First letter leads to 90+ per year: veteran letter writer knew he was hooked when a reader called to agree with what he had written. (Symposium).

As an inveterate letter writer to newspapers and magazines, I have come to expect at best a 50% acceptance rate. Last year, I wrote 97 letters and had 46 published. That was 51 lost opportunities.

How did this begin? My first letter went to the Stamford Advocate in the 1970s. In it, I questioned a local program in which a scholarship was to be given in the name of a deceased hero, Jackie Robinson. It was to go to a deserving black student. I wrote that this great man who broke the color barrier in baseball would not want his name associated with a racially biased award.

The response by phone, mail, and in the paper caught me off guard. Most concurred; a few didn't. Then Robinson's lovely wife phoned and said she agreed with what I wrote I was hooked. It dawned on me that my opinion not only had validity but also interested others. Let's be honest: It stoked my ego, too.

Over the years, I have learned to approach questions or problems with an open mind: Get the facts, no matter how much they differ from what I wanted to hear or what my preconceptions might be. Get the whats, whys, and hows before acting.

Thus, if I read something that doesn't seem right, I research the topic. When I find it misleading, wrong, or incomplete, I take it upon myself to speak out.

That first letter caused me to question even more what I was reading. Initially, with a fulltime job and a family, I could do the research and write perhaps once a month. Now that I am retired, I have the time and energy to contribute perhaps twice a week.

It's not that I have a moral obligation to straighten out the world or even my home of Englewood, Fla. But it's fun. And invariably I'm right -- just like you are.

As for print and broadcast media, they seem to do a pretty good job of reporting what is happening. But someone occasionally misunderstands or improperly reports an issue. And in my opinion, the editors aren't always analyzing or editorializing about these events satisfactorily, if at all.

What concerns me is how often I see poor logic, lack of complete comprehension of the subject matter, and emotion-based work by columnists, op-ed contributors, and other letter writers. And sometimes, I just disagree with their conclusions.

Now, let me tell you how you can improve newspapers. A lot of people out there are concerned about current issues, are intelligent, and have expertise in their fields of endeavor. They can expand upon your paper's position or have a valid conflicting point of view. They also want to be heard. You should get them involved.

May I suggest that you look at one form of your competition -- talk radio. Check out the growth in advertising rates, numbers of listeners, and the price of AM stations in the past 15 years. People today want to express their opinions, not just passively accept what is presented.

Sure, you get some conservative/liberal conflicts, the nut cases, and the pseudo-intellectuals. But for the most part, anyone who will take the time to think out a letter and write is going to have a point of view that's probably worth considering.

Be honest. How many people on your payroll are competent in engineering, military affairs, international finance, law, statistical analysis, biology, et al.? You don't let this stop you from expressing your opinion, and you shouldn't.

I submit there are many of us who can and would like to complement your positions or challenge them. Your readers would profit from this interchange.

How many of you have sampled your letter writers? Do you know their demographics and dynamics, much less the potential for some to contribute?

I have called letter writers in my phone area, and invariably, they tell me they would like to read and write more letters. The usual criteria we get -- under 300 words, once every 30 days, name and address -- doesn't really sound inviting.

You have an opportunity to at least try to get more contributions from an ever-more concerned and capable set of readers. I am not talking about the usual five or six letters a day but a whole page of them. Why not print a whole section once a week? Open up a forum for all to contribute. Who doesn't like to see his name in print? We all do, and we'd buy the paper just to see it.

As for me, I will continue to write when I have something to say, have a valid position, can support my contentions, and believe my voice should be heard.

Fred Holzweiss writes letters from Englewood, Fla. A native of Long Island, he has lived all over the United States, in Asia and in Europe. He was employed by IBM for 33 years. He and his wife, Winifred, have six children.