In the spring of 1976, Michael Booth launched a Long Branch weekly newspaper, The Atlanctiville. That was 50 years ago. Mike remains in the print game today — as publisher of The Coaster, an Asbury Park-based weekly that he acquired in 1999. That’s about 25 years of deadlines at two newspapers.

Michael Booth, LBHS Yearbook, 1967

To survive effectively for 50 years in the communications business — especially the challenging newspaper trade — is a tribute to the vitality of the First Amendment and the necessity for local transparency. I can assure you both are fleeting.

All credit and honor goes to Mike for his longevity and persistence in the face of brutal markets forces. Over the past 25 years, US newspaper readership has undergone the most dramatic decline in modern media history. The rise of the internet, smartphones, social media, and free online news fundamentally changed how Americans consume information. Daily newspaper circulation fell more than 60% since the early 2000s. Weekly newspapers have generally fared somewhat better, but they have still experienced significant declines. I endeavor to read a print newspaper everyday. Alien-like behavior for sure; just 10% of the population does so.

Whether he knows it or not — Mike been a mentor and a leader. For me and many others. In 1985 Mike gave me a chance to taste the media life and grow as a person. And grow I did, in time performing every task from delivering newspapers in the rain to interviewing the Governor.

City born in July 1948, Mike grew up in North End, graduated from Long Branch High School in 1967 and served in the US Army during the Vietnam conflict. He married my sister, Shannon Kelly in 1977 and they have four sons: David, Shaun, Paul and Charles. All good men and true.

During my 20-year association with the Atlanticville from 1985 to 2006, I did duty as a reporter, editor and columnist at the Long Branch weekly. My memories of this lively and loved tabloid are fond and enduring. In October 1975 — after 100+ years as the city’s official newspaper — the Long Branch Daily Record folded. Seeing a void and an opportunity Mike acted. His first effort was the “Long Branch News” which he launched out of his storefront on Atlantic Avenue in North End with two partners and about $275. Back then Mike was a “North End Lord” of sorts. He owned property including Bits & Peaces on Atlantic Avenue — a typical headshop of the day with waterbeds as a specialty. He also operated the “Panda’s Wagon” food truck at North End beaches.

By the late 1970s, after some newspaper reorganization (his partners preferred content on food, nutrition, poetry and horoscopes; Mike wanted local news), a bit of good fortune (Mike won a life-altering $10,000 lottery), and a little research (“Atlanticville” was adopted because North Long Branch, a quiet, sleepy village, once held that name), Mike was the sole owner-publisher. He moved the publication to Broadway in the early 1980s where it grew popular and influential — lasting for some four decades. Years of devoted readership and honest journalism earned the newspaper citywide clout. Published each Thursday — it would become “Atlanticville Day” for area readers. 

Booth at Atlanticville, 2001.

Untrained in journalism, Mike taught himself to be a reporter, editor and photographer. He sold ads too — rekindling popular Daily Record sales promotions like “Meet the Merchant,” “Dollar Days” and “Progress/Honor Roll” and found his own successes. Unconventional as he was, Mike did possess the traits of a solid newsperson — curious and observant, skeptical and nosy, energetic and quick, smart and lucky. Even while he easily engaged with others, he carried another journalist marker — he was a loner; something of a misfit. A caring contrarian in charge.

Always equipped with pen, notebook and camera, Mike gave time and attention to all types of city people, groups, organizations and causes through the decades. He listened and remembered. He valued the city’s families and businesses, its history and traditions, its responsibilities and rewards. And he worked to preserve it all. A profound feature I admired about Mike was that he could go anywhere in the city and be welcome and respected. No people or place in Long Branch (now Asbury Park) ever belittled his presence or his opinions.

Mike knew how to attract talent and ability too. He hired R. Barry Kamm, a classic “town-crier,” to write the popular “Kamm’s Korner” column. It anchored the city’s weekly for over a decade and gave the newspaper credibility. In the early-1990s, Mike recruited his youngest son to write a weekly column called “Chatter by Charlie.” The boy-writer gained a solid following even as he often fretted about deadlines. 

Mike’s real community calling card has been with “Facing the Question.” It began as a feature of the Long Branch Daily Record (launched in September 1958; the first question was about Broadway parking), Mike resurrected the section for his weeklies. Typically, it included a timely question with a person’s photo and an short answer. The usual FTQ included six participants; sometimes more. It was a weekly regular by the time I arrived at the newspaper in the mid-1980s and Mike still does it every week in 2026. How many people have faced the question through the decades? I’m told Mike has an estimate.

For several decades Mike and his newspaper had major impact on city culture. In January 1980, the newspaper began its long association with local governments by printing city legal notices. Mike’s “Notes Around Town” section, a tantalizing mix of city gossip and facts, became required reading. He also helped launch cable TV in Long Branch in January 1982, hosting “Around Town” — a Storer Cable Communications local “news magazine” program. He didn’t invent the term “Shop Local” but he said it a lot and believed it. A longtime supporter of the Greater Long Branch Chamber of Commerce, Mike earned the service group’s highest honor the “Louis G. Libutti Community Service Award” in 1991. 

“The only security of all is in a free press.”
—Thomas Jefferson

On many issues and for many years, the Atlanticville was an influential voice — making and breaking more than a few local politicians. Most fair-minded people agree that the newspaper’s leaders always put the community and people first. Perhaps to their own detriment sometimes.

Mike never much like politics or politicians (even the locals, who are a marginally better) but he gladly took their campaign dollars and political advertisements. I confess to missing Long Branch politics of the past when Mike was involved. I recall crowded and sometimes chaotic elections as an exhibit of good civic health. Several memorable races — crowed, chaotic, hard-fought and pivotal — come to mind. Back then, especially from the 1970s to the 2000s, the newspaper was packed with political ads and campaign coverage. Issues were addressed and debated. Many area politicians, business leaders, and influence peddlers sought to jockey for Mike’s favor over the years. And he rightly made them work hard to get and keep his support. Starting in 1982, the mayors that he favored ruled city hall for 40 years.

By the 1990s the Atlanticville was riding high. Mike even mocked Geraldo Rivera in a July 1992 New York Daily News profile, saying he prints “puff” in his Two River Times (a Red Bank newsweekly that Rivera owned). “I’m putting out a better newspaper; I’ve got more circulation,” Mike explained. The newspaper peaked with nearly 10,000 paid subscribers and enjoyed wide and deep readership support in Long Branch, Ocean Twp, Eatontown, Monmouth Beach, West Long Branch, Oceanport, Sea Bright, and Deal. 

In June 2001, Mike and his partners sold “the shore area’s news weekly” for $1.2 million to Greater Media, Inc. That company sold its newspaper holdings in 2016 and the A’ville ceased publication shortly thereafter. Patty Booth O’Neill, Mike’s sister, launched The Link News in 2001. The city weekly printed until 2020 and is now digital.

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In December 1998, Mike acquired The Coaster based in Asbury Park, NJ. The weekly was founded in June 1983 by Robert Carroll — a seasoned journalist. Bob’s media career included editing/reporting stints with the Freehold Transcript, Asbury Park Press, WJLK Radio and Philadelphia Inquirer. He also was an environmental editor/reporter for the New York Daily News (he covered NYC’s first “Earth Day” in April 1970). Born in Philadelphia, Bob served in the US Army Air Corps during WWII and graduated from Villanova University in 1950. He died in June 2011 at age 84. His daughter Ellen still serves as The Coaster editor.

The Coaster is “the premier weekly print newspaper in Asbury Park, Ocean Township, and Neptune.” It covers all the local news — “from goings on at town hall to business events, social news, school happenings, and local sports at both the high school and elementary level. With its 5,400 weekly distribution, the newspaper provides more photographic coverage of local events by a greater than 3:1 margin over any other local weekly, shopper, or free newspaper ” — MORE INFO.

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Mike helped show the path for my journalism career — once admitting to me, “You know why I love my job? As soon as I hear something juicy, the first thing I want to do is run right out and tell everyone. And I can.” While that philosophy made sense to me, I’ve found the profession to be both rewarding and vexing.

At my pinnacle I made a lot of money and had a lot of executive control over a publication that I loved. My creation in print. From 1993 to 2005, I was the Editor-in-Chief of Physician’s Money Digest, a business magazine for US primary care doctors. Based in Jamesburg, NJ, I launched and managed what became the #1 read magazine for 10 years. Very happy days for me and my growing family. I had complete content control over a publication that mailed to 175,000+ doctors nationwide twice per month. As the son and grandson of physicians, I had an insider’s view into the profession and the life. And I knew that sound money management was seldom, if ever, on a busy doctor’s radar.

And I even got to keep my feet in local media. Mike allowed me to write about Monmouth Beach. Beginning in 1994, I wrote a weekly newspaper column about the happenings in my hometown for 12 years. Two of my dreams fulfilled.

• Long Branch Daily Record History — HERE
• Long Branch Images — HERE

Print It! — Publisher Michael Booth at his desk at the Atlanticville’s Broadway office in Long Branch, 1990s.

The Coaster, Asbury Park weekly — MORE INFO.

Read all About It — Atlanticville newspaper first issue, May 1976.

Hot Stuff — Atlanticville News front page after the Long Branch Pier/Boardwalk fire, June 1987.

Atlanticville logo, 1990s.

“Mr. Long Branch” — R. Barry Kamm, Atlanticville column logo (Allen Levine sketch). The son a city taxi service owner and a 1932 LBHS grad, Barry attended Kent State and started his journalism career at the Long Branch Daily Record in 1942; he also was the city’s public relations man for 17 years. He was the Greater Long Branch C of C president (1983) and won its top honor, the Louis Libutti Award (1987).  “Streetwise and colorful,” Barry left his mark in the city’s government, fire company, first aid squad and school sports — holding important positions with each before his November 1992 death.

Subscriber Input — “Why we read the Atlanticville,” Asbury Park Press ad, August 1981.

“Man on the Street” — The Long Branch Daily Record launches its “Facing the Question” feature, September 1958.

“Chatter by Charlie” column, Summer 1994. Charlie is a LBHS graduate, a US Army veteran (two tours in Iraq), and has and MBA from Fordham University.

“Ink in the Veins” — The Outlook editorial masthead, October 1947. It’s the student newspaper of Monmouth University. The college got its start at Long Branch High School in November 1933 as “Monmouth Junior College” before moving to the WLB campus in 1955. The managing editor that fall was Thomas E. Booth, Jr. The Freehold native and WW II US Army veteran died in January 1978 at age 53. His son Michael Booth was the founder/publisher of the city’s weekly Atlanticville News (from 1975 to 2001) and publisher of The Coaster since 1999.

“A” Team — Atlanticville masthead from first issue, May 1976.

$400,000 Later — Geraldo Rivera: He prints “puff!” — New York Daily News, July 1992.

“Atlanticville” — Map of North Long Branch and Monmouth Beach, 1873. Atlantic Avenue bisects the area.

Hippy Haven — Bits & Peaces on Atlantic Avenue in North End, 1970s.

Bits & Peaces, 1980s. North End had a decidedly hip atmosphere to it during the 1960s and 1970s — a laid-back, mellow community. Considered among the finest city beaches, the spot gave rise to something new and different at the Jersey Shore — surf-boarding. In 1965 the Kiernan Surfing Association was formed. With its own dedicated beach (given to them by the White Sands Beach Club owners) it was considered “the birthplace of organized surfing in New Jersey.” Today the spot in Seven Presidents Park, which opened in July 1978.

Mike and his “Panda’s Wagon” food truck at North End, 1970s.