The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running tabloid-sizenewspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto Sun. The newspaper, like most of those in the Canadian Sun chain, is known for short, snappy news stories aimed primarily at working-class readers. The Sun's layout is based somewhat upon that of British tabloids.
Sunshine Girl
A signature feature of the Calgary Sun—as it is with the other Sun-branded newspapers in the chain—is a daily glamour photograph of a female model entitled the "Sunshine Girl". The feature utilizes locally photographed models as well as photographs shot for the national chain. Originally situated on Page 3, 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 popular local weekly, The Calgary Mirror, which covered community news; the Sun organization purchased the newspaper in the early 1990s. This publication, which originated in the 1950s and was also 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 a print equivalent of the Sun's much-publicized FYI Calgary news 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 Sun underwent a major redesign, introducing a new logo, and revamping its typeface usage for both bodytext and headlines. In February 2007, Sun Media launched a Calgary edition of its free daily24 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 was produced on a daily basis up until 2012 when it ceased printing a Sunday edition. Distribution is done by subscription, direct sale, or by newspaper box. The latter was the target of public debate by City Council in early 2008 when at least one alderman claimed that newspaper boxes were responsible for increased states of litter on public transit.
Circulation
The Calgary Sun has seen like most Canadian daily newspapers a decline in circulation. Its total circulation dropped by percent to 43,277 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.
