On its masthead, The Swellesly Report has an intriguing visual and this promise:
Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
They have delivered. Move over Boston Globe, they have it covered.
Everything from what’s happening at Town Meeting, to Kid stuff, to Business news and of course restaurants. Find it online and you will find something remarkable, thoughtful, specific, and fun. The Swellesley Report provides a glimpse into the heart and soul of our town.
Today we have good news for them. The Wellesley Celebrations Committee, a standing committee of the Select Board, Town of Wellesley honors The Swellesley Report with a Special Recognition Award.
Here is their story:
Swellesley is the brainchild of Bob & Deborah Brown.
They started it in 2005 after they moved to town and were looking for places to go sledding with their kids. They could not find the information online, so Bob created a webpage about this. He followed that up with a page about running every street in town, to get to know the town.
A friend suggested that the town could use a better news source over breakfast one morning. Bob was working full time as a reporter and editor for a business technology magazine/later website called Network World, so really didn’t have time for a second job. But he started Swellesley just to dabble in blogging and just to provide a community service, and before he knew it, had created a monster.
They accepted no advertising for the first 5 years, but since then have converted Swellesley into a small business. Deborah joined in on the fun after about 5 years, and Bob went full-time on site in 2023. Deborah has a background in communications and copyediting. Bob has been a journalist throughout his career, covering everything from sports to technology to local news. Both Deborah and Brown are active in the community in numerous ways: Deborah has belonged to a garden club and is a member of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust; Bob has coached baseball and basketball, been a member of the Wellesley Historical Society Board and Wellesley Trails Committee. Both Bob and Deborah actively engage with numerous interest groups in town.
The mission has been to present more than you really want to know about Wellesley. They keep our fingers on the pulse of what people want to know, have many ways to get local information, including from social media and the local access channel/website, with a focus on complementing what is out there and not duplicating it.
One measure of their relevance in covering the information you really want to know is the extent to which it goes viral. Their scoop on the You’re Not Special speech by David McCullough Jr (which they essentially named) crashed the site. Numerous other stories have gone viral over the years, including the sleepwalker sculpture at Wellesley College and a local family getting one of Tom Hanks’ typewriters. They have also been spending increasing energy and focus on the “meaty” stories, covering everything from Town Meeting and local Board meetings to local elections.
Swellesley attributes much of its success to its partnership with its readers, who regularly share tips with them, send photos that they claim are often better than their own, and keeping them honest through comments; Town officials, local businesses, and others have been greatly supportive as well. Their coverage capacity has been enhanced over the years through volunteer writers, paid interns, and welcome pitching in by their kids. They have long been part of local news trade groups where members help each other. Over the past year they have been invited into a BU program which provides them with student journalists. They recently joined the Tiny News Collective, which can collect tax deductible contributions and pass them through to Swellesley as grants.
Over the past twenty years, they have published more than 15,000 stories, been visited by tens of thousands of visitors per month and had more than a million views per year. They are recognized as an important content source: they have thousands of social media followers as well as thousands of weekday newsletter subscribers.
Swellesley Report today we honor you for the past 20 years of contributions to our Town. We love that you love our community and hope that you continue your passion in what you do for us for years to come.