In Westport everybody knows Dan Woog. For ten years he's been writing "06880, Where Westport meets the world." For ten years his blog has entertained us, enlightened us, amazed us, made us laugh, made us cry, as we looked through his eyes at our town.
The "us" are Dan's 10,000 followers who regularly start their day reading his 5:00 am post.
He talked to the club on a recent Friday about what he does, and why and how he does it.
Most of us know Dan as a blogger. Far fewer know that he is a member of the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame, that he played soccer at Staples and is now the boys' coach; that he founded the Westport Soccer Association; and that he has won a National Soccer Coaches Association'
s President
's Award.
He has also written 17 books, about soccer, about LGBT issues, and more. And he is also, as Dennis Wong reminded us, a Paul Harris Fellow, having earned the award for his many contributions to his community.
He has written an 800 word column for the Westport News for many years. "I can do that in my sleep." But local journalism is slowly disappearing (where's The Minuteman?), print is going away, and fewer people are reading, particularly online news.
Seeking a way to assure he maintains his voice, a friend suggested he write a blog. "I could never do that," but soon realized that not only does the available software make it easy, but that he could also reach a far broader audience.
His Westport News column comes out Friday mornings. He writes ahead, so while he's always topical, he's not always timely. And newspaper style is standing up and talking to his readers.
He posts on 06880 whenever he wants. It's instantaneous. Paragraphs are short, graphics are important - "a photo sells a story." It's breezier, more informal, more conversational.
It's all that's "casual, cool, and fun" about Westport and its amazing people, in as many words as his subject demands. It may be a longish piece about someone particularly interesting - an easy do in Westport - or a photo with a 20 word caption.
it's interactive. Dan wants comments. He often gets them "
in nanoseconds.
"
And he can use the four letter words the newspaper prohibits.
He reaches three types of readers - one-third are old time Westporters (old time now means "eight, ten, twelve years, whatever") who enjoy the town's history; one-third are fairly new and learn from the blog; and one-third are people who no longer live here, "They live from Fairfield to Tasmania. One day someone even checked in from Antartica."
"People who used to live here are really fascinating." He commented on Buell Neidlinger, a man who grew up in town, moved away after high school, in 1955, and, as an adult had a musical career to be envied:
https://06880danwoog.com/2015/08/18/buell-neidlinger-a-man-and-his-music/
. No retelling does this story justice. Then search for Buell on 06880 to learn even more about him.
What does 06880 mean to distant readers? To Buell, who was living on the west coast, seeing Dan's blog reconnected him with his youth. The story even drew a comment from a long lost high school girl friend.
When he died his next door neighbor contacted Dan and told him he talked about Westport all the time, about how much it meant to him, and how much the online community meant to him.
"Makes me feel good about what I do."
He gets 10 or 15 requests every day to promote something. But the story is not about an event, it's about why. It's not about 3,000 plastic ducks bobbing down the river. It's about Sunny, and what we do with the money. It's the back story.
"If you have a good duck story let me know."
Dan is a full time writer. The blog is the main source of his income. He's proud that he has the freedom of being subscriber supported. "Once a year, on the anniversary in early March, I put out my tin cup." He also has a Donate button on the blog.
