40 Years of Thunder Bay Business! 12-84 to 12-24
by Scott A. Sumner
It seems like yesterday that I was a young person just out of university with a career ahead of me. The question I had then was what would I like to do with my life? That seems to be something you hear quite often from young people, even today!
In my case I had just completed the MBA program at York University inToronto- the Schulich School of Business as it is now known. The temptation was to get a job at a large financial institution in Toronto. That was what many of my class mates were doing. In my case I felt the call to return to NW Ontario where I had grown up in the small mining communities. The beauty and lifestyle of the area just seemed to appeal to me the most.
So off I went almost knowing in my mind that I would probably have to create my own career path. In fact after 1 year I was on my own and have been an entrepreneur ever since!
It was in December 1984 that a new publication was launched the Thunder Bay Business publication, my second after starting the Thunder Bay Real Estate News in September 1983. This started many different speciality publication ideas over the years from travel, to community in the Manitouwadge area, to lifestyle, to car & truck, to snowmobiling and golf. These were areas of interest to me and fun in which to be involved. The longest running publication that our company has owned is the Thunder Bay Business, now 40 years old! Time has flown by as it really does seem not far long ago that our first issue was off the
press.
Since then there has been 480 issues of Thunder Bay Business and they have been fun to work on. The publishing business has been a good one for me as I think it fits my personality. I was always a very inquisitive person and in media you certainly get to meet many people and learn so much. It is a very creative, dynamic career and one I still enjoy after all this time.
Publishing has changed technically in a dramatic way over the years. I can remember when we had dark rooms, large image setters that outputted film and paste up areas where you worked with exacto knives and created large layouts that you would bring to the printers. Now you work on a small Apple computer and do electronic layouts that are made into PDF files and uploaded or emailed to your printer's FTP site. You can also take your information and upload it to your website and the Press Reader platform in a matter of seconds for the whole world to see. It really is quite amazing and the power of information lives in all forms of the media industry.
We like to highlite milestone accomplishments and 40 years is a good one especially in 2024! There probably aren't many print business publications left in the Canadian or even world markets. I still like the paper feel but also enjoy the electronic approach as well.
The best part of the job for me has always been meeting so many interesting people who are proud of what they do and interested in serving a grouping of customers. My goal has been to describe them to our readers and in essence get their personalities across. Our world is all about people right?
Over the years it has been my good fortune to have some excellent people working with me. I still meet them today, many of which have gone on to excellent careers. It seems there was always someone great in the marketing and design areas which are so important. Today we have Sylvia dong marketing for the last 18 years. Her drive has helped inmmensely. Miranda has done graphic design for the last 10 years and is very skilled at her work. Also Sherry in editorial and Robbyn in graphic design have been excellent. The companies Web Press have been great in printing, Thunder Bay Lettershop in distribution and Sencia >helping in electronic media web sites. It has been a good team.
My biggest supporters have been my parents, Alan and Barbara Sumner. While they are both in Heaven now I remember their help at the beginning and know they would be proud of the 40th Anniversary of Thunder Bay Business!
People often ask me if I am going to retire and today I always say we'll see how it goes! The job I created here in the north is one I still enjoy. Times are a little different than at the beginning but my schedule and publications allow me to travel the world which is also very interesting. You have probably read about some of these adventures. The web is very exciting as well and the rapid change in this area is a good challenge.
Finally special thanks to advertisers and readers over the years. Without you it would never be possible!
