THE ISLAND—Hardly a week has gone by in the past couple of years without someone dropping into one of the Manitoulin Publishing offices, either in Little Current at The Expositor or The Manitoulin West Recorder office in Gore Bay, looking for the latest edition of the wildly popular Big Red telephone book. Rarely has a local publication been awaited with such keen anticipation by Island residents, but the pace of change in the telephone industry has proven a greater challenge with this edition than has been the case in years gone by.
Thankfully, we can now announce that Big Red has made its online debut and is in the final stretch of making its way into a new print edition—but to get there we need your help.
“Big Red 2018 is now online,” said Expositor production manager Dave Patterson, who noted that the latest edition can be found at manitoulin.ca. “It will be up for an indefinite period so that people can proof (check the listing) their numbers and those of their families and friends to ensure they are accurate.”
Mr. Patterson noted that with the advent of more and more people replacing their land lines with cellphones, the traditional method of being able to crosscheck the numbers with the telephone carriers has become problematic. With the online edition, people are able to check that their numbers are in the 2018 edition of Big Red.
Big Red’s popularity comes in large part from its large print, relative to many other print telephone books, and its Island-centric layout which groups numbers under their familiar community names.
“There will be a binder available at both The Expositor offices in Little Current and the Recorder office in Gore Bay that people can come in and check as well,” said Mr. Patterson. “People can fill out a form to have their cell numbers included in the Big Red.”
As this online version of Big Red is being made available online for proofing purposes only, advertisements are not yet included in the online version. For those wishing to have an advertisement included in Big Red 2018, please contact sales@manitoulin.ca or Robin Burridge at 705-368-2744.
People may also contact the Big Red staff with their names and numbers by emailing expositor@manitoulin.ca. Please indicate that it is a Big Red addition or correction in the subject line.
Once the proofing process has been completed, Big Red will be laid out, printed and made available to Island residents. The Expositor wishes to thank its Big Red patrons for their patience as we meet the challenges in bringing the 2018 version to print.
