WESTBOROUGH – Over the past year, the Community Advocate has been celebrating its 50th anniversary — quite a feat in a world where news organizations are shrinking and disappearing across the nation.
“Local journalism is important. We ask the questions that will provide clarity, we are constantly striving to get to the truth. The Washington Post has a famous slogan that states ‘democracy dies in darkness.’ I believe this to be very true,” said Publisher David Bagdon.
The “Community Advertiser” began in 1974 as a grocery circular founded by Ed Bagdon and Arthur Surabian, with strong support from Eugene Colangelo of Julio’s Markets grocery chain.
Bagdon had previously worked as the vice president of “The News Recorder,” a small community newspaper in Worcester, alongside his colleague Surabian. They partnered to form Bagdon and Surabian Advertising, a marketing firm specializing in producing grocery circulars. The pair’s first major client was the growing supermarket chain Julio’s Markets, which provided much momentum in the early years.
Ed’s son, David, learned the print business early at age 14 operating a very cumbersome Vari-Typer typesetting machine. Their first years of business were conducted in Surabian’s one-car garage in Worcester.
“In the beginning I had no training,” recalled David Bagdon. “But there I was running a typesetter and operating a sheetfed printer producing inserts for customers. We had one part-time graphic designer and me.”
There were no reporters or news stories in the first editions, since the paper’s original format as the Community Advertiser consisted of only advertising.
“It was really pretty primitive, after I set the type, it was processed by hand in photographic chemicals and hung to dry on a clothesline in [Surabian’s] garage,” remembered David Bagdon.
In the late 1970s, the partners decided to split their companies. Surabian moved to Worcester and began a successful career producing grocery circulars, and Ed Bagdon moved the fledgling Community Advertiser to Westborough.
The initial Westborough offices were in a two-story house on Lyman Street.
The operation grew steadily over the years, and Bagdon took over after his father passed away in February of 1985 at age 54.
After taking the reins of the Community Advertiser, Bagdon renamed the publication the Community Advocate and focused on the work of creating a dependable, local newspaper.
After 15 years in various locations within the Westborough Shopping Center, he bought the newspaper’s current home at 32 South St. in downtown Westborough.
“Back then there was no Internet, Facebook, or even email,” said Bagdon. “I loved the idea of reporting local news and telling the stories of local residents.”
From the outset, the goal was to create a strictly local newspaper that covered meetings, personality profiles and letters to the editor. The newspaper has always featured a strong representation of local businesses.
“The people who advertise with us understand the value of promoting to local consumers and I believe they also want to do their part to support local journalism” said Bagdon.
Today, the Community Advocate is the number-one circulated newspaper between Worcester and Framingham, distributing nearly 20,000 newspapers weekly.
“Circulation has always been an important factor for us,” he said. “Now the Community Advocate’s circulation is higher than local dailies.”
During its 50 years, Bagdon has expanded the company. In addition to the growth of the Community Advocate to include an edition covering Marlborough and Hudson, the company also publishes the Fifty Plus Advocate and co-owns the Hopkinton Independent.
When discussing the importance of community journalism, he is convinced that the future will rely on the readers themselves.
“In these days of social media, it seems people feel less and less responsible to be informed and more and more obligated to be opinionated. True journalism takes a commitment to inform and educate, but it also relies on the readers to become engaged. I would hate to live in a world where people view Facebook as journalism,” said Bagdon.
