Toronto Sun Publishing subsidiary Bowes Publishers has completed its acquisition of The Leamington Post and The St. Thomas Times-Journal.

The Post is a 119-year old weekly with a paid subscription of 6,000 and the 111-year old Times-Journal is a daily with a paid subscription of 9,500. Both are in southwestern Ontario. Both were Thomson newspapers.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

With the two acquisitions, Bowes Publishers publishes five dailies, 30 weekly papers and several specialty publications in Ontario and Western Canada. Combined circulation is more than 325,000.

- Next week, the circulation of The Financial Times of Canada will jump 70% to 170,000 a week thanks to a distribution deal with The Globe and Mail.

The Financial Times will become the personal finance and investment section in 150,000 selected copies of the Saturday Globe.

The target of the 150,000 copies will be affluent neighborhoods determined from Compusearch lifestyle clusters.

The remaining 20,000 copies of the Financial Times’ circulation will be independent paid subscriptions.

Research showed advertisers want the Financial Times to deliver the same size but more targetted circulation as The Financial Post weekend edition at a lower cost.

The transient line rate at the Thomson-owned paper goes up 35% from $8.03 to $10.80. There will be frequency discounts and discounts for space bought in the Financial Times and the Globe, also a Thomson paper.

- Toronto radio station chfi-fm was a big winner in the New York Festivals International Radio Competition with six medals and four finalist certificates this month.

chfi was nominated in 10 categories including national/international affairs, best investigative report, best news special and best news magazine.

The 1993 competition drew more than 1,300 entries from 29 countries.

Gold medal winner for chfi in the national/international category was veteran Toronto radio man Dick Smyth for ‘South Africa,’ based on his experiences while travelling in that country.

Smyth is the top voice at 680 News, chfi’s am sister station.

Winning silver medals in the social issues/current events and health/medical categories was the newsmagazine Sunday Sunday special ‘Never Surrender: The Fight Against Breast Cancer,’ and the radio play The Cap also won silver in the best special event category.

Bronze winner for international/ national affairs was the referendum special Voices of Canada: A Nation in Question,’ as was ‘Collect Call: Clifford Olson’ in the best investigative report category. In ‘Collect Call,’ mass murderer Olson bragged of his planned escape from Milhaven Penitentiary near Kingston, Ont.

Finalist certificates went to ‘Collect Call’ for best news special; Sunday Sunday for best newsmagazine; ‘The Loon: Final Lament to Summer,’ in the environmental program category; and the tv commercial jingle ‘Ain`t We Got Fun’ in the media promotion/broadcast category.

- Hamilton radio station AM 900 CHML has signed a three-year deal to continue as the play-by-play voice of the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

chml will carry all home and away Ticat games, including exhibition games.

Once again, Bob Bratina will call the play, with color commentary by John Salavantis and Bob Hooper.

No financial details were announced.

- Avant Litho Graphics in Markham, Ont. has acquired TSE Press, the printing arm of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

TSE Press will now be known as Avant Litho Graphics Downtown.

The newly acquired printer employs 22 people and has sales volume of $2.5 million a year, half from the tse, and half from mostly financial institutions.

No financial details were released.

All 22 employees at the former TSE Press have been offered jobs by Avant.

Avant is also the printer of Hansard for the Ontario Legislature.

- The Canadian Direct Marketing Association has announced a new format and procedure for entering its 23rd annual RSVP Awards for excellence in direct marketing.

According to Bill Kerr, chairman of the RSVP Awards and chief operating officer at The Russo Group, the changes make entering less costly and time-consuming.

Complete portfolios will only be required for finalists in each category, and award categories have been redesigned.

There are now two award sectors. The first is a general sector covering 10 business or industry categories such as financial services and automotive products and services. The second is a cross-sector of seven categories such as catalogue retailing, multi-media and creative.

Gold and silver awards will be presented in each category, and runners-up will receive certificates of merit.

Deadline for entries is July 5. The RSVP Awards night is Nov. 19 in Toronto.