Fun to Run a Newspaper: A Lifetime of Dan's Papers

Dan’s Papers was, and is, my life’s work. And though it is not widely known, there came a time when I realized that a Dan’s Papers could grace resort communities around the world. And I gave it a shot. At one point there were stacks of Dan’s Papers on counters in the lobbies of 16 resort towns in America.

It came about like this. The first Dan’s Papers was in Montauk. Called The Montauk Pioneer, it stood alone, without the name Dan’s Papers attached to it. Four years later, I founded a paper in East Hampton. I could have called it The East Hampton Pioneer, but I didn’t. I just published one and then the other. One day, at my first office, which was on Gay Road in East Hampton, the receptionist asked how she should answer the phone. At a meeting with my modest staff at the time, after Free Papers gained no traction, Ink Inc seemed stupid and Summerpaper Publications even stupider, we came up with Dan’s Papers. It would be an overarching name, with individual newspapers having their own names as the real thing.

Thus were born The Sag Harbor Pilot, The Southampton Summer Day, The East Hampton Summer Sun and The North Fork Free Enterprise, none of which you’ve ever heard of because after 10 years they all merged into being Dan’s Papers.

During that time, however, I did a lot of traveling, particularly in the winter when the summer papers were shut down. In St. Croix, for example, there was no free newspaper. I was sorely tempted to do one. It would have humor, stories, history, and opinions on world affairs. and then local news about St. Croix. But my vacation ended and I came home. I had the same feeling at the Riviera, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Maui and Mazatlan. I could do this anywhere there were tourists. And make money.

And so, I ran a small ad in my papers that read, “Wouldn’t it be fun to run a newspaper? —Citizen Kane.” And then our phone number. I’d license the name. And offer franchises.

Between 1980 and 1987, I opened functioning newspapers at Block Island,  Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Daytona Beach, Maui, Marco Island (Florida) and Fire Island with varying degrees of success. Each was billed as “One of Dan’s Papers,” a slogan that appeared on the front page beneath the logo. And each was published by an adventurous individual who knew their communities and wanted the fun of publishing.

Answering my ad for Block Island was Margaret Cabell Self, a Virginia horsewoman who wrote hardcover books about horseback riding and came to do the Block Island Times. Martha’s Paper and later The Nantucket Times  were licensed to a journalist in New England. Mākaukau was licensed to a New York City marketing executive who saw this as a career move to Maui and actually lived there full time. And the Marco Island Sun Times was published by a resident of that island who was in the real estate business.

As this was before the internet and Wi-Fi, the sending out of stories between the publications was accomplished in a revolutionary new way — by using a phone service designed to send messages to friends and family via the telephone wires. I had sort of stumbled upon it.

It was called MCI Mail. You rented a virtual post office box for a few bucks a month, gave it a password, and then gave that password to friends so they could retrieve the letters addressed to them in it. It was a new concept. To explain it to some of the editors, I’d tell them it was like “a post office in the sky.”

Of course this would only work if you had a big computer that could make a phone call. I came upon a portable version of exactly that. It was called the Osborne I. About the size of a suitcase, it opened up to reveal a keyboard, a 4-inch video screen, a modem, and slots for floppy disks. It weighed 24 pounds and it had a handle which made it portable. They cost $1,700 each.   I bought 11 of them. And I gave one to each of my editors. Also a cassette tape and recorder explaining the good-time philosophy of Dan’s Papers, how to write it, and how to put together a newspaper and get it printed and distributed.

And from there stories whizzed back and forth between Maui, Nantucket, the home office in Bridgehampton, and Florida, and we got underway.

I was looking at this project for the long term. Licensees could keep the money they brought in from advertising, for the moment anyway. We’d talk about how this all fit together later.

At a certain point, I began to realize that this thing might need investors to get it through this early period. The first investment banker that came to mind was Mort Zuckerman, a  genius who owned the New York Daily News, The Atlantic and the U.S. News and World Report. I called him. He invited me over to his home, a giant mansion on the ocean just west of the East Hampton Main Beach Pavilion. He and his date would be heading out for dinner. He’d see me that evening for 15 minutes or so.

In his library, I explained it all to him. He thought it a good idea, but it would need a team of people to make it work and, eventually, he said, it was not for him.

His date, Gloria Steinem, appeared, all dressed up for a dinner party. We shook hands. She said she loved Dan’s Papers and I should keep it up. And then we all left.

Soon thereafter, however, the enterprise failed. One vestige of this effort remained, though. It was and still is the Block Island Times. I sold it when everything was falling apart and it is the newspaper of record on that island to this day.

And, of course, Dan’s Papers, the main effort on Long Island, continues. And now, thanks to Vicki Schneps of Schneps Media, there are editions in Palm Beach and New York City.