''Weekend'' was a long-running Canadian magazine and newspaper supplement. The '' Montreal Standard'' was founded in 1905 as a weekly newspaper and was purchased by the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the domi ...

'' in 1925. In 1951 the ''Standard'' was relaunched in magazine format as ''Weekend Picture Magazine'' serving as a newspaper supplement for the ''Montreal Star'' and eight other local newspapers across Canada. Eventually shortening its name to ''Weekend'', the magazine, printed using the

rotogravure Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it ...

process, included features writing, cultural and entertainment reporting, cartoons by

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

, colour advertising and photographs and recipes among other items. The magazine began with a circulation of 900,000 and peaked in the 1960s when it was carried in 41 newspapers and had a circulation of 2.5 million, making it the largest circulation magazine in Canada. In 1959 a French-language edition, ''Perspectives'', was launched. In the mid-1960s the

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Southam is situated on the River Stowe (called 'The Brook' by many locals), which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill and joins Warwickshire's ...

newspaper chain launched its own newspaper supplement, ''The Canadian'' which replaced ''Weekend'' in Southam's newspapers and competed with ''Weekend'' for advertising, talent and readers. In addition, the introduction of

colour television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

into Canada in the late 1960s also hurt the magazine. In 1969, ''Weekend'' and ''The Canadian'' merged their marketing, advertising, and printing departments in order to cut costs but remained editorial competitors. Frank Lowe, who was the magazine's editor in the early 1970s, had a pet project he called "The Vanishing Canada". The project consisted of publishing stories and photos about disappearing ways of life, of which two were the cover stories "Fishing the Great Lakes: a dying business" (February 5, 1972) and "Last Winter of a Farming Man" (April 1, 1972); both featured text and photos by journalist Peter H. Martyn. John Macfarlane became editor in 1976 and eliminated staff writers, using freelance writers and editors instead, allowing him to redirect cost savings to the magazine's travel budget allowing the magazine to adopt an international focus, for example sending

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...

to China to write a feature on the thirtieth anniversary of the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (ROC ...

and author

Barry Callaghan Barry Morley Joseph Callaghan (born July 5, 1937) is a Canadian author, poet and anthologist. He is currently the editor-in-chief of ''Exile'' Quarterly. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he is the son of late Canadian novelist and short story write ...

to Africa to write a piece on Canadian missionaries. Groundbreaking pieces included "Gay in the '70s", an article exploring an issue that had usually been ignored by Canadian media and featuring a picture of prominent gay Canadians. ''The Canadian'' responded by emphasizing a national editorial focus. In 1977, the magazine's editorial offices moved to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. In 1979, with both publications losing readers and ad revenue being lost to

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, ''Weekend'' merged with its rival to become ''Canadian Weekend'' which was renamed ''Today'' in March 1980, before ceasing publication in 1982.

References

{{Reflist 1951 establishments in Quebec 1979 disestablishments in Ontario News magazines published in Canada Lifestyle magazines published in Canada Sunday magazines Weekly magazines published in Canada Defunct magazines published in Canada Magazines published in Montreal Magazines published in Toronto Magazines established in 1951 Magazines disestablished in 1979 Newspaper supplements

See also

References