When the Toronto Sun started publishing on Sundays
Newspaper that started in 1971 launched new edition two years later
Toronto Sun readers were going to be able to read all about it on Sundays, too.
On Sept. 16, 1973, the CBC's Hal Jones reported on the first edition of the Sunday Sun, which had come out the day before.
The newspaper was, along with the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, one of three dailies in Toronto.
"But [Toronto] has never had a successful Sunday paper," noted Jones. "All previous entries in the Sunday field failed, it seemed, because Torontonians just couldn't be bothered."
'Upstart tabloid'
The Sun, for those who didn't read it, was the "upstart tabloid" that had launched just under two years earlier after the demise of the Toronto Telegram.
As the Sun's noisy newsroom was shown, Jones said the Sunday paper was "similar to the weekday edition," with a mixture of "brief news stories, lots of pictures and sports."
Editor Philip Sykes said there were "many reasons" to believe Toronto was ready for a Sunday paper.
"The readers of the Sun have shown they like the kind of product that is being produced here," he said.
'Just another oddity'?
In addition, Sykes said there had been sufficient changes in the city itself, and in "newspaper technology and economics," to make the Sunday Sun possible — something many people had thought for years "should and could" be done.
There had been "teething trouble," as Jones put it, regarding circulation to subscribers.
"It remains to be seen whether today's Sun becomes a collectors' item, or just another oddity in Toronto publishing history," concluded Jones.
In 2024, the Sun is still publishing a Sunday edition.
