With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/325830
I t started with a business opportunity, a borrowed desk and a magazine called TV Week. Over the years it has grown into an established media company that is home to a diverse portfolio of proprietary- and custom- publications, has an exceptional reputation in the marketplace and is celebrating 40 years of excellence this summer. Nevertheless, the road for Canada Wide Media hasn't always been smooth. Credibility was hard to come by in the early years, the economic downturn of 2008 had to be weathered and the always-changing publishing industry is a challenge the company faces each day. But through it all, the company has remained steadfast in its mission to serve its audience with quality engaging content. Now, with the irst 40 chapters of Canada Wide Media's story written, chairman and CEO Peter Legge reflects on what it's taken to reach this moment in the company's history, the keys to its longevity and why he is optimisic about the future of print. Without TV Week, Canada Wide Media would not exist. How did acquiring that magazine come about? I was working for a radio station in Langley (197476). I was ired and heard about Al Davidson's This Week magazine; he went broke and left the printer with a $72,000 bad debt. I assumed that bad debt, in return for ownership of the magazine. We renamed it TV Week. What were the biggest challenges you faced while trying to establish Canada Wide Media in the marketplace? The biggest struggle we had until we acquired Westworld and BCBusiness was to get the business community to take us seriously as a publisher. That took at least 10 years. Who are some individuals that have helped shape Canada Wide Media's identity over the years? Karen Foss has been here almost the entire 40 years, and has done virtually every job at one time or another. She's smart, clever, a great thinker and a great resource, and has been instrumental in the building of this business. Karen was previously the president of the company, P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T Despite a rapidly changing publishing landscape, Canada Wide Media is positioned to make its biggest impact in the years ahead by Oliver Lam The Best is Yet to Come C A N A D A W I D E M E D I A L I M I T E D Canada Wide Media chairman and CEO Peter Legge, OBC CELEBRATING 40 YEARS DAVE ROELS PHOTOGRAPHY p148-155-CWM40.indd 148 14-06-04 11:46 AM