Geoffrey William Stirling
Geoffrey William Stirling was born in St. John’s in 1922. A noted track and field athlete, Stirling went to the University of Tampa on an athletics scholarship where he became a correspondent for Time and the Chicago Tribune. Geoff would go on to make an indelible mark on the broadcasting industry in Newfoundland and North America.
During the Second World War, Geoff worked in Washington for the American Land Lease Office. In 1946, he returned to Newfoundland and started the Sunday Herald, a tabloid produced with the assistance of just two employees. The paper switched from tabloid to magazine format in 1976 and today employs more than 100 workers. In October 1951, CJON Radio went on the air and four years later Newfoundland’s first television signal was transmitted.
At one time he owned as many as 23 radio and television stations across North America. Today, NTV, OZFM and Stirling Press continue to break new ground in broadcasting and publishing.