A mid-November Thursday after, noon in the reception area of Citytv’s trendy downtown Toronto studios, ensconced in a funky old black-painted building that once housed a chocolate factory and, later, the Electric Circus discotheque. Two young receptionists sit behind the desk snapping bubble gum as they watch Billy Idol flash his flesh on Toronto Rocks,… Continue reading The Electric Circus
Series: Spring 1985
Wide of the Market
When the Print Measurement Bureau released its 1983 study, it contained bad news for Quest, the controlled-circulation magazine published by Comac Communications Inc. According to PMB ’83, Quest had lost 600,000 readers since 1981. Within months ad revenues started to nosedive. In an attempt to save the magazine, its circulation was cut from 710,000 to… Continue reading Wide of the Market
Leaps and Boundaries
Bob Barnes stood near Runway 06-R, at what was then known as Toronto International Airport, and watched the DC-3 descend. It was June 22, 1983-the second day of summer-and, though not yet nine in the morning, already hot. Barnes and his maintenance crew had been grading a road near the runway when they stopped to… Continue reading Leaps and Boundaries
The Grange Ordeal
Last January 3, a swarm of reporters scrambled up and down the ski slopes of Banff, Alberta, in pursuit of two Toronto newlyweds. Mr. Justice Samuel G.M. Grange had just delivered his long-awaited report on his inquiry into the 1980 and ’81 baby deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children, one of the most controversial… Continue reading The Grange Ordeal
Requiem for a Magazine
When a corporation goes broke, it declares bankruptcy. Or goes under. Or is “forced to shut its doors.” But when the same thing suddenly happens to a magazine (and the event is usually sudden), people use the words “died” or “was killed.” Which is an odd use of the terms. The people who describe the… Continue reading Requiem for a Magazine