Great West Media Limited Partnership is a Canadian publisher of

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly ne ...

s in the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. It is headquartered in

St. Albert, Alberta St. Albert is a city in Alberta on the Sturgeon River northwest of the City of Edmonton. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now the second-largest city in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. St. Albert first received its town ...

. The company is jointly owned by Glacier Media, a

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

-based publisher, and the local family business Jamison Newspapers, which operates Great West's properties.

History

Great West was founded in 1995 as a partnership between Southam Inc. and the Jamison family, which had owned the ''St. Albert Gazette'' since 1966 (the newspaper itself had been founded in 1961). The Jamisons had run the paper as a family business but prided themselves on professional journalism; the ''Gazette'' staff produced a

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

for the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

. The ''Gazette'' had first partnered with Southam in 1988, when the Jamisons began printing suburban editions of ''Neighbours'', a publication of the Southam-owned ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', as well as some colour comics and television inserts for the ''Journal'' and ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

''. Over the next 15 years, Great West grew its holdings to 20 weekly newspapers across the province. In 1997, Southam was purchased by

Hollinger Inc. Hollinger Inc. was a Canadian media company based in Toronto which was established by businessman Conrad Black. At one time, the company was the third-largest media empire in the world. The company went bankrupt in 2007. History Hollinger Inc. ...

In 2005, Jamison Newspapers bought out its partner but sold a 50% stake in Great West to Glacier Media. The company built a $25 million office and printing plant in Campbell Business Park. In August, 2012, the company announced that it struck a deal with Postmedia to print the Edmonton Journal. The Journal will begin printing at Great West's facility in the late spring of 2013. Great West swapped newspapers with

Black Press Black Press Group Ltd. is a Canadian publisher of prominent daily newspapers in Hawaii and Alaska and numerous non-daily newspapers in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and (via Sound Publishing) the U.S. state of Washington. Black Press M ...

in 2010, gaining the '' Rocky Mountain Outlook'' in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...

, and unloading the ''Red Deer Express'', a weekly that competed with Black's daily ''

Red Deer Advocate The ''Red Deer Advocate'' is a daily newspaper in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Published by Black Press, the newspaper was first established in 1901 as the ''Red Deer Echo'', changing its name to ''Alberta Advocate'' in 1903 and ''Red Deer Advoc ...

''. The swap was part of a larger deal that saw Glacier sell many of its

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

newspapers to Black. Glacier continued to operate a competing award-winning weekly in St. Albert, the ''Saint City News'', until 2010, when the paper was sold to Great West. Great West closed the ''Saint City News'' in 2011, citing a decline in advertising revenue.

Properties

Great West newspapers, all of which are weeklies based in

, are: *
Airdrie City View
' *
Alberta Prime Times
' *
Cochrane Eagle
' *
Lakeland This Week
' *
Okotoks Western Wheel
' *
Rocky Mountain Outlook
' *
Rocky View Weekly
' * ''

St. Albert Gazette The ''St. Albert Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper distributed throughout St. Albert, Alberta St. Albert is a city in Alberta on the Sturgeon River northwest of the City of Edmonton. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now t ...

'' *
The Albertan
' *
Town and Country This Week
' Great West Media also own
51 Degrees North magazine
a digital and print publication that is dedicated to finding and telling the stories of the beings of the Bow Valley. The company also owns several regional publications and an interest in Glacier Media's agricultural publications.

References

External links

Great West Newspapers
{{Glacier Media Glacier Media Newspaper companies of Canada Companies based in Alberta St. Albert, Alberta

History

Properties

See also

References

External links