native Westporter Seth Van Beever writes:
The unsung hero of every child in Westport on a snow day was John La Barca at WMMM. We listened closely to the alphabetical school closings announcements.
A snow day was all about going to Birchwood Country Club to go sledding.
Oh yeah. I remember. Every 10 minutes or so, John would start: Ansonia, Amity Regional, Bethel…
It was an agonizing wait. Who cared about Our Lady of Fatima? Did it even exist?
But then — right after “Weston…” we would hear “Westport.”
And all would be right with the world.
In addition to Birchwood, Winslow Park (pictured this past March) and Greens Farms Elementary School are great sledding spots. (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Back in the day — before XM, before iPods, before even WWPT-FM — there were things called “community radio stations.” People tuned in to a local frequency for music, news, sports, weather, local happenings — whatever.
Westport’s station was WMMM. A dinky 1000 watts, it signed on for the 1st time in 1959 (1260 on your AM dial). That moment is now immortalized by DeFelice on the web — ironically, one of the new forms of media that helped kill local radio — at a site called CTRadioHistory.org.
Westport’s station takes its place alongside other legendary Connecticut stations, including Bridgeport’s WICC, and WDRC and WPOP in Hartford.
DeFelice — a former chief engineer for WMMM, who listened to that station and its companion, WDJF-FM, as a youngster — was there when WMMM gave up the ghost in 1997. Having been given a collection of reel tapes, along with the station’s scrapbook from the late ’60s through mid ’90s, he created the tribute site a dozen years ago.
In its day, WMMM was something. From the Save the Children radio auction to Great Races; from Festival Italiano to the Oyster Fest; from the Italian House Party to John LaBarca’s trips (as Santa) to deliver holiday gifts to the Southbury Training School, DeFelice remembers it all.
His website is a labor of love. Geeks will go gaga over his description of control boards, turntables, cartridge tape decks, compressors, microphones and transmitters.
Old Westporters will chuckle at his list of format changes — remember “comedy radio” in 1986? (The shelf life of the 3 Stooges and George Carlin was not very long.)
And in 1989 the “business radio” format flopped when the syndication service — the Financial Broadcasting Network — went, yes, bankrupt.
Normal people can appreciate DeFelice’s website too. There — on page after page — is the history of both American broadcasting, and one small suburban town.
WMMM is no longer (though the FM station lives on, as 50,000-watt WEBE 108). WMMM’s last owners — the Graham family — donated WMMM to Sacred Heart University. In 2000, the call letters were changed to WSHU-AM.
But thanks to CTRadioHistory.org, memories of WMMM will never die.
(Fun fact: The call letters WMMM stood for “Westport’s Modern Minute Man” — in honor of the famous statue near Compo Beach.)
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Back in the day — before 
DeFelice — a former chief engineer for WMMM, who listened to that station and its companion, WDJF-FM, as a youngster — was there when WMMM gave up the ghost in 1997. Having been given a collection of reel tapes, along with the station’s scrapbook from the late ’60s through mid ’90s, he created the tribute site a dozen years ago.
WMMM is no longer (though the FM station lives on, as 50,000-watt 