Lethbridge Herald
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Lethbridge Herald is the leading paper in the Lethbridge, Alberta, area, with an average weekday circulation of 15,502 in the six-month period ending March 31, 2006 [1]. This local paper has been serving southern Alberta since 1905.
The paper is part of Horizon Operations (Canada) Ltd. It also publishes and distributes the weekly Southern Sun Times.
[edit] History
On 8 November 1905, Fred E. Simpson and A.S. Bennett—both from Cranbrook, BC—published the first issue of the Lethbridge Weekly Herald. The paper started out in a building on what is now 5 Street South.
Shortly before the launch of the first issue, William Ashbury Buchanan bought a half interest in the paper, and by the end of 1906 was its sole owner. Buchanan came from a newspaper career in Ontario and managed a staff of six and circulation of 300 within the first year. On 11 December 1907, he had introduced a daily paper titled the Lethbridge Daily Herald. Unfortunately, little research had been done to introduce this new paper and it failed shortly thereafter.
In 1909, Buchanan moved the paper, which by this point and seen different homes, to a location near 6 Street and 3 Avenue South.
Through the 1930s, all employees at the Lethbridge Herald, including Buchanan, took a pay cut of equal percentage. One year the profits of the Herald amounted to only $138.
During the Second World War, fifteen of the Herald employees left for military service.
In 1950, the Lethbridge Weekly Herald was replaced by a daily edition, and two years later, on 23 May 1952, Buchanan moved the Herald again. This move would be to its current location on 7 Street South, a location that had double the amount of floor space as the previous building.
When Buchanan died in 1954, his son Hugh Buchanan took over as owner of the paper.
The Herald debuted its Sunday issue on 12 April 1992. In 1995, The Lethbridge Herald was the first Alberta newspaper to introduce an Internet edition. On 6 September 1996, it switched to full morning delivery.
[edit] Changing ownership
Hugh Buchanan remained owner until he sold the paper in 1959 to F.P. Publications. In 1980, F.P. Publications sold the Herald to Thomson Newspapers. In September 2000, Thomson sold the Herald to its current owners, Horizon Publications Inc.
