By Krista Giannak
Dan Rattiner got his start writing for a humor magazine in college. He describes an early learning experience as a stringer at Newark Evening News, dictating sports information via phone at the games. The lesson came in the form of a cautionary tale told by his editor, as Rattiner relays the story: “One student called the boss, shouted, ‘We won, we won!’ and hung up. That was the wrong way to phone in the news.”
What’s It Like to Found a Newspaper?
With only about 800 residents, Montauk had no newspaper in 1960. Rattiner decided to create The Montauk Pioneer, an entertaining newspaper that would interest tourists. He gave it away for free—a novel idea at the time.
“I didn’t think that the tourists would pick up a local newspaper, but I wanted to get it in front of as many people as I could. It occurred to me that if I wrote something that looked like a newspaper and gave it away, it would have an enormous circulation compared to selling the paper,” he says.
The Montauk Pioneer later expanded to become Dan’s Papers, and Rattiner also went on to co-found The East Village Other, a Manhattan-based underground newspaper. He founded The Block Island Times in 1970 and hosted The Hamptons Report, a weekly 1990s radio show on WQXR. In the 1980s, Rattiner started papers in various communities around the country with the Dan’s Papers brand.
Today at Dan’s Papers, Rattiner says that tourists “represent a very modest percentage of our readers. The vast majority of readers today are second homeowners.” Yet, his passion for writing entertaining stories is still strong. “I try to write fascinating stories, regardless of the source. I’m going to find the most interesting stories that nobody has ever gotten, and I’ve done that now every week for 57 years,” he says.
Dan’s Papers focuses on eastern Long Island and is distributed as far west as Manhattan.
Hoaxer of the Hamptons
Time published a 1975 article calling Rattiner the “Hoaxer of the Hamptons.” Regarding the hoax stories he wrote, Rattiner says: “It’s an early version of fake news I suppose, but it’s so fantastic as to be obvious that it’s fake.”
Rattiner fondly recounts several of his hoax news stories. One hoax was a product: celebrity water, bottled straight from the faucets of celebrities’ homes. Another hoax tackled the growing deer problem on eastern Long Island. According to Rattiner’s story, a South African billionaire brought 16 lions in cages to his garage in the Hamptons. The billionaire wanted everyone to stay indoors on a certain day so that the lions could hunt and kill the deer. “A lot of people believed this story, at least at first, and to this day, they still ask, ‘When are you going to write about the lions again?’” Rattiner says.
Fun and Interesting Stories
Rattiner has enjoyed writing stories about famous people; Billy Joel and the late Howard Hughes are some of his favorites. He also recalls his coverage and umpiring of the East Hampton Artists & Writers Annual Softball Game, a celebrity event that has benefited East End charities since 1948. In 1988, Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, umpired the game. Rattiner looks back fondly at his coverage of the man who would later be president. Famous players have included Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett, and Alec Baldwin.
Dan’s Papers Pitching Tips
For PR professionals, Rattiner suggests making pitches as fascinating as possible. Rattiner personally writes about 300 stories per year, hand-selecting only the most engaging of the tips. Other in-house writers will tend to utilize more PR pieces than he chooses to do.
Dan Rattiner is the founder and editor-in-chief of Dan’s Papers. He has also authored 12 books, hosted a radio show, and has had his cartoons published. Contact Dan at dan@danspapers.com
Krista Giannak is a freelance writer and principal of Writing Wise Words That Matter.
