From Conway to the Lakes Region, Sun's journalistic vision continues

If The Conway Daily Sun hadn’t been so successful, its sister publication to the south likely would not have begun producing headlines of its own 22 years ago.

The paper to the north was launched in 1989 by Adam Hirshan, Mark Guerringue and Dave Danforth. Their venture had been up for discussion for years and became a reality after the trio penned an agreement on a paper napkin in the Bull & Finch Pub — otherwise known as the "Cheers" bar in Boston.

Hirshan and Guerringue had connected years earlier, as journalists who met while working at different news outlets in North Conway, before they headed in different directions. Hirshan had a great deal of regional, national and international reporting experience by the late 1980s. Guerringue, a photographer, had worked for many publications, including a weekly owned by his father. Danforth, who they met later, had pioneered a free weekly in Aspen, Colorado.

“Our business plan was to start a free daily in Conway, in a resort community in which we’d compete against several weeklies,” Hirshan says. “The mission was to become the franchise newspaper for the community and be a reliable source of news, information and events.”

Unlike their competitors, The Sun’s leaders were committed to hard news and upheld the freedoms — and the responsibilities — of the Fourth Estate. The publishers of most other publications in the region at the time were concerned that real headlines would deter tourism.

The model was a gamble — but a successful one. The free daily that told it like it was took hold in the Mount Washington Valley, and The Conway Daily Sun grew in prestige and page count.

In 2000, expansion was in order.

Hirshan, Guerringue and a new partner, the late Edward Engler, founded The Laconia Daily Sun as a sister paper with the same mission. Engler served as the paper’s first and longtime editor. Hirshan remained in Conway early on, until moving south and delving more deeply into the Laconia paper in 2010.

It began as an eight-page, tab-sized publication, and became so popular that, 16 years after its founding, the only other regional, daily competitor, The Citizen — formerly The Laconia Evening Citizen, founded in 1926 — folded.

Both the Conway and Laconia Suns continue to experience good health. The Laconia paper doesn't publish under 24 pages and often goes as high as 56. While the internet dealt a blow to all newspapers globally, as did COVID, The Laconia Sun is financially sound and has a loyal following.

During the pandemic, some in the community donated to the paper to keep its team afloat.

“It’s not a revenue model,” Hirshan stresses, noting he was grateful for the boost. “It was a nice thing that reminded us we’re valued.”

Now 63 and preparing his daughter for leadership of a new team of editors and reporters who will lead his paper into the future, Hirshan is proud and contented.

He began his career as a reporter for the Carroll County Independent and drove to North Conway the day after his graduation from Tufts University to start the job. He later worked for WMWV Radio before settling in a career at Voice of America, the oldest United States-funded international broadcaster. Over eight years, Hirshan rose in the ranks and learned from journalism’s greats, including Kenneth Tomlinson, an editor at Reader’s Digest, and Edwin Warner from Time magazine.

Back when CBS’s “Dallas” was popular, Hirshan was sent to Texas to report on “the real Dallas.” He was also working on a piece about entrepreneurs; while interviewing a gregarious Texas business leader, Hirshan shared his dream to start a paper, to which the man said, “What are you waiting for?’” Hirshan recalls.

Hirshan began gathering partners and a purse, but there were risks. Hirshan was 30, and he and his wife, Elaine, who works in the Laconia paper’s business operations, had an 18-month-old baby, a mortgage payment and a condo with its own mortgage. Still, he says, “I realized if I wanted to do something, I’d better get going.”

At Voice of America, Hirshan learned that it’s critical to present balanced news and all sides of a story. Those time-worn premises are still key to The Laconia Daily Sun, as is every facet of the paper, from the letters to the editor, to press releases sent in by community members, to classified ads.

“It all rounds out what the paper provides to the community,” Hirshan says, adding, “Being able to serve the community has always been important to me.”