Comments re Nov. 28, 2011 Sun Media layoffs:
Monday 28 November 2011
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Year 20 - 1991
A 20th anniversary video:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 14:54 0 comments
Friday 18 November 2011
Year 10 - 1981
The Toronto Sun's 10th anniversary video, 1981:
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 04:54 0 comments
Monday 14 November 2011
Doug & Family
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 02:14 0 comments
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Open Forum
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 05:33 57 comments
30 - TSF
Ian and a couple of other blog volunteers soon bowed out due to work demands, so this semi-retired guy with lots of time for a newspaper that gave me 19 good years, got to work on the Toronto Sun Family project.
(Website stats as of early today: 768,345 visits; average of 495 per day; 1,462,145 page views. We've always wondered who our American and European regulars were and what, if any, ties they had to Sun Media.)
The memories from people who worked on all floors of the Eclipse and 333 have been heart-felt and often emotional reads. We should have requested them throughout our five-year run.
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 05:25 5 comments
40 years, one word
A lot of the Sun troops will gather again this Friday, Nov. 5, at the Opera House for another fundraising Newzapaloooza media rock concert competition.
The lineup:
- The Back Issues - Maclean's
- The Deadlines - Toronto Star
- The Everywhere - CityTV
- Mental Circuit - Reuters
- The Snipes - The Globe & Mail
- The Screaming Headlines - Toronto Sun
- Stimulus Package - The Canadian Press & The Globe & Mail
Proceeds to the The Children's Aid Foundation.
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 04:33 1 comments
Tuesday 1 November 2011
BJ Del Conte
Obviously, not as an employee - but as a reader. My mother would bring home British tabs from her co-workers, which I would voraciously consume, so this Toronto Star delivery boy was no stranger to a new, local and weird sized paper with screaming headlines and a snappy style of writing.
I saved the first Sun, but it's lost to history. I still have the first Sunday Sun.
In year two of the Sun's existence it created hockey cards - way bigger than standard issue. You cut a coupon out of the paper and redeemed it for hockey cards at the store where you got the paper.
I heard you could trade the cards down at the Eclipse White Wear building - near Farb's car wash and the King's Plate Open Kitchen (places I had read about in the paper) - so I went down on a couple of Saturday afternoons.
I really liked the paper and wanted to work there. Only took 14 years to make that happen.
It started with me working at the Winnipeg Sun (when it was owned by Quebecor and Toronto wasn't) and selling local stories to the Toronto Sun. They paid me and ran longer versions of the stories than Winnipeg did. ( Burton Cummings bopped by a beer bottle in a brawl at a Winnipeg 7-11 at 3 a.m. comes to mind).
When I would come to Toronto for a visit, I'd hang out in the Sun newsroom. One time I was treated to the awesome spectacle of Les (Pyette) jumping up and down on a newsroom desk shrieking hysterically because the Star got a scoop on the dead babies story at Sick Kids in its noon edition.
I'm a Sun Day Oner in another respect: I may be the first and only person to get Godfly - the consummate politician and exemplar of self control - to absolutely lose it.
Mr. G and I weren't on the best of terms to begin with. Not long before I left in early '89, I was one of the people who was talking about bringing in a union. I called the Canadian Auto Workers. They relished the idea of organizing the anti-union Sun. Management found out, a meeting with Paul was held, commitments were made, co-conspirators were bought off and I left the paper.
Flash forward to '96 or '97. I was at Bloomberg Business News and covered the Sun's first-ever round of layoffs. At the press conference in the upstairs board room, I asked Godfrey why he fired people when he just spent $250K on an anniversary party a few days earlier.
I don't really recognize the Sun these days. Tiny stories that are basically rewritten press releases, fluffer nutters that I can't imagine anyone would care about, the tedious one trick pony/feather light attacks on the CBC and the mindless adoration/critique-free bum licking of Ford and Harper.
I worked for pkp's father and I'm here to tell you: the apple fell very far from that family tree.
In my time at the Sun, I got to cover the Aryan Nations world summit in Idaho; looked for Elvis in Kalamazoo, MI, and covered the 10th anniversary of his death in Memphis; and chased Ben Johnson's $250K Ferrari Testarossa with my $250 Chevy Citation.
I met a ton of lifelong friends, downed many a pint and wings at Crook's (especially on payday Thursday) and got paid to do stories I would've done for free.
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 14:50 1 comments
Gail Zangen
Thanks to Wayne Janes for posting a comment on Facebook about this blog. I spent the morning reading the posts and catching up with the Sun Family. It all brings back many memories.
It is true that many of the back office staff are missing in the comments. I hope they are aware of the blog too. Spreading the word is so much easier today, but so much time has passed in between when it wasn't as easy.
I worked at the Sun from March 1972 to June 1979 supervising the business data processing and operations.
I have many fond memories of the Sun. It is at the top of the list best jobs ever! The sense of family was felt throughout.
Working directly with Nancy, Vivian and Valerie, we started the Data Processing Department within accounting. We had the challenges of automating the advertising billing, circulation delivery and accounting systems.
Time has made it hard to remember everyone. But conversations with Buddy - 'Buy Gold' and make chicken soup - are still with me. And thanks Buddy, I did buy some gold. Also, Art, Tom, Bruce, Bob, Peggy and many more were in the accounting department at the time.
Working with Maggie Fowler was amazing. She introduced me to a whole new world with her vast knowledge of the offset production systems.
Trudy's breaking the glass ceiling is wonderful, she earned and deserved a place at the table.
We worked hard and played hard. I was a terrible player, but thoroughly enjoyed our girls softball games with Trudy, Sue, Diane K, Diane C and many others.
Participating in the Edmonton Sun opening was a highlight, sharing the energy and enthusiasm of the growth of the paper. Setting up the data communications for the back office was also a new experience. Reconnecting with Edmonton friends with social media has been fun.
I still have my Sun memorabilia . . . first day editions, gold charms, mugs, pictures, a farewell caricature by Andy Donato, and anniversary sweatshirts that I wear to this day.
The sadness in some the posts address another unknown era coming for the Sun.
Thanks for the memories.
Gail Zangen
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 14:17 0 comments
To Doug
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 05:35 1 comments
Last call
Looking forward to reading today's 80-page special spearheaded by Toronto Sun vet Ian Robertson. We're hoping the Sun gave us proper credit for any TSF content used.
Meanwhile, it's now or never for Toronto Sun memories on the Toronto Sun Family blog.
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 05:00 0 comments
45 and up
Doug Fisher: Doug, a Canadian parliamentary news institution, worked for the Toronto Sun for 35 years writing op-ed columns, beginning with a Day One column about Robert Stanfield. He became a household name long before the Sun as an MP and, beginning in 1963, as a syndicated Toronto Telegram columnist. Two sons of his five sons followed in his media footsteps, including Matthew, a former Toronto Sun columnist. Doug retired at 86 and was a day shy of his 90th birthday when he died on Sept. 18, 2009.
Kaye Corbett, a sports writer who rode tall in the saddle at the Sun from Day One to 1994, almost made a detour to a job in Montreal after the Tely's closing was announced in 1971. But an offer from George GrossJerusalem Sun. But a few years ago, he did submit his memories of being on the job on Nov. 1, 1971. He vividly remembered the giddiness of that Halloween packaging of the Sun's first 48-page paper, with 13 pages of sports. Read Kaye's Day One memories here. pulled him back into the fold in time to join the relatively small but eager five-man sports desk on Day One. These days, he is a difficult man to reach, so we are not sure if he is still manning the typewriter at the online.
Business office: Jim Brown; Howard Hayes; Mary Zelezinksy
To one and all, a final salute for making it all possible for the hundreds who followed.
Posted by Toronto Sun Family at 04:40 0 comments