Founded in 1883 by two men, Thomas Braden and Andrew Armour, with only a hand
press, the Calgary Herald, or the Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and
General Advertiser, as it was known back then, originally had a circulation of only 150
people weekly. At the time it was one of only three companies in Calgary, the other two
being the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson Bay Company.
Currently, they are one of four daily newspapers, the other three newspapers being the Calgary Sun, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail.
Their weekday readership is around 300,000, 80% of that which is from home delivery
subscriptions.
The sections included daily in the paper include the City section, Sports, Arts&Style,
Business, Classifieds, Comics, Opinion, and of course News. Sections that are included
weekly are: Wheels, Hit List (A comprehensive listing of what's going on in the city that
week), Vitality (How to live life healthier, happier, etc.), E-Business, Travel, Homes and
HomeStyle, Religion, Observer (Pure opinion section baby), and Money (Personal finance
as opposed to the business section).
The Calgary Herald is generally regarded as the better of the two Calgary local daily
newspapers. Its stories are well written, and unlike some newspapers, they seem to take
the idea of examining both sides of an issue seriously. On the average, their editorial board
is politically a little right of center, although they do have a few opinion writers who are
very liberal, and a few who are very conservative. Usually on the same page. Contrast is
good.
The Calgary Herald is part of the
Southam Publications of CanWest Global
Communications.