The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

published in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It is currently owned by

Postmedia Network Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...

. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily newspaper replaced the long-running tabloid-size ''The Albertan'' soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

''. The newspaper, like most of those in the Canadian ''Sun'' chain, is known for short, snappy news stories aimed primarily at

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

readers. The layout of the ''Calgary Sun'' is partially based on that of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

tabloids.

History

The newspaper that would become the ''Calgary Sun'' was first published in 1886 as the ''Calgary Tribune''. Prior to its 1980 acquisition by Sun Media, the newspaper was published under the following titles: * 1886-1895: ''Calgary Tribune'' * 1895-1899: ''Alberta Tribune'' * 1899: ''Albertan'' * 1899-1902: ''Albertan'' and ''Alberta Tribune'' * 1902-1920: ''Morning Albertan'' and ''Weekly Albertan'' * 1920-1924: ''Morning Albertan'' and ''Western Farmer and Weekly Albertan'' * 1924-1927: ''Calgary Albertan'' and ''Western Farmer and Weekly Albertan'' * 1927-1936: ''Calgary Albertan'' * 1936-1980: ''Albertan'' * 1980: ''Calgary Albertan''

Sunshine Girl

A signature feature of ''Sun''-branded newspapers including the ''Calgary Sun'' is the "Sunshine Girl," a daily glamour photograph of a female

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

. The feature uses locally photographed models (both amateur and professional) as well as photographs shot for the national chain. Originally situated on page 3 (similar to the British tabloids the ''Sun'' chain originally set out to emulate, which also featured glamour photos on their third page), in the 1990s the feature was relocated to the Sports section. A "Sunshine Boy" feature appeared sporadically in the 1980s and 1990s.

Local weeklies

For many years, the ''Calgary Sun'' also published a local weekly, ''The Calgary Mirror'', which covered community news. Sun Media purchased the newspaper in the early 1990s. This publication, which originated in the 1950s and was known at one time as ''North Hill News'', was discontinued in 2001. It was succeeded by ''FYI Calgary'' In-Print, a free weekly newspaper intended to be the print equivalent of the ''Sun's'' much-publicized FYI Calgary news website (there was also an ''FYI Toronto'' newspaper published to tie in with the ''

'' website). The new publication was rejected by readers and advertisers and was discontinued in May 2001 during a downsizing of Sun Media. The website abandoned the FYI concept about a year later and rebranded itself as calgarysun.com.

Format

On October 2, 2006, the '' Calgary Sun'' underwent a major redesign, adopting the logo already being used by other ''Sun'' newspapers and revamping the

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

for its body text and headlines. In February 2007, Sun Media launched a Calgary edition of its free daily, '' 24 Hours'', which shares editors and editorial staff with the ''Calgary Sun''. Sun Media ceased publishing the Calgary edition of ''24 Hours'' in 2013.

Distribution

The ''

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 ...

'' was produced on a daily basis until 2012, when it ceased printing a Sunday edition. Distribution is by

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

, direct sale (such as at

newsstand A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American English, American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and oft ...

s), or newspaper box. The latter was the target of public debate by the City Council in early 2008, when at least one

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

claimed that newspaper boxes were responsible for increased levels of litter on public transit.

Circulation

The ''Calgary Sun'', like most Canadian daily newspapers, has seen a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by percent to 43,277 copies daily from 2009 to 2015. :::::::::Daily average Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined) which includes paid and unpaid copies.

Notable staff

* Hal Sigurdson, sports editor of ''The Albertan'' (1964 to 1966)

References

External links

''Calgary Sun''
{{Canadian journalism Newspapers published in Calgary Postmedia Network publications Newspapers established in 1980 Daily newspapers published in Alberta 1980 establishments in Alberta