I’m the editorial director and part owner of greaterlongisland.com — a hyperlocal, independent news resource that’s on pace for 6 million reads in 2023.
In 2021, we beat million-dollar newsrooms Newsday and News 12 to win “Best Long Island News Site” by the Press Club of Long Island, a regional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
But I never dreamed of running a hyperlocal news outlet. When people asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I was always quick to respond: “Work in sports journalism.” ESPN was always the dream. I wanted to be the next Adam Schefter or Adrian Wojnarowski.
I charted my own path and became a proud editor, reporter and business owner. I hope my story is an inspiration for any jittery young reporter trying to break into journalism, because what constitutes a traditional path in media is changing as quickly as technology.
So how the heck did I end up in local journalism — and loving it? A little bit of luck, and definitely a lot of hard work.
I felt a journalism degree was important, and also not important. Important in the sense of learning the basics and getting that heavily coveted (at the time) degree. But you don’t learn journalism; you do journalism.
I also felt the school didn’t matter too much as long as I wasn’t strapped with debt. That’s why I chose St. Joseph’s College (now St. Joseph’s University), a small private college in Patchogue, Long Island. They were launching a new journalism degree, accepted all my college credits from high school (allowing me to graduate in three years) and gave me a solid scholarship.
St. Joseph’s was known as a teaching school. Many questioned me when I picked journalism, a career field that was “dying.” But I had a dream, and I had to protect it — shout out to Will Smith in “Pursuit of Happyness” — so that’s exactly what I did. I aced my classes and graduated in three years, magna cum laude.
From 18 to 21 I was in grind mode. I went to class but also worked my tail off. I worked as a stocker in the mornings for Costco (4 a.m. to 10 a.m.), went to class and did an internship at JVC Broadcasting. JVC owns and operates radio stations across Long Island. When I was there, it was in the process of flipping its rock station WRCN into an all-news talk format called LI News Radio.
Perfect. Right in my field.
I impressed the station manager, and before I knew it, I was the producer for their midday show, covering local news and politics. I wasn’t getting paid much, but I loved it. With a small company like JVC, I was able to dip my feet in a bunch of different jobs, from producing live radio to hosting my own weekend sports show.
I interviewed pro athletes, like Jets fullback Tony Richardson, former MLB pitcher Tommy John and Paul Rabil, regarded as one of the best-ever lacrosse players.
I was 19 or 20. It felt like that ESPN job was clearly on the horizon. I kept pushing. I wanted TV next.
I remember searching LinkedIn for names of people who worked at ESPN, just to get some insight. I spoke with Steve Haddad, a radio producer at ESPN, and Darren M. Haynes, a “SportsCenter” host. I was so appreciative they took the time to speak with me and offered me great advice. They might not remember the conversations, or me, but it meant a lot to a newbie.
“Climb your way up the ladder of the industry you want to work in,” Haynes told me. It stuck.
The popular television news station on Long Island was News 12. Through some connections I made in college, I was able to land an interview with the marketing department. I got the job. It was a freelance position as an events coordinator. I set up News 12 tents at events across the tri-state. People came up to our booth and I let them spin a wheel to win a prize, like a News 12 hat or pen. It wasn’t riveting stuff, but it was a foot in the door.
After making a name for myself in the department, a full-time, office position opened. I got the interview; it was with a vice president at the station. I was honest and said my goal was to be on TV. She believed in me, which was a big boost to my morale. She let me do live broadcasts from News 12’s Facebook pages. I interviewed rising UFC star Jimmie Rivera at an event in Brooklyn.
She also recommended me for an academy program for News 12’s Brooklyn/Bronx borough. They work with young journalists to get them TV ready. It’s basically a training camp where you shadow field reporters and, if they like you, you’re offered a job on TV. But the program had already started.
While I waited, what better way to learn TV journalism than being in it? I shadowed very talented reporters and photogs, and told some awesome, important stories in NYC. I tried new food joints , uncovered dangerous housing conditions for tenants (like a complex infested with thousands of bees) and everything in between.
Nicholas Esposito interviews former New England Patriots Super Bowl winner Devin McCourty, who was a guest at a Long Island youth football camp. (Screenshot courtesy: Nicholas Esposito)
I was working like crazy. My life was hectic. I was overwhelmed. I don’t know how I did it all. Every day was a balancing act to make sure my jobs didn’t clash.
I came from a blue-collar family made up mostly of plumbers and hairdressers. Going to college and pursuing journalism were foreign ideas in my family. I made decent pay at Costco. I think I was making more there than on radio and TV. But I wasn’t going to sell myself short or let that degree go to waste. I canned the warehouse job and ramped up my journalism even more.
Things got interesting when I got an email from my old professor, William Phillips. A local news site called greaterpatchogue.com was looking for a sports reporter for a story. He recommended me.
I quickly emailed back with questions. I didn’t get a response. It was a weekend. All I knew was there was a story at neighboring Bay Shore High School about a Pop Warner team who had named a kid with cerebral palsy as its captain. So I just went down there and did the story.
After the weekend, the site’s publisher, Mike White, who had been away with family, found out I did it. He loved the story.
Mike is a veteran newspaperman who worked at the New York Daily News and New York Post. He hated covering the city because he felt his home of Long Island was underreported, so he came up with the idea of GreaterPatchogue, a local news site that would cover Patchogue, a rising downtown on Long Island. It was an instant hit. It did 800,000 reads in its first year of operation.
Mike called me and said he would love to have me do more stories, and maybe work my way up to full-time.
So there you go. Another job. But again, the goal was to be on TV at ESPN.
That News 12 academy program finally opened and I got the interview for it. But I was super cocky. I was like 21, doing all this journalism in different media. Then I bombed the writing portion. Shoot, that stung. The News 12 station manager was nice about it and told me to stick around for another shot, so I did.
That’s when things really shot up on Long Island. We were doing stories people cared about. Other downtowns started calling us to cover them. Soon Mike opened sites dedicated to the Bay Shore, Babylon and Port Jefferson areas of Long Island.
I really enjoyed Long Island news. We were doing stuff in your own backyard and seeing its immediate impact. We covered new pizzerias and watched them sell out of dough the next day. We wrote about GoFundMe for a family enduring a crisis and it blew up and exceeded its goal. I wrote about the Babylon Animal Shelter in need of dog beds. The story went viral. They had three trailers filled with dog beds within a week. The head of the shelter called me and said people from as far as Spain tried donating. Wild.
I reported on the deteriorating condition of a historic church built in 1893 along Bay Shore’s Main Street, which was in dire need of repairs. Following the publication of the story, more than $200,000 in donations poured in within six months.
But I was starting to go grey. I couldn’t keep spreading myself thin. It was time to make a decision.
I picked Greater.
I left News 12. My mom wasn’t too happy. I can’t blame her. Leaving TV news for an uncertain news startup sounds crazy, especially since my goal was to always be on TV. But I went with my gut.
Mike made me a partner at 23. We came up with a plan to cover the island in its entirety. I still scratch that sports itch, covering all stuff relating to Long Island. (Quiz me on every Stony Brook player who went to the NFL, I dare you.)
Nicholas Esposito covers the Budweiser Clydesdales’ visit to Long Island. (Photo: Benny Migliorino)
In 2020, we rebranded as greaterlongisland.com and spent a chunk of money on a modern site that would set us up for the future.
We doubled down on local journalism and it’s working. That’s not to say we haven’t had hiccups along the way. It’s hard running a small business, especially a news business, and especially during a pandemic while getting roped into big media’s “fake news” stigma.
Over the years, there have been too many copycats to count. People try to steal our thunder, but we prevail. Our business is people. We want to tell stories about people. Get in the field. Make relationships. Build trust. People behind a computer can’t replicate that.
Our site is getting bigger and bigger each year. In 2023, we aren’t where we want to be yet — but we’re working toward it.
We’ve told thousands of stories of Long Islanders doing great stuff on the island. We’ve done well over 20 million reads since the “Greater” brand began. We’ve been recognized and awarded for our work by top journalism organizations, such as New York Press Association and Fair Media Council. We are one of just a few independently owned and online-only news services to be granted Associated Press membership.
Our motto is Long Island news by Long Islanders. That’s important to us. No one knows our communities more than the people living in them. We have a staff of four people, with 10 more in freelance roles. We are all Long Islanders, and we care. We care about our island, we care about its people and we care about providing quality journalism.
While I’m not on TV battling Stephen A. Smith on “First Take,” I’m doing something I’m much more proud of.
Email Nicholas Esposito at nicholas@greaterlongisland.com.
