Since 1908, the New Canaan Advertiser has been serving the residents and businesses of New Canaan, Conn., as a weekly forum for news, opinions and advertisements. In 2005, we launched NCAdvertiser.com, the first news and information site focusing entirely on New Canaan.
“We issue today the first number of The Advertiser, at present a small paper, which will be printed every Saturday morning and d
elivered to the homes of its readers,” read a note from founder and publisher John E. Hersam in the Saturday, July 25, 1908, edition. “The Advertiser will contain as much of the news in brief and items of interest so far as our limits will allow as may seem suitable for our modest plan. We mean to progress and not remain in the same old rut year in and year out and hope our readers will take to it kindly while yet in its infancy. In due time it is our intention to enlarge The Advertiser.”
With those words more than a centruy ago, John E. Hersam began a legacy those who publish the Advertiser strive to continue today. There have been changes: The paper is delivered Thursday, and no longer is type set by hand. It has a daily — often hourly — feel at NCAdvertiser.com, which updates regularly as news happens in and around New Canaan. But the mission remains the same. Put out a newspaper —and website — that contains news and items of interest, and an advertising medium bettered by none. The Advertiser has progressed, and worked to not get caught in the same rut year in and year out. There have been new looks, new voices and new approaches. Keeping with John E. Hersam’s motto, “Grow or Go,” and that first-day’s pledge to enlarge the Advertiser, the newspaper has expanded from single sheet to broad sheet, embraced new technology, including New Canaan’s first news and information website, and using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to quickly deliver the news to those who want — wherever they are. The business responsible for the New Canaan Advertiser has blossomed from a one-town, one-newspaper venture, first to Darien, then merging with the five-newspaper Acorn Press, and then, in 2007, acquiring another 11 newspapers, five shoppers and two printing plants. Yet through it all, the focus of the Advertiser has remained on the place of its birth — New Canaan. And so it shall remain. Great pride is taken in doing journalistic duty, while at the same time being involved in other aspects of community life. Community is what makes the Advertiser. It was born because a segment of the community was neglected. It grew as an inclusive publication. It matured as more issues developed, and more agencies and organizations sought to reach the public through its pages. It grows stronger as it serves as a hub of New Canaan, the spokes that reach the outer circle holding it steady, as it remains centered and keeps them on track. Much as a hub and a wheel are interdependent, so too are the newspaper and its community. If the community is no longer well-rounded, or worse, separated from its hub, it will wobble off track. If the hub loses center, the wheel around it will collapse. The Hersam family has been a constant, steering the Advertiser through good times and bad, and into new eras as publishing evolves. Each such change has allowed for the inclusion of more information, later news and more attractive presentation. The staff has remained more constant than at many media outlets, learning about the community, becoming part of it, often being embraced by it. It is up to journalists current and future to tend to the Advertiser, to do the sometimes unseen work that keeps it strong and focused on its task and its hometown. It’s often said around the newsroom that the newspaper belongs to its readers. It always will.
