Editing Waterloo Region Record

{{Short description|Daily newspaper in Ontario, Canada}}
{{more footnotes|date=June 2008}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name               = Waterloo Region Record
| image              = W R Record front page.jpg
| caption            = The March 11, 2008 front page of the ''Record''.
| type               = [[Daily newspaper]]
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]
| foundation         = 1878
| owners             = [[Metroland Media Group]] ([[Torstar|Torstar Corporation]])
| political          = 
| headquarters       = 160 King Street East<br />[[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]], [[Ontario]]<br />N2G 4E5
| editor             = Jim Poling
| publisher          = Donna Luelo
| circulation        = 53,403 weekdays<br /> 52,683 Saturdays
| circulation_date   = 2015
| circulation_ref    = <ref name="Circulation 2015">{{cite web|url=https://nmc-mic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2015-Daily-Newspaper-Circulation-Report-by-Title-SPREADSHEET_FINAL.xlsx|title=2015 Daily Newspaper Circulation Spreadsheet (Excel)|work=News Media Canada|access-date=16 December 2017}} Numbers are based on the total circulation (print plus digital editions).</ref>
| ISSN               = 0824-5150
| website            = {{official URL}}
}}
The '''''Waterloo Region Record''''' (formerly '''''The Record''''') is the daily [[newspaper]] covering [[Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario|Waterloo Region]], [[Ontario]], Canada, including the cities of [[Kitchener, Ontario|Kitchener]], [[Waterloo, Ontario|Waterloo]] and [[Cambridge, Ontario|Cambridge]], as well as the surrounding area. Since December 1998, the ''Record'' has been published by [[Metroland Media Group]], a subsidiary of [[Torstar]] Corporation. On May 26, 2020, Torstar, agreed to be acquired by NordStar Capital, a private investment firm; the deal was expected to close by year end.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.toronto.com/news-story/9997810-torstar-to-be-sold-taken-private-in-52-million-deal/ |title=Torstar to be sold, taken private in $52-million deal |date=2020-05-26 |publisher=Toronto.com |access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref>

==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>

== Circulation ==
The ''Waterloo Region Record'' has seen like most [[List of newspapers in Canada#Daily newspapers|Canadian daily newspapers]] a decline in [[Newspaper circulation|circulation]]. Its total circulation dropped by {{formatnum: {{#expr: abs(100 - (53283 / 61797 * 100)) round 0}}}} percent to 53,283 copies daily from 2009 to 2015.<ref name="Circulation">{{cite web|url=https://nmc-mic.ca/about-newspapers/circulation/daily-newspapers/|title=Daily Newspaper Circulation Data|work=News Media Canada|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>

:::::::::'''Daily average'''<ref name="Circulation Chart">{{cite web|url=https://nmc-mic.ca/about-newspapers/circulation/daily-newspapers/|title=Daily Newspaper Circulation Data|work=News Media Canada|access-date=16 December 2017}} Figures refer to the total circulation (print and digital combined) which includes paid and unpaid copies.</ref>
{{#invoke:Chart | bar chart
| height = 270
| width = 360
| group 1 = 61797:60457:63321:62759:60471:56407:53283
| colors = DarkCyan
| units suffix = Copies
| group names = 
| x legends = 2009:2010:2011:2012:2013:2014:2015
}}

==Awards==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2016}}
''The Record'' has won the [[Michener Award]] for meritorious public service in journalism four times: 1978, 1981 (shared), 1983, and 2001. It received the 2001 award for breaking the story on the [[RIM Park]] financing fiasco.

==Other publications==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2016}}
In November 2005, the ''Record'' began publishing ''Grand'', a regional lifestyle magazine. It followed that with the March 2006 launch of ''Rex'', a business magazine covering Waterloo Region and [[Guelph]]. ''Most'' magazine, for women over 40, was launched in the spring of 2008. ''Rex'' was scheduled to suspend publication after the April 2009 issue. All magazines are distributed independently of the newspaper.

Both the ''[[Cambridge Times]]'' and the ''Record'' are owned and published by [[Metroland Media Group]] but keep separate newsrooms and operations.

==See also==
*[[Metroland Media Group]]
*[[Torstar]]
*[[List of newspapers in Canada]]
*[[List of newspapers in Canada by circulation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Kalbfleisch |first1=Herbert Karl |title=The History of the Pioneer German Language Press of Ontario, 1835–1918 |date=1968 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802015792 |ref=none |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpioneer0000kalb |url-access=registration}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{Official website|https://www.therecord.com/}}
*[http://www.michenerawards.ca/english/prevaward.htm Michener Awards]

{{Torstar}}
{{Canadian journalism}}

[[Category:Newspapers published in Kitchener-Waterloo]]
[[Category:Torstar publications]]
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in Ontario]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1878]]
[[Category:1878 establishments in Ontario]]