By Mark Buckshon
Ottawa Construction News staff writer
I remember well Ottawa Construction News’ conception. In the early evening three and a half-decades ago, in a modest Smiths Falls hotel room, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. “Could Ottawa support a specialized monthly construction trade newspaper?”
A few days earlier, I had visited the then (to me) incredibly successful new Ottawa Construction Show. Dozens of exhibitors filled the halls of the Ottawa Convention Centre (now Rogers Centre Ottawa). I had a table out front to hand out my then-thriving (and new) newspaper for real estate agents and brokers, Ottawa Real Estate News (OREN). Across the hall, the previous publisher of Ottawa Business News was doing the same thing.
About 18 months earlier, when I launched OREN (which would wind down in 1993), several people told me that most publishing businesses fail within the first year. This sobering news didn’t deter me, but I realized I would need to start the business with absolutely no money or debt – and prove there was a market for the concept by launching the title without any capital. I solved the problem by setting a 25 per cent discount for prepayment, and inviting potential advertisers to give the idea a try for one issue.
Now, with one successful publication under my belt, I didn’t need to be so austere, but still needed to validate the market. Several advertisers signed on pre-publication, including (notably) Robert Merkley of Merkley Supply Ltd.
Some advertisers were ready to pay for colour. This wasn’t such an easy thing in 1989-1990. Film needed to be delivered to a special processing lab to generate acetate colour separations, which the printers needed to strip in by hand to set up the offset printing plates. A single image cost $150 to prepare – worth quite a bit more in 1990 dollars than today.
The new publication survived, though things weren’t always easy. Keeping costs as low as possible, I served as the newspaper’s primary writer/editor as well as salesperson, production co-ordinator and business owner. (We had contractors for design and graphics and a part time office administrator, but I was doing everything else.)
The new publication evolved through changing economic conditions, technologies and some business blunders. We learned, adapted and kept things going. In 2008, we built an early digital edition of the publication.
In 2016, with evolving technologies, we switched the publication to become a primarily digital magazine, and in 2019, with changes in the Ontario Construction Act, started the daily Ontario Construction News (which has, of course, the same OCN abbreviation). Last year, the business’s employees purchased the publishing business from me. I continue to help out as a part-time consultant/writer.
Several of our earliest advertisers are continuing to do business with both versions of OCN. There have certainly been changes in relationships and technologies, but I appreciate the foundations of a viable business are timeless. We need to ensure economic viability while serving the community, employees, contractors, and clients effectively and honourably.
Notably, the Ottawa Construction Show is long gone – but the annual Merkley Supply Ltd. (MSL) Show continues in March each year.
Other long-time advertisers (with their own histories as long as OCN) include AGF Steel Ottawa (formerly Raymond Rebar), Bellai Alliance, Boone Plumbing and Heating Supply Inc., Dufresne Piling Company; George W. Drummond Ltd., Goldie Mohr Ltd., Len Murray Supply Inc. and Regional Crane Rentals.
I’m confident that Ottawa Construction News, which started a half-lifetime earlier, will continue publishing for many more years under its current ownership.
