Thursday 31 July 2008

PW & Stella

Peter Worthington had us hook, line and sinker thinking all of the American lawsuits profiled in his Stella Awards column today were legit.

No. 3 even sounded familiar because of an accident report in the past year involving a driver who thought his vehicle would guide itself while on cruise control.

Peter's case:

3. When Howard Grazinski purchased his new motorhome and entered the freeway to drive it home, he set the cruise control at 70 miles an hour and left the driver's seat to make a cup of coffee in the back. The vehicle crashed and overturned. Grazinski was awarded $1,750,000 on grounds that the handbook should have warned drivers not to leave the seat.

It sounded so real, so . . . American.

The legit American lawsuits Peter cites are as dumbfounding:

2. When shopping at a mall, Marcy Meckler was "attacked" by a squirrel. In trying to escape, Meckler fell and suffered severe injuries. She sued the mall for $50,000 for their "failure to warn" that squirrels lived in the area.

4. Shawn Perkins sued after being hit by lightning in a parking lot. He felt the parking lot management should have warned people not to be outside during a thunderstorm.

A fun Sun read in memory of the late Stella Liebeck and her hot coffee suit against MacDonald's.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

ABC = Y?

Updated 07/30/08 re Globe and Mail story
The Toronto Sun has quickly responded to the ABC sanction announced today, accusing the circulation audit service of being "inconsistent."

"ABC is being inconsistent with the application of its own rules and is being adversarial and punitive towards the Toronto Sun," Kin-Man Lee, Sun publisher and CEO, says in a Marketwire press release. "We have always and we continue to apply the most rigorous standards to our circulation reporting.

"ABC is treating industry-standard programs in 2007 differently than when they approved the very same programs through their audits in both 2005 and 2006. Some of these programs have been successfully audited and approved by ABC since 1999.

"In all the time that we were a member of ABC, our circulation reports have always accurately reflected the newspapers that we've sold, printed and distributed. Nothing changed in 2007."

So does the Sun have circulation figures that dispute the ABC numbers quoted? The Sun press release doesn't say.

A Globe and Mail's story today quotes figures ABC says the Sun submitted for that period.

Grant Robertson's Globe story reads: "The Toronto Sun reported average daily circulation of 195,211 last fall, down from 197,449 a year earlier, the bureau said. The newspaper reported its Sunday circulation rose to 347,114, up from 341,247."

The Globe story says "ABC expects to reduce the Sun's average daily circulation by 21,004 copies, or 11 per cent. Average Saturday circulation will be downgraded by 18,191 copies, or 12 per cent, while average Sunday circulation will be downgraded by 49,869 copies, or 15 per cent."

Industry watchers say it is advertisers, not readers or employees, who are most interested in accurate numbers. That is what they use to maximize product exposure in allocating their annual advertising dollars.

The ABC sanction can't be boosting the confidence of advertisers.

The Sun stopped promoting its readership numbers in the Comment section masthead a couple of years ago. The tabloid was quick to provide the peaks in the Doug Creighton years, but not the valleys in the Quebecor years.

It would be refreshing to see the little paper that grew in leaps and bounds own up to any downturns, say this is what it is, and focus on bettering the product to turn those figures around.

ABC sanction

The Toronto Sun has been sanctioned by the Audit Bureau of Circulations "for a significant audit adjustment exceeding five percent related to its Sept. 2007 audit."

An ABC press release today reads:

"The ABC board unanimously voted to sanction the Toronto Sun for a significant audit adjustment exceeding five percent related to its Sept. 2007 audit. Although the Toronto Sun resigned its membership in ABC on April 16 of this year, the board voted to apply sanctions because the audit was conducted while the newspaper was still an ABC member and because the Sun was aware of the discrepancies before it resigned from ABC.

"ABC expects to issue the Sun’s Sept. 2007 audit report within the next 10 days. The report will show downward circulation adjustments of 21,004 average daily copies (11%), 18,191 average Saturday copies (12%), and 49,869 average Sunday copies (15%).

"Should the Sun choose to rejoin ABC in the future, it would be required to submit a plan of corrective action and undergo semi-annual audits for two years."

As noted in an Editor & Publisher story today, Sun Media, Torstar and Transcontinental Inc. pulled out of ABC in April to join the Canadian Circulation Audit Board.

Meanwhile, those Sunday losses put a huge dent in the Sunday Sun campaign to regain the Sunday sales lead over the Toronto Star.

Monday 28 July 2008

Council papers

Simon Jones is a former journalist who now works with Hammersmith & Fulham council in England - a council that is making waves by publishing its own newspaper.

Jones, a journalist for 20 years, responds to mainstream media's complaints about council newspapers gaining ground in England in a Press Gazette online posting.

"Local newspaper bosses should stop bleating about the rising tide of quality council newspapers and start reflecting on some hard truths facing the industry," says Jones, head of communications for the council since 2007.

"The reality is councils such as Hammersmith & Fulham are being forced into producing weekly and fortnightly newspapers in order to fill a vacuum that has developed as a result of a chronic underinvestment from within the industry – especially in London."

Jones goes on to make numerous points about the emergence of free council newspapers, which he says have minimal advertising to cover printing costs.

"If the newspaper industry is worried about the emergence of council newspapers, it only has itself to blame."

Jones says council newspapers are not propaganda publications. They are geared to promote local business, the arts, entertainment and sport.

"This isn't about propaganda – you won’t find many pictures of councillors in our paper – it is about promoting the interests of our residents and what they are doing in their neighbourhood."

Council newspapers haven't made their way across the Atlantic that we know of, but the idea could catch fire in communities dissatisfied with mainstream media coverage.

As Jones says: "It is up to local authorities to ensure that residents are not disconnected from what is happening in their neighbourhoods."

There is no chance of that happening in the GTA, with four major daily newspapers, but council newspapers might appeal to people in communities that have few, if any, local newspapers to read.

Although a Toronto council newspaper - Howard Moscoe for editor in chief? - would be an amusing counterpoint to the mainstream media's constant scrutiny.

Council newspapers in the U.K. remind us of The Crier, Port Hope's protest newspaper first published in 1999 by a group of prominent citizens dissatisfied with Conrad Black's ownership of the local newspaper, the Evening Guide.

Author Farley Mowat was one of the backers of the quality and ad-free newspaper and the locals were disappointed when the protest publication came to an end 15 months later after Black put all of his papers up for sale.

Mowat et al revived The Crier for one edition in 2003 to speak to a major development in Port Hope, not to protest the Evening Guide's new owner, Osprey Media.

We await their editorial opinion of Quebecor/Sun Media, the newest owner of the Evening Guide.

Council newspapers in the U.K. and a spontaneous community newspaper financed by concerned individuals in Ontario . . . it's the need to read and to communicate.

It's not always business.

Wednesday 23 July 2008

Howard Hayes

They were media pioneers, those 62 Day Oners who launched the underdog Toronto Sun on Nov. 1, 1971, two days after the Telegram folded.

Among them, Howard Hayes, one of five Day Oners in the tabloid's business office, along with Art Holland, Jim Brown, Bruce Rae and Mary Zelezinsky.

Howard's daughter, Barbara Pratt, contacted TSF to say her father is well and will celebrate his 86th birthday on Aug. 3 in the Agincourt house he and his wife built "many years ago."

Taking care of business from that first day played a key role in the success of the Sun, so take a bow, Howard, and happy birthday.

If you have Day One stories to tell, Howard, we'd be delighted to share them with TSF readers. Your bio and photo for our Hired in 70s posting would also be appreciated.

G.G. honours

The George Gross Media Center.

George, who died of a heart attack March 21, now has his name on an international tennis media centre.

This one is at York University's Rexall Centre Sports & Entertainment Complex.

The Sun's founding sports editor also has his name on a new Canadian soccer trophy - the George Gross Memorial Trophy, awarded yesterday for the first time.

The Baron spent much of his 60 years in the media writing about sports.

Sports won't soon forget George.

In the four months since his death, George has been honoured during football, tennis and soccer events in Toronto.

A Toronto Sun story by Mike Ganter and Dean McNulty tells of the honours double-header yesterday at a Rogers Centre tennis tournament and a BMO Field soccer game.

We can see George beaming.

Could a new or renamed George Gross Memorial Arena to honour George for his dedication to all levels of skating be next?

It is the right thing to do.

Saturday 19 July 2008

Bob Elliott 2

Updated: Link to Bill Lankhof column on Bob
Colleagues of veteran Toronto Sun baseball writer Bob Elliott are congratulating the Baseball Hall of Fame writers wing nominee.

"Bob is one of the greatest baseball writers and we're proud of him," Rob Lamberti, veteran Sun crime reporter, says in an e-mail to TSF.

Elliott is one of three nominees for the 2009 J.G. Taylor Spink Award and entry into the writers wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Win or lose, as a nominee Elliott, 58, is in some heady Baseball Hall of Fame company, as evident in the the list of previous winners dating back to the first award to Spink in 1962 and including Ring Lardner and Damon Runyon.

The former Ottawa Citizen sports writer began covering the Jays for the Sun in 1987 and has been a Sun baseball columnist since 1991.

Also nominated are Nick Peters of the Sacramento Bee and Dave Van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune. The winner will be announced in December during the winter baseball meetings in Las Vegas.

Thursday 17 July 2008

Sudbury & Andy

The Sudbury Star is relatively new to Sun Media, but no excuses when it comes to this comment in an online editorial about political cartoonists:

"The best-known Canadian publication with the gall to go down such a road is the awkwardly offensive Frank Magazine, but it languishes in relative obscurity amid a Canadian culture whose idea of a biting cartoon is former Toronto Sun artist Andy Donato's depiction of Joe Clark wearing mittens attached to his clothes with "idiot strings," mocking Clark's lost luggage during a trip to the Middle East. The cartoons are thought to have cemented the image of Clark as a loser."

Andy, an award-winning Day Oner, is still on the job and still making waves.

Doug & TSF

The Toronto Sun Family blog always welcomes praise from other blogsters, even when they err in identifying J. Douglas Creighton as the host blogster.

It happened again this week when the bigcityliberalstrikesback blog described TSF while commenting on John Downing's reactivated Downing's Views blog:

"In J. Douglas Creighton's case, you get a lively, warts and account of inside workings at the T.O. Sun and in the city itself. When it's John Downing, I'm not so sure, all though (sic) this rant was entertaining enough:

"They [city bureaucrats] have turned amalgamation into a cruel charade. The city hasn't grown that much in four decades, say from 2.15 million to 2.5 million, but the bureaucracy has exploded. Quantity up, quality way down. What we need is term limits, and maybe one term is too long."

The bigcityliberal blog posting Wednesday also has feedback about Downing's most recent posting.

The photo of Doug on the TSF blog is a tribute to our late, great founding publisher, who was ousted from the Sun in November 1992 and died in January 2004. We recently added '1928-2004' below his photo to avoid confusion, but . . .

We have also received e-mails addressed to Doug, including one from a Ryerson student.

To be clear, we are nowhere near being able to fill Doug's shoes. We are just former Toronto Sun staffers who will always be in awe of Doug and his role at the Little Paper That Grew.

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Bob Elliott nom

Bob Elliott, the Toronto Sun's veteran baseball writer, is a nominee for induction into the writers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009, says the London Free Press.

The paper says "Elliott is one of three writers nominated for the J.G. Taylor Spink Award and induction into the writers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009."

Elliott, 58, author of The Northern Game: Baseball The Canadian Way, has been a Sun sports staffer for 27 years and a baseball columnist since 1991.

Other nominees the Baseball Writers' Association of America will consider are Nick Peters of the Sacramento Bee and Dave Van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune.

The winner will be announced in December during the winter MLB meetings.

Congrats, Bob.

Tuesday 15 July 2008

Downing's blog

Veteran journalists put out to pasture by retirement or pink slips should never be silenced.

With blogs, they need not be.

So a big welcome to John Downing, a Toronto Sun Day Oner and former editor/columnist, who has launched a blog called Downing's Views.

Whether fish tales, political commentary or tales of the Little Paper That Grew, Downing, one of the great story tellers of modern GTA media history, will be a daily must-read for TSF.

We have fond memories of John towering over city desk telling one great Tely/Sun story after another. The stories ended when John left the building more than a year ago over Quebecor's ongoing carnage.

Mark Downing helped his father set up the blogspot blog recently.

Hopefully, John will provide a lot of Sun-related backroom as-it-happened postings.

Book "blackout"

Bruce DeMara's Sunday Star story about mainstream media keeping their distance from Vincent Bugliosi and his new Bush/Iraq book shouldn't be missed.

The story says The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder has been on the New York Times best-seller list for five weeks despite a "virtual" blackout by the U.S. mainstream media.

It is a disturbing story for North Americans who believe major television and radio networks are promoters of fair play and advocates of freedom of speech.

Monday 14 July 2008

TV silence

The second Sunday without a Toronto Sun television guide in much of the distribution area has come and gone without a word of explanation from the editors.

And not a single letter to the editor on the subject in Sunday's paper. Does that mean not a single reader deprived of the guide was motivated to write, or is it a case of the Sun skirting the issue?

TSF received a comment from an irate 30-year reader in eastern Ontario who says a Sunday Sun boycott is called for after the Sun decided to provide guides in "selected areas only."

No warning. Readers bought the Sunday Sun two weeks ago confident there would be a guide and they could be forgiven if they didn't see the Page 2 "selected areas only" fine print.

And where the hell are those selected areas? TSF has heard from peeved readers in Hamilton, Barrie and Cobourg, so it sounds like the "selected areas" are all within the GTA.

One Toronto media insider says at a time when Sun Media is eager to regain the No. 1 spot in Sunday sales, alienating thousands of current readers is peculiar strategy.

"I presume the Sun is trying to goose their home delivery. Of course, this is not the way to do it. Quebecor does not care if it screws readers, as you very well know."

We did notice this weekend a couple of corner stores east of the GTA sold all of their Friday Globe and Mails and Saturday Stars, which have TV guides, but had unsold Sunday Suns at the end of the day.

"We have always sold all of our Sunday Suns," said one store owner. Saturday Stars and Friday Globes? Not so often - until now.

That is just a tiny sampling of sales outside the GTA, but we get the feeling people who want a television guide with their weekend paper will switch allegiance.

Second class citizens, these loyal Sunday Sun readers who live beyond those unannounced selected areas. They are, if inclined, still paying $2, plus 10 cents tax, for the lighter paper.

Saturday 12 July 2008

Ah, so Bush

Andy Donato, as usual, brilliantly pegged the world's reaction to George W. once again in his editorial cartoon on Thursday.

His "ah so" cartoon quickly drew two letters to the editor, including one from a Sun reader who thought the cartoon "crass."

Crass, our ass.

A day later, George W. made the headlines world-wide for telling G8 leaders in Japan: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

"He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present, including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, looked on in shock," the Telegraph in England reported.

The Telegraph says one official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: "Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America's record on pollution."

We lost the link to Thursday's Sun cartoon, but keep 'em coming, Andy.

Six more months of this ah so guy. Oy.

Thursday 10 July 2008

Joan & Posy

Joan Sutton Straus, a Toronto Sun Day Oner and former Lifestyle editor, writes about Posy Chisholm, a former Tely/Sun columnist who died Monday in Toronto General Hospital. She was in her 80s.

"For years, I spent a couple of months in England where the highlight of the morning newspaper readings was the obituary page," says Joan. "In England, they manage to tell the truth about those who died. In Canada and the U.S., we go all mealy mouthed, turning everyone into saints, which only makes them dull.

So, my memories of Posy:

Posy Boxer Chisholm Feick has died and, indeed, the world will be a duller place. I first met Posy more than 50 years ago. It was 1951. I was 19 and modelling in the fashion show of the Robert Simpson Company (later bought out by The Bay and I guess no longer in existence.) What fashion shows those were - clothes from Paris, so beautifully made that one could wear them inside out.

Posy was the commentator and I remember her for what she wore when she waltzed into the last fitting: A Dior coat in some kind of plaid, all cut in a circle. She was tiny, blonde and perfect - but she didn't always get the commentary right.

The fashion editor of the Telegram then was an incredible character named Lillian Foster. Lillian dressed like a bag lady, and she seemed to sleep through the fashion shows. But she missed nothing and in the middle of this particular showing she stood up and shouted from the audience, "Posy, that dress is not a Balmain, it is a Givenchy."

We became close friends in the 70s when she had moved back to Toronto as Bob Chisholm's wife. She was celebrated for her parties - more than once, I stood in the corner with Bob where he would ask me, "Do you know anyone here, because I don't."

Posy and Bob rented a house in Cuernavaca, where I was often a guest. At breakfast, Bob would ask, "how many for dinner," and Posy would reply, "Just us." At lunch, he would ask again, and she would say that so many people wanted to meet me, we were going to be 12 for dinner. At dinner, there might be 50 (not one of whom was interested in meeting me.)

Once, Bob was in the local square having a morning coffee when someone approached him and asked in the loud voice we tend to use to foreigners, "Do you speak English?" "I not only speak English," said Bob, "I was your host last night at dinner."

Brian Linehan was also a frequent house guest and one year he preceded me. So, when Posy introduced me to the Canadian ambassador to Mexico as "Canada's most important journalist," the ambassador answered, with a perfect straight face, "But Posy, that's what you told me about the man you introduced me to last week."

The person she was with, the party she was at, the country she was in: The best, the most perfect, the most important. We called them Posyisms. Most of the time, they were innocent - but not always - and they did get her into journalistic trouble.

At the Tely, she wrote that she was having lunch with the Duchess of Windsor, who was discussing her face lift. The Duchess sued the Telegram: Posy was in the same restaurant, but not at the same table.

When Bob Chisholm died, I persuaded Doug Creighton to let Posy write a column for the Sun, and we christened it Darlings because that was her favorite exclamation and Bob had written a book about consumers called The Darlings.

Alas, a column lifted from an airline magazine was passed on as hers and that was the end of her second print career.

As some of you may know, my husband is a Guggenheim and I was appointed to the board of The Peggy Guggenheim to represent the family. I was able to nominate Posy to the board - it was a perfect match, for her and the board.

One of her Posyisms brought an end to our friendship - but that doesn't cancel out all the good times we had together, her amazing capacity for joy, and the way she lit up the corners of every room she entered."

Thank you for your tribute to Posy, Joan.

Dunlops pdfs

Quebecor's latest Think media newsletter includes access to all of the 2007 Dunlop Award winners in a four-part pdf presentation.

The pdf package - we would have settled for a complete list in a press release when they were announced in April - duplicates the glossy brochure handed out at the recent awards banquet.

The online brochure can be printed and includes photos of the winners, the winning entries, guest speaker comments, a tribute to Edward A. Dunlop etc.

While the photos and illustrations are clear, the news and column entries are too blurred to read when magnified.

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Virtual Sun

The Ottawa Sun's presses breakdown today is providing a free look at the tabloid's new Virtual Paper.

It is convenient and complete, but it is a generational thing. The portability of print media still trumps sitting at a computer screen to read a newspaper.

Virtual papers are an asset for shut-ins, for people in areas where home delivery is not an option, for those winter days when you just don't want to leave the house for the papers etc.

No doubt it is the future, but generations raised on print newspapers should not be denied the affordable, daily ritual of reading them whenever and wherever the mood strikes.

In the loo, while eating lunch in the car, during work breaks, on trains, planes, subways and buses without a laptop or other computerized devices in tow.

Print is for us, but our thanks to the Ottawa Sun for the free peek.

Tuesday 8 July 2008

TV guide 2

Toronto's Sunday Sun television guide is not dead after all - it is now available to readers "in selected areas only."

They are the chosen people, those people in the "selected areas," and in the Sun Media scheme of things, all other readers be damned.

Obviously, the guide is not here and TSF readers elsewhere say it is not there, so do you think the Toronto Sun could spare a word or two to elaborate on those "selected areas?"

To pull the TV guide from large numbers of Sunday Suns without a word of explanation after 35 years is the ultimate insult to faithful readers.

It is no longer the greatest print media television guide in town, but it still has an audience, including seniors on a fixed income.

But Quebecor doesn't give two hoots about readers. Reducing the output of TV guides saves them money, period. Like they aren't making enough money off the backs of Toronto Sun employees, readers and advertisers.

Price hikes

An astute and forever helpful Toronto Sun Family reader writes:

"Once again, with the demise of the TV magazine, Quebecor follows its credo of "Give readers less and charge them more."

She points to a Page 2 notice in the July 6 Sunday Sun announcing an immediate hike in home delivery of the Sunday Sun to $1.85 in the GTA and $2.10 beyond the GTA.

The new Saturday-Sunday subscription is $2.69.

And she highlights a June 29 Rob Granatstein column about the cost of the print media business and how readers should appreciate the quality of the product.

"I couldn't figure out the point of the column, but I was wondering if it was to soften up readers for an imminent price hike," she says. "With the Star going to a cover price of $1 Monday to Friday, I thought the bean counters at Quebecor would figure it was a good time to hike prices.

"This may not be the first time the price hike notice was published, but you would have thought Granatstein's June 29 column might have made some mention if the hike had already been implemented."

Like the lady says, charge them more, give them less - Quebecor's way of doing business since 1999. The profitable Toronto Sun must be feeling like a well used milk cow.

Meanwhile, we're paying more for the Globe - $1.25 weekdays out here in the boonies - and enjoying it more because they are trying harder to keep the print customer satisfied.

Monday 7 July 2008

30 - TV guide

The demise of the once mighty Sunday Sun television guide in Toronto is official.


Sunday Sun readers who depend on the television guide discovered the plug had been pulled AFTER buying the paper yesterday.

No warning.

Readers who asked retailers "where's the guide?" were shown a notice that read: "Attention Toronto Sun Retailers. Please note that effective Sunday July 6th, the Television Guide will no longer be available in the Sunday Sun."

Might have missed it, but we didn't see anything in the weekend papers announcing the demise of the guide after 35 years.

We're not sure if the guides have also been pulled from the other tabs in Ottawa, Calgary etc. In May, the Winnipeg Sun switched TV guides to home subscribers only.

Can't say the anemic 36-page Toronto guide is a great loss, other than the fun Crossword that we most often completed, occasionally with quick peaks at the answers on Page 16.

That leaves two favourite newspaper television guides: Friday's Globe and Mail 7 section, with a mix of television and film, and the Saturday Star's StarWeek.

The rise and fall of the Sunday Sun TV guide:

When the Sunday Sun was launched Sept. 16, 1973, the guide, simply called television, had 42 pages and a glossy cover. Kathy Brooks was editor, Andy Donato was designer, Olive Collins was editorial assistant and Lynda Blacow and John Pascaluta were responsible for the listings. (Photo: First Sunday Sun TV guide)

And it was what a television guide should be, a generous mix of listings, feature writing, TV tidbits and ads.

Sunday Sun readers loved the television guide and said so in annual surveys. It was a guide that grew and grew and grew. By the early 1990s, the re-named TV Magazine was 82 pages, with a glossy cover.

The Oct. 25, 1992 issue, for example, had 82 pages. Gord Stimmell was executive editor, Jim McPherson was editor and Patricia Job and R.F. Galbraith were responsible for the listings. (Photo: October 1992 TV Magazine)

In addition to the cover story and easy-to-read listings, columns included Movie Scrapbook by Jim McPherson; You Asked Us, by Eli Witmer; Video Clips by yours truly; Channel Hopping by Jim McPherson; Kid Stuff, TV and video releases for kids; On The Soaps, by Sell Groves; Pay TV listings; TV Trivia, by Jerry Gladman, a TV Crossword; Live! Sports listings; Sports Pulse, by Rob Longley. Plus numerous ads.

In the 1980s and 1990s, some people told the Sun they were buying the Sunday Sun just for the TV guide.

Then along came Quebecor in 1999 and the ousting of TV vet Gord Stimmell. And so began the steady decline of the once prosperous and proud TV magazine.

Another Sunday Sun tradition down the tubes - and one fewer reason to buy the paper at a time when Sun Media says it wants to be the No. 1 Sunday paper in Toronto once again.

The Sunday Sun was No. 1 in the early 1990s, with a circulation peaking at 550,000.

Word is the Sunday Sun is now hovering at 300,000, if not lower.

So Sun Media and Quebecor are dreaming if they believe they can regain that title by eliminating most of the features that made the Sunday Sun a winner from the 1970s through the 1990s.

The campaign to rid the Sun of all the "old ways" from the Doug Creighton years is nearing completion, with many bodies strewn about in the carnage.

It's just not TSF's Sun anymore.

But longtime Sunday Sun readers owe Stimmell, who is now doing his magic at the Star, and the late McPherson, for their many dedicated years of catering to their television wants and needs. They were the unsung heroes for couch potatoes.

Time for some TV. Where's my Globe guide, six remotes and the popcorn?

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Canada Day

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.