Calgary SUN Newspaper

Calgary NEWS | Calgary Classifieds

The Calgary Sun is a daily Calgary, Alberta newspaper.
Its major competitor is The Calgary Herald.

The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.

First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan.

The newspaper, like most of those in the Canadian Sun chain, are known for short, snappy news stories aimed primarily at working class readers. The Calgary Sun format is based somewhat upon that of British tabloids.

One regular feature, the Sunshine Girl, is a daily glamor photograph of an amateur model, usually dressed in a bikini. This idea was also borrowed from British papers, although in accordance with Canadian morality standards, no nudity is allowed and models must be 18 years of age or older (unlike the UK version in which topless models as young as 16 were at one point allowed, although this age limit was recently raised to 18).

Originally placed on the third page of the publication (as per the UK format), Sun management in the early 1990s decided to relocate the feature to the Sports section as it was felt the photo interfered with the paper's ability to present serious news stories up front. This attitude was later adopted by the other Sun newspapers in Canada.

The Calgary Sun has considered dropping the Sunshine Girl feature on numerous occasions, and has run occasional "trial balloon" issues without a Sunshine Girl, but reader support for the feature remains strong and the paper's newsroom fields many reader complaints whenever the Sunshine Girl is omitted. A Sunshine Boy photo feature used to appear regularly, but has since been cancelled.

The Calgary Sun was formed soon after Toronto Sun Corp. purchased the assets of The Calgary Albertan. The first issue of The Calgary Sun rolled off the presses Aug. 3, 1980. The first issue of the Saturday Sun came out Sept. 17, 1994. The newspaper, published seven days a week, is available through home delivery, vendor boxes and retail outlets.