By David Bagdon,
Publisher, Community Advocate
I get asked every few weeks how I got started in this business I think it’s a pretty good story and I never grow tired of sharing it.
In 1974, my father Ed left his job working for the Worcester-based News Recorder and began a partnership with his friend Art Surabian. Together they formed an ad agency called Bagdon and Surabian Advertising. At age 14, I was their first employee- Art’s wife and dad soon also joined the staff.
Our first “office” was the garage of Art’s home complete with a small propane heater and a primitive typesetting machine. Those were lean times to be sure and I have often reflected on the courage it took for them to boldly start out on their own.
One of the first jobs they landed was designing the grocery flyer for Julio’s grocery store. Over time, we worked very closely with the Colangelo family who operated Julio’s and eventually came up with the concept of printing ads on the back of their circular. Over time, Art went his own way and continued in the grocery circular business while we continued to work with the Colangelos and grew the Community Advertiser, as it was called at its inception.
Fast forward, to February of 1985 when my father passed away at the age of 54. That year, I took over as Publisher and it has been my passion for the past 30 years. One of my first missions was to revamp our “shopper’s guide” format to create a true community newspaper and rename it The Community Advocate.
Right from the beginning, this community embraced us. They let us know loud and clear that there was a need for a true local news source and we expanded as the towns and local business community grew.
So now with this, our 40th anniversary, we look forward to the future. Many naysayers believe that the time of the newspaper has come and gone but we are here to prove them wrong. We believe that a newspaper is the lifeblood of every great community. We are here to inform people on the news and to share the inspiring works of those within our community. We are here to promote worthy causes and to provide a forum for healthy debate.
Certainly we have embraced new technology and have invested countless hours in making www.communityadvocate.com a truly valuable resource. We also have developed a strong Facebook following, recently surpassing 10,000 likes.
But for us, it’s still about the newspaper. There’s a little ritual we have here when the copies arrive “hot off the press”. We pop open a bundle and look at the finished product. The designers check the quality of the layout, the editor checks the news and we all crack a small smile knowing that people will feel good about their community when they pick up our paper .and that is what makes it all worthwhile.