Editing Waterloo Region Record (section)

==History==
The ''Record'' traces its history back to the founding of the ''Daily News'', first published on February 9, 1878, by former Methodist preacher Peter Moyer at a printing press located at King and Ontario streets in Berlin (now Kitchener). This would be the city's first daily newspaper, and Canada's first bilingual daily as it was supplemented with a full page of German news for the first eight months of its life.

In 1896, at the time of Moyer's death, three newspapers existed in the city of Berlin: the ''Berlin Daily Telegraph'', the ''Berlin Daily Record'' and Moyer's ''Daily News''. Due to financial pressures, by 1897 the latter two had merged to become the ''Berlin News Record'', run by William (Ben) Uttley, publisher of the ''Berlin Daily Record'' and local historian.  Retiring in October 1919, Uttley sold the newspaper to W.J. Motz and [[William Daum Euler]], who renamed it ''The Kitchener Daily Record''.

In 1922, the ''Daily Record'' took over the ''Daily Telegraph'', leaving it the only newspaper of significant size serving the community. On April 2, 1929, the newspaper moved from 49 King Street West to what was at the time considered the most modern printing operation in the country (using a 24-page press) at 30 Queen Street North. Motz and Euler fought over control of the newspaper for the next two decades, with the former eventually winning majority interest. Euler sold his stock to [[Postmedia News|Southam Company]] in 1953, leaving Motz's son, John E. Motz, the sole director of the rapidly growing daily.

On January 1, 1948, John Motz changed the name of the newspaper once again, to ''The Kitchener-Waterloo Record'' (to mark the occasion of Waterloo's designation as a city), a name which remained until the change to ''The Record'', in 1994. During this period the 24-page press would be replaced first by a 48-page press in the 1950s, a 96-page press in 1961–1962, and a 128-page press in 1973. In 1962, it was the first company in Canada to use plastic sleeves to protect newspapers bound for rural addresses.

Ownership had been in the hands of the Motz family for generations until 1990, when the paper was sold to Southam in a $90 million deal. [[Conrad Black]]'s [[Hollinger Inc.]] took a controlling interest in Southam during the period when it owned ''The Record''. The paper was acquired by [[Sun Media]] in 1998, but Sun itself was bought by [[Quebecor]] soon after, and ''The Record'' was sold to [[Torstar]] before the end of the year. The administrative records and photographic negatives of the paper amassed prior to the Sun Media acquisition are maintained at the [[University of Waterloo#Libraries and museums|University of Waterloo Library]].<ref name="KWRfonds">{{cite web |title=Kitchener-Waterloo Record fonds |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/kitchener-waterloo-record-fonds |website=Special Collections & Archives |publisher=University of Waterloo Library |access-date=20 June 2019 |language=en |date=17 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="KWRPhotoCollection">{{cite web |title=Kitchener-Waterloo Record Photographic Negative Collection |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/kitchener-waterloo-record-photographic-negative-collection |website=Special Collections & Archives |publisher=University of Waterloo Library |access-date=20 June 2019 |date=22 July 2014}}</ref>

On June 3, 2002, ''The Record'' switched from being an afternoon newspaper to morning one.

In January 2005, the paper was moved to Market Square on King Street East in Kitchener's downtown core.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.therecord.com/news-static/2877986-therecord-about-us|title=The Record - About us|date=26 October 2023 }}</ref> It had been based on Fairway Road in Kitchener since May 1973. The paper was printed at that location on a [[Letterpress printing|letterpress]] system until 2000, when printing was moved to [[Offset printing|offset presses]] at parent company Torstar's [[Toronto Star Press Centre|Vaughan Press Centre]] in [[Vaughan]]. Printing later moved to presses of sister papers in [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]] and [[Guelph]], and then back to Vaughan from time to time. As of 2014, the Record is usually printed at the Star-owned [[Hamilton Spectator]]. On May 24, 2019, Torstar Corporation announced it will close its Hamilton Spectator printing operations on or about August 24, 2019. The printing work (including printing of the Record) performed at the Hamilton facility will be transferred to [[Transcontinental (company)|TC Transcontinental Printing]], various Torstar-owned facilities, and other external printers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.torstar.com/html/whats_new/index.cfm?view=article&wnID=223|title=Torstar Corporation News Releases: Torstar announces closure of Hamilton printing and mailroom operations at 44 Frid Street|website=www.torstar.com|access-date=2019-05-25}}</ref>

The Record building on Fairway Road in Kitchener was demolished in September 2005.

On March 11, 2008, the name was changed to the ''Waterloo Region Record'', returning the community name to the [[nameplate]].<ref>[https://news.therecord.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/321200 The Record]</ref>

In early 2018, the company announced that it would set up a paywall on its website.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8085441-paywall-launched-at-therecord-com/ |title=Paywall launched at therecord.com &#124; TheRecord.com |access-date=2018-01-25 |archive-date=2019-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190316211700/https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8085441-paywall-launched-at-therecord-com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Consumers who do not pay the fee to subscribe will be allowed to read only seven articles per month. An article published by [[CBC News]] indicated that this strategy has not been successful for some newspapers. The [[New York Times]] has a million subscribers but the publication has an international cachet that makes it a "must-read", especially in the U.S. where [[Fake news]] has been widespread.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/the-record-paywall-newspapers-larry-cornies-pay-for-news-1.4501415| title = Local news worth paying for, says Conestoga journalism program co-ordinator {{!}} CBC News}}</ref>