Tuesday 3 August 2010

CalSun update

Updated: CalSun 30th stories here
The Calgary Sun will mark today's 30th anniversary tomorrow.

Dave Naylor, city editor, says there will be a front page photo and a 32-page supplement in Wednesday's paper.

Why Wednesday?

"Cuz the anniversary fell on the long weekend when everyone flees town," he says in an e-mail to TSF today. "We were holding it for tomorrow."

Today's 30th anniversary wasn't part of the long weekend, but why quibble. Better late than never.

We have a "Hello Calgary" first edition from Aug. 3, 1980 here, so FYI:

It was a Sunday Sun, with 148 pages and a newsstand price of 40 cents.

Doug Creighton was publisher; Paul Whitlock, general manager; Les Pyette editor-in-chief; Glenn Slattery, assistant general manager; Susan MacDonald, news editor; Catherine Shapcott, Lifestyle/entertainment editor; Al Ruckaber, sports editor; Harry Pegg, Sunday editor.

Thirteen index-listed columnists were on hand to welcome the estimated 40,000 first-day readers: Eric Bishop, Dalton Camp, Douglas Fisher, Trent Frayne, Shirlee Gordon, Heather Hill, Moneypenny, Paul Rimstead, Al Ruckaber, Michael Shapcott, Doug Small, Jack Tennant and last, but not least and still going strong, Peter Worthington.

Plus a Page 3 SUNshine Girl by Richard Esau; Evelyn Jensen's SUNshine Boy on Page 18; a 40-page TV guide, with Mary Ann Morel at the helm; Showcase section; colour comics.

No colour for the news pages, but a promise that new Goss presses to replace the antique presses of the former 78-year-old Calgary Albertan were on the way.

And no Saturday Sun for its debut.

Sunday through Friday papers handled by 600 dealers and on sale in 1,000 boxes, with 750 carriers for Sunday home deliveries.

The day after its debut, the Calgary Sun took a day off for Alberta's Heritage Day holiday.

3 comments:

  1. For the most part, the Day 1 Calgary Sun was a horrible newspaper. It was born out of the ashes of The Albertan, which was a decrepit paper with old, antiquated equipment. We didn't have computers. We wrote on typewriters. Even for 1980, the newsroom was old old style. But Day 1, we did have a decent sports staff, which you would expect for a Sun paper. We had Ruckaber (later inducted in Football Writers Hall of Fame), Eric Duhatschek (now at Globe, in Hockey Hall of Fame), me, Gary Loewen (who has had senior positions at Globe and Sun) and Cathy Motherwell, went on to run ROB at the Globe and Mail. Pretty strong Day 1 staff for a paper that was completely fucked up at the time and was an insane place to work (not in a good way) for the first several years.

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  2. I just checked out their 32 page e-edition. It's filled with ads from businesses who still believe in the power of print, anecdotes from current staff who are excited to go to work every day and tid bits of a storied industry in a vibrant city. Flies in the face of many of the bitter and narrow minded comments found here directed at the Sun and its management..it's not all that bad :)

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  3. Quote: "Flies in the face of many of the bitter and narrow minded comments found here directed at the Sun and its management..it's not all that bad"

    Would they have even printed a single critical word? Some stories are written even before a single word is said. It's only to keep investors happy/in the dark.

    Remember what happened in Toronto when employees threatened to disrupt a shareholders meeting at 333? Sun Media moved very quickly to keep shareholders in the dark of what was really happening, by promising employees that it would look into their concerns. In the end, employees were duped and got nothing. (Relative of mine worked for the consultant company hired to look into employee concerns.)

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