Colin McEnroe

McEnroe was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Connecticut and earned a scholarship to Yale University. While a student at Yale College in 1974, he was a test subject in a controlled study on the addictive nature of computer games, which at that time were text-based.{{cite news|title=WTIC radio, July 25, 2017}} His father, Robert E. McEnroe was a playwright who had two shows produced on Broadway.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

McEnroe started writing newspaper columns in the 1980s and was syndicated for a while. It was also in the 1980s that he started writing for magazines.

In 1999, McEnroe wrote an often-cited{{Cite web|url=http://michellemalkin.com/2004/06/20/i-am-michiko-kakutani/|title = I am Michiko Kakutani}}{{Better source needed|date=August 2024}}{{Cite web|url=http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/essay/fr/createdInDark.htm|title=Writer Business Tips|access-date=2009-04-07|archive-date=2010-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203090038/http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/essay/fr/createdInDark.htm|url-status=dead}}{{Failed verification|date=August 2024}} essay for McSweeney's in which he claimed to be book critic Michiko Kakutani. The essay, "I Am Michiko Kakutani",{{cite web |url=http://www.mcsweeneys.net/1999/01/23michiko.html |title=Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency: I am Michiko Kakutani |access-date=2009-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424222233/http://www.mcsweeneys.net/1999/01/23michiko.html |archive-date=2009-04-24 }} is now included in an anthology of McSweeney's literary essays.{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/670000267/post/780025078.html|title=Book Reviews, Bestselling Books & Publishing Business News | Publishers Weekly}}

McEnroe has been a contributing editor at Best Life{{cite web |url=http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/sex-and-relationships/How-Sexy-Does-a-Man-Have-to-Be.php |title=Best Life Magazine - Women & Sex - How Sexy do You Have to Be? |access-date=2009-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326015036/http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/sex-and-relationships/How-Sexy-Does-a-Man-Have-to-Be.php |archive-date=2009-03-26 }} and Men's Health magazines and has been a frequent contributor to Mirabella, Mademoiselle and Verge. His writing has also appeared in Forbes FYI, Cosmopolitan, McSweeney's, Family Fun and Metropolitan Home. McEnroe is a weekly columnist for The Hartford Courant; he has been a reporter and columnist for The Courant for over 30 years. In addition, his columns have appeared in newspapers in America and abroad; he occasionally contributes to The New York Times op-ed page.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/31/opinion/licorice-speaks.html|title=Opinion | Licorice Speaks|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 July 2004|last1=McEnroe|first1=Colin}}

In 1994, McEnroe wrote a serialized novel in the pages of The Hartford Courant.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/31/business/media-business-press-connecticut-newspaper-waxes-dickensian-offering-readers.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1|title = THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Press; A Connecticut newspaper waxes Dickensian by offering readers a quirky serialized novel|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 31 October 1994|last1 = Glaberson|first1 = William}}

In May 2003, his play A Woman of a Certain Age, was produced at the Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut. The musical was done in collaboration with former Courant colleagues, Steve Metcalf and Lary Bloom.

In 2004, McEnroe's third book, My Father's Footprints, won the Connecticut Book Award for best biography or memoir.{{cite web |date=2005 |title=Connecticut Muse - A Celebration of Contemporary Connecticut Authors |url=http://www.connecticutmuse.com/Documents/ctmusespring2005.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009132455/http://www.connecticutmuse.com/Documents/ctmusespring2005.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-09 |access-date=2009-04-01}}

In 2006, McEnroe was heavily involved in coverage of the Senate race between Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont, especially after an exchange between Lieberman and McEnroe on the air.{{Cite web|url=http://firedoglake.com/2006/03/22/no-shit-holy-joes-cracking/|title =No Shit, Holy Joe’s Cracking|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908104215/http://firedoglake.com/2006/03/22/no-shit-holy-joes-cracking/ |archive-date=8 September 2008 |url-status=usurped}} McEnroe also covered the race for Salon.{{Cite web|last=McEnroe|first=Colin|date=2007-01-17|title=Lieberman: A surge of buyer's remorse?|url=https://www.salon.com/2007/01/17/lieberman_83/|access-date=2021-12-05|website=Salon|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=McEnroe|first=Colin|date=2006-07-31|title=How Joe went wrong|url=https://www.salon.com/2006/07/31/lieberman_times/|access-date=2021-12-05|website=Salon|language=en}}

In Fall 2008, he resumed teaching duties at Trinity College in Hartford. His blog, [To Wit],{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-12-26 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516201502/http://blogs.courant.com/colin_mcenroe_to_wit/ |archive-date=2016-05-16 |url-status=dead }} appeared on the Courant's website through 2018 and offered a daily glimpse of his interests and opinions. In 2018, McEnroe moved the teaching part of his career to the Yale political science department.{{Cite web|url=https://politicalscience.yale.edu/news/colin-mcenroe-how-political-poll-buying-chicken|title = Colin McEnroe: How a Political Poll is Like Buying a Chicken | Department of Political Science}}

In January 2019, McEnroe began writing a weekly column for Hearst's Connecticut newspapers, including the Connecticut Post, the New Haven Register and the Stamford Advocate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Colin-McEnroe-joins-Hearst-Connecticut-as-13516912.php|title = Colin McEnroe joins Hearst Connecticut as columnist|date = 8 January 2019}}

McEnroe hosted a talk show on WTIC that was cancelled in December 2008.{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2008/12/wtic-am-purge-diane-smith-coli.html |title=WTIC AM Purge: Diane Smith, Colin McEnroe - Roger Catlin | TV Eye |access-date=2009-04-01 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713014836/http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2008/12/wtic-am-purge-diane-smith-coli.html |archive-date=2012-07-13 |url-status=dead }}

McEnroe then secured a post with a weekly afternoon show on WNPR in 2009.

McEnroe has moderated the Connecticut Forum{{cite web |url=http://www.ctforum.org/popups/bio.asp?event_bio_image_id=2568 |title=Colin McEnroe - Biography |access-date=2009-02-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525084749/http://www.ctforum.org/popups/bio.asp?event_bio_image_id=2568 |archive-date=2006-05-25 }} for a record-setting ten times, including a panel{{Cite web|date=14 May 2009|title=Food For Thought|url=https://www.ctforum.org/event/food-for-thought|url-status=live|website=www.ctforum.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027174515/http://ctforum.org:80/Event/food-for-thought |archive-date=2017-10-27 }} featuring Anthony Bourdain, Alice Waters and Duff Goldman. In 2013, under the auspices of the Mark Twain House, he interviewed Stephen King.

In the 2008–2009 season,{{YouTube|iP9lBUvCoks}} McEnroe and Edward Cumming reformatted the Hartford Symphony Orchestra's Connections series.{{Cite web|url=http://www.hartfordsymphony.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_cat&catid=142&Itemid=333|title = Hartford Symphony Orchestra | Connecticut's Premier Musical Organization|date = 30 October 2013}} He has performed his own spoken word pieces twice with the orchestra under Carolyn Kuan. In 2017, McEnroe teamed up with Kuan and director Eric Ort to create a series of monologues juxtaposed with the movements of Liszt's "Faust." The production featured actors Crystal Dickinson and Ward Duffy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/ctnow/music/hc-faust-hartford-symphony-20170301-story.html|title = Faust Gets a Remake from HSO's Kuan, TheaterWorks' Ort, WNPR's McEnroe| date=2 March 2017 }}

In 2016, the Colin McEnroe Show won First Place in the Interview category of the Public Radio News Directors awards, for his hour-long conversation with Hal Holbrook.{{Cite web |url=http://cpbn.org/wnprs-colin-mcenroe-show-wins-national-award-public-radio-news-directors-inc/ |title=WNPR's the Colin McEnroe Show Wins National Award from Public Radio News Directors Inc. · Connecticut Public Broadcasting |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=2016-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122220942/http://cpbn.org/wnprs-colin-mcenroe-show-wins-national-award-public-radio-news-directors-inc/ |url-status=dead }} Also in 2016, Ira Glass, speaking to a national conference of public radio program directors, cited the Colin McEnroe Show as his example of a local program using humor and innovation effectively. A subsequent conversation between the two men became an episode of The Pub, a national podcast about public radio.{{Cite web|url=http://current.org/2016/10/the-pub-82-chris-er-colin-mcenroe-interviews-ira-glass/|title = 'The Pub' #82: Chris, er, Colin McEnroe interviews Ira Glass| date=28 October 2016 }} In February 2011, McEnroe and his radio staff were featured on the cover of Hartford Magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/hartford-magazine/|title=Hartford Magazine - Hartford Courant|website=courant.com|date=6 August 2022 }}

In 2011, he became a contributor to Bicycling magazine, where he wrote a column about taking up the sport.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbicyclingmag%2Fposts%2F10150639693251670|title=Log into Facebook|website=Facebook}}

McEnroe is divorced and has one son.{{Cite web| last = McEnroe| first = Colin| title = Divorce In 2013| work = Connecticut Public WNPR| access-date = 2018-03-16| date = 2013| url = http://wnpr.org/post/divorce-2013}}

• Swimming Chickens: And Other Half-breasted Accounts of the Animal World (Doubleday, 1987)
• Lose Weight Through Great Sex with Celebrities (The Elvis Way) (Doubleday, 1989){{Cite web|url=http://bookcoverarchive.com/book/lose_weight_through_great_sex_with_celebritie/|title=Lose Weight Through Great Sex with Celebritie|website=Book Cover Archive}}
• My Father's Footprints: a Memoir (Warner Books, 2003){{Cite web|title=Nonfiction Book Review: MY FATHER'S FOOTPRINTS: A Memoir by Colin McEnroe|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-446-52933-4|url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-05|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205042003/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-446-52933-4 |archive-date=2021-12-05 }}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.courant.com/hartnews-colin-mcenroe-20130507-staff.html Colin McEnroe] at the Hartford Courant
• [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/641549788/the-colin-mc-enroe-show Colin McEnroe Show] podcast produced by Connecticut Public Radio

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Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:American columnists

Category:American radio personalities

Category:Writers from Hartford, Connecticut

Category:Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty

Category:Yale University alumni