Top 10 Most Popular Cape Cod Wave Stories of 2014

Cape Cod Wave is a relatively new publication—founded May 16, 2013. So every day is still an adventure for us. We work hard on the stories—particularly the long-form journalism ones—and then we send them out into the world and see what the you, the reader, think of the story.

After we post each story we wonder, does anyone like it? Will anyone even read it? Will they share it? Or, as it can sometimes seem, were we the only ones in the world enthralled by what we just did?

While we are always capable of entertaining ourselves, we have written several stories that have found a wide audience. What follows is a list of our 10 most popular stories this year, as chosen by you, our readers. We based the list on page views from our own internal numbers.

Our top story was also our most viral story ever, Hyannis Dog Whisperer. It not only had the most page views, but it also has more than 9,500 Facebook shares and counting.

Some of our most popular stories were mostly found by Facebook, some were mostly found by searching Google. We have no idea why. In fact, this whole website thing is still a bit mysterious to us, who still have remnants of newspaper ink stains on our hands.

We are journalists. We like to tell stories. And whether one local person likes the story or 10,000 people from around the world like the story, we like the story. That’s why it is on Cape Cod Wave.

So, drumroll, please. here are the top 10 most popular Cape Cod Wave stories of 2014.

Feel free to weigh in with your favorites in the comment box below.

Almost home

1 – Hyannis Dog Whisperer: Brian was driving in Hyannis one day in May when he noticed a guy walking eight German shepherds. He pulled over and interviewed the guy, Augusto De Oliveira, who showed an impressive control of the dogs to the point that Brian fearlessly took close ups of eight unleashed large dogs. Turns out a lot of people have very strong feelings about Augusto. It has almost 10,000 Facebook shares.

2- Straight To Provincetown: Changing Demographics At Cape’s Tip: Laura happened to overhear a conversation in Provincetown one summer day about the changing demographics in the town, and it turned into this story, which spread around the world. Apparently a lot of people are interested in the changing demographics of Provincetown.

Gabbe Rowland is a survivor of domestic violence and feels empowered to tell her story in hopes of helping others.

3 – Story of a Cape Cod Domestic Abuse Survivor: “My week of hell”: The Internet has a way of linking like-minded people and those who have suffered through domestic violence are likely among the most close-knit of support groups. We found that out from this story in which Laura was the first to interview the survivor of a horrendous and violent week in Falmouth. She found strength in telling her story and readers found inspiration from reading it. It was shared more than 3,300 times.

4- Falmouth’s “Inconvenient Legend”: Melvin Reine Dies: Laura had covered the story of Melvin Reine’s reign of terror in Falmouth, and had even won a New England Press Association Award for her previous reporting. So when Reine died, she was able to reach the right people to comment and to summarize the whole sordid history in a way that has found thousands of readers.

Shirley and Melvin Reine in 1999.

5- R.I.P. Towne Taverne of Falmouth, A Workingman’s Bar: A few years ago, Brian was a part-time bartender at the Towne Tavern of Falmouth, which was one of the last great Cape Cod workingman’s bars. When it closed after a fire, Brian tracked down the owner, some former bartenders and customers, and wrote a proper obituary. It was shared more than 1,500 times by people, who, we’d like to think, were having a drink while reading it.

6 – In Remembrance of Pete Shelley’s “Wonderful Life” at the Chatham Squire: If a famous politician dies, every news organization on Cape Cod will cover it. If the popular barback at the Chatham Squire dies after working there for 35

Lennie Petze, A&R legend

years, Cape Cod Wave covers it because Pete Shelley was a guy everyone in Chatham seemed to know and love. Laura wrote this wonderful tribute by talking to friends who knew him.

7 – Lennie Petze, A&R Legend – the Musician’s Magician in Mashpee: This was a fun story for Brian. Lennie Petze’s trip through rock and roll history, included making his mark on it by signing two of the biggest acts ever, Boston and Cyndi Lauper. Lauper spent a half hour on the phone with Brian talking about how Petze influenced her career.

8 – Medical Marijuana Makes Strange Bedfellows on Cape Cod: When former US Congressman Bill Delahunt teamed up with former Barnstable

County Commissioner Mary LeClair and Gosnold President and CEO Ray Tamasi to try to open a medical marijuana license, Laura interviewed all three to find out why. It turns out that marijuana is a popular subject on Cape Cod.

News held hostage.

9 – Sad Math – Provincetown’s Disappearing Housing: Provincetown has become something of a Yogi Berra routine, so popular that no one lives there anymore. Rentals are becoming condos and condos are priced out of sight. Brian interviewed several people about the struggles of the town to house a year-round community. Lots of people want to live in Provincetown and this shines a light on why it is so difficult to find housing.

10 –Cape Cod Times Messes With Texas – An Essay: When Gatehouse Media bought the Cape Cod Times and began making major changes, many were not happy. The copy desk has been moved to Texas. It struck us, and many on Cape Cod, as absurd to edit the Cape Cod Times from Austin, Texas. Gatehouse now runs the Cape Cod Times, which is very different than it once was.

+++ To see how this list compares to last year, check out Top 10 Most Popular Cape Cod Wave Stories of 2013

– Please like us on Facebook