MAN ABOUT TOWN: The Evolution of a Newspaper

September 1 unofficially marks the beginning of the second year of publication of the Falls Church Times.

On May 18, I wrote a little story commemorating the newspaper’s “conception” a year earlier by three Broadmont neighbors who agreed on the City’s compelling need for accurate, timely, and unbiased information about local events. And although the first “issue” hit the Internet on June 8, 2008, it merely announced the newspaper’s existence. July saw no stories at all. August had several, but it was only in September that we began subscribing to Google Analytics, which documented just how many people were reading the Falls Church Times.

The answer: not very many. The highest daily readership for September 2008 was 23, and the lowest, on a Saturday, was 5 (Saturday continues to be our least-read day). But it was a beginning, and a year later I can’t resist offering a retrospective which, per the accompanying yellowed newspaper clipping, gets a little personal at times.

That’s me on the left, cranking a mimeograph machine in 1962, producing The Chatterbox newspaper. There was no adult supervision – it was summertime and we just decided to do it. We peddled the issues door-to-door for 5 cents a copy. The “real” local daily newspaper, feeling unthreatened by the competition, magnanimously wrote a story about our efforts: “Unsteady Newspaper Seeks Steady Readers.” (In a parallel of sorts, the Falls Church News-Press interviewed our little Falls Church Times staff last January. The headline was: “Falls Church Citizens Take Civic Engagement Online.”)

A year ago, the future of the Falls Church Times was uncertain at best. October’s circulation declined from September, because we ran fewer stories. November was lower still. Only in December did activity pick up – a portent of the explosive growth we experienced in 2009.

Thanks to Google Analytics we can also keep track of which stories are read the most. The runaway winner for many months was a food article entitled “3 Cheers for the Red, White & Bleu.” Written by Sally Brett, the story appeared Sept 24 and just kept getting read, week after week. By the end of March, 200 people had read it, which in those early days gave us hope of some day establishing a daily readership in the hundreds. (Sadly for us, “Red, White & Bleu” was Sally’s last hurrah for the Falls Church Times, as competing demands took over her time.)

Meanwhile, although our daily readership gradually increased, through the end of March we only broke 100 twice – each time with bad news stories. On February 7 we printed a five-sentence story about used syringes discovered in Lincoln Park. WTOP radio picked up on it, and suddenly we were deluged with hits, recording 146 visitors on February 12. Then on March 15 someone jumped in front of a Metro train at East Falls Church, and although our short report contained no unique information, daily readership again rose to triple digits.

The heady times began in April. The City had a budget crisis and we covered it in detail – particularly the controversy over GEORGE, the City’s commuter bus. In what can only be called a “scoop,” we picked up on the fact that the City’s proposal to discontinue GEORGE service had the cost savings all wrong, because it ignored the sizeable subsidy provided by the state of Virginia. Only after numerous articles pointing this out did the City revise its cost estimates for GEORGE. And while it’s terribly immodest to say it here, one might argue that had there been no Falls Church Times, there would be no GEORGE today.

April featured so many important issues: the Mayor’s last-minute proposal to cut a teacher pay increase; the space/funding crisis at Mt. Daniel Elementary School; and the beginning of the “Water War” reports – a subject previously nearly ignored by existing media despite its potential to bring down the City. Our often exclusive reporting continues as the Water War with Fairfax County wends its way through the courts.

And then, still in April, came our landmark interview with City Councilman and former Mayor Dave Snyder, setting a new record for readership. Snyder’s contrarian views previously hadn’t been given much of a forum, and people on both sides of the fence were interested to read about them.

The “On the Record” format used with Snyder also worked well with Councilman Dan Maller, George Mason High School Principal Tyrone Byrd, School Superintendent Lois Berlin and School Board President Ron Peppe. We want to do more “On the Record” interviews, and hope that Mayor Gardner and Vice Mayor Lippman will accept our invitations.

So many important issues were covered over the past year: the plan to move elderly residents into a high-rise project; the problems with condominiums built on previously-zoned commercial land; the controversies over the Northgate and Hilton Garden Inn proposals . . . there’s just too much to tell. But one story – our blockbuster of the year – has to be mentioned. It was another bad news story, but with a happier ending, and this time it was an exclusive. A Broadmont woman walking in Benjamin Banneker Park was abducted as she returned to her open convertible. In a first-person account, she described her harrowing experience of jumping from the moving car and fleeing for her life. You won’t read it anywhere else. That story holds the record – nearly 1,000 readers.

Back on a personal note, the Falls Church Times has been my chance to rekindle my lifelong interest in journalism. Starting from my childhood experience with The Chatterbox, I later wrote a weekly column (“Driftwood”) for my college newspaper. Subsequently I worked for a big city daily, and then a medium city daily (where I wrote a Sunday column called “Southern Accent”) and later was the executive editor for a chain of weeklies (the prestigious job title was in lieu of a living wage). That concluded my newspaper experience until August 6, 2008, when I signed on with the Falls Church Times.

Somehow, some way, we are managing to produce this paper without any hierarchy whatsoever. The staff is self-selecting, and we have been incredibly fortunate. For example, when a young man just out of college approached us and said he’d like to write restaurant reviews, we just said “Great – go for it.” How could we have known how talented he was, penning mouth-watering descriptions of delicacies seemingly as effortlessly as Mozart composed music in his sleep?

From that original trio of Broadmont neighbors, we’ve grown to nine staffers. Each addition helps insure that the Falls Church Times will be around for the longer term. And since working on the paper has enriched my life, I’d like to say thanks to those who are making it possible:

Thank you, Stan Fendley, for providing the leadership, energy, and bonhomie that has held everything together.

Thank you, Annette Hennessey, for being a chief instigator of the paper, for keeping track of  the school system, and for producing stenographer-quality “On the Record” reports.

Thank you Dave Witzel, for jump-starting the paper and providing the technical expertise to keep it going (including recruiting Jo Ryden). (And when are you going to let us help with those web hosting bills?)

Thank you, George Bromley, for your steady, low-key weekly reporting, the crucial Water War reports, and the occasional droll and whimsical opinion piece.

Thank you, Jimmy Scarano, for somehow finding us and lending your descriptive talents for all things tasty. You will go far!

Thank you, Gina Caceci, for your long-needed reporting on Falls Church arts.

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Thank you, Scott Taylor, for taking time to pen some insightful investigative reporting despite your very busy schedule.

Thank you, Stephen Siegel, for your humility and willingness, despite a professional journalism career, to cast your lot with the Falls Church Times.

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(Hey –there’s space for someone new right here.)

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And – saving the best for last – thank you, faithful readers, for all the support you’ve given us, including your many informative comments and the 125,000 times you clicked your mouse on one of our stories.

OK, Year #2: The summer slump’s over — let’s get started!

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Top 10 Stories for the Last 12 Months

1. Carjack/Kidnapping Victim Gives Account of Crime [June 6]

2. MAN ABOUT TOWN: Ugliest Building Contest Winners [July 20]

3. Big Changes Proposed for Washington Street and EFC Metro [May 6]

4. Hostage Threat Locks Down West Street; S.W.A.T. Responds [May 31]

5. FOOD: Meat in a Box — The Lighter Side of Kabobs [July 16]

6. Standoff Resolved in Pimmit Hills (includes earlier related reporting) [July 15]

7. 4 City Restaurants Among Washingtonian’s ‘Best Cheap Eats’ [May 28]

8. DEVELOPMENT NEWS: Brewery Owners ‘Crazy Like a Fox’ [April 30]

9. Goodbye, Tall Trees [July 14]

10. School Board to Mayor: Alas, We Have Not a Penny [April 24]