After 17 years of publishing On The Bay, it’s time for me to slay new dragons.
When we launched On The Bay in 2004, our mission was to celebrate Southern Georgian Bay and become an authority on issues facing our rapidly growing community. We have never veered from that strategy of balancing the need to celebrate where we live and at the same time advocating for, or against, the big local issues that impact us.
Our every issue has focused on the beauty of our land and seascapes, our region’s stunning homes and architecture, local food and drink, our emerging arts and culture scene and our stories of the extraordinary people who live here. But we have never neglected the important local issues of the day.
Our writers have probed deeply into the impact of wind turbines on our community, water levels, health and palliative care, gravel pits, real estate development and the effects on our region from climate change. Our readers have been both entertained and enlightened by this unique editorial balance.
Result? In three separate surveys over 15 years, we demonstrated that we are the best-read and best-loved magazine in Southern Georgian Bay. Moreover, On The Bay has been recognized as our region’s most informative and authoritative voice in print.
In a nutshell, dear reader, it has been a truly great ride for all of us who write, design, edit, market and sell On The Bay.
As you know, we are not a tourist magazine for the occasional visitor. We write for a well-educated audience of permanent residents and weekenders. We present long-form journalism in many of our features with strong design and arresting photography for our audience of 50,000 readers. And in doing so we have attracted a wide variety of businesses wanting to reach our readers in the pages of On The Bay.
So when Moses Znaimer came a-calling in 2017, with a brilliant idea of merging On The Bay with Zoomer Media’s classical radio station in Collingwood, it made perfect sense to me given that we share much the same sophisticated audience.
The merger provided an opportunity for our hundreds of advertisers to consider extending their reach into radio with The New Classical 102.9 FM radio station. And many have done just that.
Part and parcel of our agreement was that I agreed to stay for three years as Publisher and General Manager, but given the challenges of COVID, I agreed to stay one more year. Now is the time for me to move on and hand over the reins to a new publisher.
As many know, I have had the privilege of publishing many excellent Canadian magazines including Canadian Living, Harrowsmith, Equinox, Western Living and Saturday Night. My post as VP Marketing of The Toronto Star instilled in me the importance of local focus and community advocacy. But frankly, my favourite gig of all has been as the Founding Publisher of On The Bay. From the beginning, our focus has been to define, celebrate and advocate for our community. I believe we have achieved that lofty goal.
My plans after retirement? Time for me to play more tennis, ski more runs, boat more on the Bay, hang out with my grandchildren and spend a little more time at our cottage.
But beyond recreation, I will devote more time to the arts and culture prospects for our region. I am a proud member of CACE (Collingwood Art, Culture and Entertainment) whose mission is to build Southern Georgian Bay’s premier performing arts and entertainment centre. In addition, I am a strong supporter and founding director of The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay and I will now have more time to get involved with our very first Think Tank.
As for who will succeed me as publisher, stay tuned as an announcement will be made shortly. The new publisher will have the exciting challenge of taking On The Bay to its next chapter.
I want to close by acknowledging the key people who have worked with me for so many years: our Founding Editor, Janet Lees; our Art Director, Holger Meiche; our Operations Manager, Cindy Caines. And more recently, our Sales Manager, Susan Holden, and our salespeople, Julie Brillinger and Rick Gordon. Thank you to our Distribution Coordinator, Peter Gibson; our Proofreader, Anita Hunter; our Advertising Designer, Tara McLellan; and our Listings Coordinator, Sheila Johnston.
Thanks also to our talented writers and photographers who have added both flair and substance to our magazine; to our readers who have elevated us; and to our hundreds of advertisers who believed in us from the very beginning.
Final thanks go to Moses Znaimer, who brought two strong voices together for the benefit of all of us who live in Southern Georgian Bay.
Let the next chapter begin. ❧
Jeffrey Shearer
Founding Publisher, On the Bay Magazine &
General Manager, The New Classical 102.9 FM
