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Fed's 'Goof,' Sun's glorySome days, Bob broke stories in several cities -- and all for the same edition
Here, use my office to write your story, he said. "No way," I answered. "You're the publisher and we've got to start with a little decorum -- I'll write it out here in the newsroom." So I left Doug Creighton's cardboard-walled office and walked over to a battered, dust-laden desk. I sat down to hammer our my story on an ancient Underwood. It was Oct. 31, 1971 -- the day after the Toronto Telegram closed its doors for good, followed by a wind-up party. And here I was the next day in the fifth-floor attic of the old Eclipse Whitewear building that served as our newsroom. 
My job, as one of the few reporters, was to write the main front page story for the first edition of The Toronto Sun. Unlike many colleagues, I didn't look for work after the announcement that the Tely was closing. I quipped that I had had a job of one kind or another since I was 11 -- delivering newspapers, working in a steel plant, climbing telephone poles, playing hockey and 20 years of chasing stories. "I think I'll take a year off -- I need a rest," I said. It turned out I didn't get even a day off. Peter Worthington asked me early on to join the staff. I was interested because I felt strongly that Toronto needed a third newspaper -- if only to keep the Star and Globe a bit honest. Also, I had long believed that Toronto -- with its subway system -- was ready for a snappy, well-written tabloid with a sense of fun. I even went with Max Crittenden, the Tely's brilliant news editor, to see Pierre Peladeau, a Montreal tabloid publisher, about starting one in Toronto. That didn't work out, so I joined The Sun team. Since we would have no home delivery, we had to break stories day after day to grab the attention of readers and keep them coming back. So, I went after my many news contacts. One was Max Henderson, the hard-hitting auditor-general of Canada. He came through because I had broken a number of stories from him about runaway government waste. The result was my front-page headline story in the first edition of The Sun. It was about how Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government had wasted $10 million by selling to Argentina jet fighters they had declared surplus. But the Trudeauites soon found they needed the planes and had to order new ones -- a $10 million goof. The next thing was to make sure the story had maximum impact. Tory House leader Jed Baldwin did that. He demanded answers from the government in the Commons that day "about the story in The Toronto Sun." The result was that the wire services, TV networks and our Toronto competition were forced to pick up the story. And so The Sun gained national impact from the start. In the next weeks and months, many of us worked 12-hour days. Some days I'd break stories out of Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto in the same edition -- everything from cabinet scandals to some of my Mountie contacts hunting down FLQ separatist terrorists, to a devil-worshipping cult getting grants. Meanwhile, Creighton, Worthington, Don Hunt, Andy Donato, George Gross and the other "pioneers" were in their glory doing their thing. Columnist Paul Rimstead was The Sun's irreverent spirit -- the hard-living, mischievous guy who made readers laugh at himself, our bosses and everything else. He'd invite readers for burgers, beer, music and a tour of the newsroom. I remember readers leaning over my shoulder, reading my story and offering advice. Some knit us socks and brought baked goods -- believing Rimmer's stuff about us being on the edge of poverty. Today, after numerous owners, the 30-year-old Sun is trimming its sails amidst a tough economy. But, with Les Pyette, our new publisher who's been with The Sun since 1974, you can bet we'll come through this and continue to grow. Me? I'm still doing my thing as The Sun leads the charge in today's fight against fanatical international terrorism. |
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