By Sharon Aschaiek
Toronto Sun

There's very few mornings when I don't sing in the shower. My attitude is, 'It's a new day, we're going to do it, and let's get at it and do the best we can.'"

"We never stand still, we're always on the go. You always have to be developing your product and exploring new ideas and new revenue opportunities," says Les Pyette, CEO and publisher, The Toronto Sun.

And so begins each day for Les Pyette, who, as publisher and CEO of The Toronto Sun, needs all the gusto he can muster.

But that doesn't seem to be a problem for Pyette. The publishing magnate, who turns 57 on May 31, shows no signs of slowing down.

"Some people call me a whirling dervish, and others say I have the energy of three men," Pyette says. "After 40 years, I'm still as interested as ever in the newspaper business."

And the newspaper business has certainly done well by him. Having taken the helm as publisher of the Sun in May 2001, Pyette brings with him decades of experience in both editorial (sports and news) and management. In fact, he's on quite familiar turf -- his career with Sun Media was launched in 1974 when he worked as city editor at the Toronto Sun.

"When The Toronto Sun was about two years old, they were starting to expand. I was immersed in the news from every aspect. This was my first real managing job, and I managed six news reporters," he says. "I was surrounded by great people like Peter Worthington and George Gross -- I was working with people who I respected and who were very accomplished."

You could say, then, that Pyette has come full circle with his return to the Sun, and is now at the top of his game.

But it isn't that open and shut. Upon learning about his modest beginnings, you really begin to understand the story behind the man.

Pyette grew up in Sault Ste. Marie as one of seven children, with his father holding down two jobs to try to keep the household afloat. His mother, afflicted with multiple sclerosis, didn't work.

"We were poor," Pyette says. "I was in that age range where I had to do the cooking and wash the dishes, and I learned at a very early age about hard work and about the importance of helping out around the house."

His fine-tuned work ethic served him well when, at the age of 10, he started selling 2-4s of pop at local baseball games at 10 cents a piece.

He realized he could increase his earnings by returning the empties for two cents each, so made sure to collect the bottles that were tossed around the field to cash them in for an extra 48 cents.

"My brother would hear these stories from my mom, and would say 'he's going to be a businessman, for sure.' So I had that work ethic from an early age."

In high school, Pyette enjoyed English above all, and combined his writing skills with his love of sports to become a sports writer at the Sault Ste. Marie Daily Star from 1963 to 1967.

This was followed by a three-year stint as a sports editor at the Belvidere Daily Republican in Illinois, until he landed a position at the Windsor Star.

Sports writing was a path he intended to pursue, until his editor had a talk with him. "My editor sat me down and said if you want to get anywhere in this business, you'd better learn to be a news reporter," he says. "There's quite a huge gap between sports and news, and there was a tremendous learning curve involved."

New challenges were on the horizon, and 1974 marked the beginning of his Sun Media career, which zigzagged back and forth between The Toronto Sun, The Calgary Sun and The London Free Press as he moved up the ranks from city editor to editor-in-chief to general manager to finally, taking the helm at The Toronto Sun.

He was also recently appointed vice-president of the Eastern region of Sun Media Corporation. Pyette says what he loves most about the business is the constant pace of change.

"The exciting thing about the business is that news changes every day, and when everything functions properly, you're able to put out a new paper every day. It makes you proud to be part of an organization that produces something 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that is totally fresh," he says.

While staying on top of the news is the main challenge, Pyette's day is broken down into a series of jobs that surface on a daily basis across the company: in advertising, circulation, production, etc.

As publisher, he's had to become intimately familiar with the entire running of the newspaper, and become effective at troubleshooting in all of these areas.

In recent years, those challenges have become magnified in an economic climate where many North American newspapers are fighting for their survival. According to Pyette, this is when a manager's mettle is really put to the test.

"It's always easy managing in good times, but it's when the going gets rough that managers are really put to the test," he says. "When you're used to building sections and newspapers and hiring people, and then the economy dictates that that's not the way it is anymore, you have to switch gears. But a good manager has to be quick and decisive. You might have to make 200 decisions a day, but you'd better make them."

And the decisions never stop, including the ones about the future of The Toronto Sun.

Like news stories that constantly swing with the vagaries of world events, a newspaper must constantly reinvent itself to maintain and further expand its readership. "We never stand still, we're always on the go. When you stand still, you go backwards," he says. "You always have to be developing your product and exploring new ideas and new revenue opportunities. If you're doing your job properly, and giving readers a reflection of what is happening, then you're on track."

There are also personal aspirations he'd like to tackle. Although it's been a while, Pyette still enjoys writing, and would like to pen a series of children's books, as well as his own account of the rise of The Toronto Sun, which he proudly refers to as "the greatest newspaper success story."

But what about his own success story? By any standard, Pyette, who has garnered numerous awards, including the Calgary B'nai Brith Man of the Year Award and the White Hat Honorary Media Award, has been instrumental in furthering the profession through his association with various organizations, as he reaches the pinnacle of a long and rewarding career.

So it would seem -- but his roots aren't far below the surface. There's one job, says Pyette, a twinkle in his eye, that beats even his: "The one job at The Toronto Sun that's better than publisher? Sports editor!"



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