Enquirer Media history

After the Whig Party’s William Henry Harrison won the presidency in 1840, Dawson, at age 73, called it quits.

But in 1843 it started printing in the morning so it could go out in the mail for same-day delivery.

April 23, 1848: The Enquirer is one of the first to offer a Sunday edition, and is now the oldest in the United States

1857: The Enquirer offices move from Main Street to Vine Street and Baker (now Ogden Place).

As the Civil War ended in April 1865, The Enquirer closed for one day so the employees could join the celebration.

On March 22, 1866, a fire consumed Pike’s Opera House and The Enquirer building next door, then on Vine Street, south of Fourth.

John R. McLean, son of Washington McLean, had been a barehanded catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1867.

He bought the paper from his father in 1873 at age 25.

Lafcadio Hearn’s grisly story of the murder of tanyard worker Herman Schilling in November 1874 was accompanied by eerie illustrations by a couple of freelance artists named Henry Farny and Frank Duveneck.

The first university course in journalism was given at the University of Missouri (Columbia) in 1879–84.

An organization of journalists began as early as 1883, with the foundation of England’s chartered Institute of Journalists.

The Enquirer was one of only six papers that ran the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s historic first flight in 1903.

In 1912 Columbia University in New York City established the first graduate program in journalism, endowed by a grant from the New York City editor and publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

Possibly the first “broadcast” newspaper writer—it was all radio in those days!—was Magee Adams, who started writing columns for the Enquirer in the mid-1920s.

National Enquirer, formerly (1926–57) New York Evening Enquirer, American weekly newspaper based in Boca Raton, Florida, and best known for its celebrity gossip, crime news, and investigative reporting.

Although some well-known people, like actress Carol Burnett (1933–), have won settlements against the paper, many others have lost.

It was bought in 1952 by Generoso Pope, Jr., the son of the late owner of the Italian-language daily Il Progresso Italo-Americano.

Under Pope’s ownership the Enquirer converted to a tabloid format in 1953.

By 1955, a civil war within the board ousted Ratliff and his supporters and the paper went up for sale again.

He took the paper national and renamed it the National Enquirer in 1957; it turned a profit for the first time the following year.

Then, in 1958, Scripps bought the Times-Star as well and closed it down.

By 1969, circulation had climbed to 1.2 million copies per week, and the National Enquirer ousted Reader's Digest from the newsdealer's top-five bestseller's list.

In 1971 the editorial offices moved from the New York area to Lantana, Florida.

Gross revenues in 1973 were $17 million; the next year they hit $41 million.

Sales continued growing to just below 4 million a week by 1974.

John had been at the newspaper since 1975 and was always an enthusiastic supporter of history-minded projects and efforts, including those of Media Heritage.

The Enquirer and the Post entered into a joint operating agreement (JOA) in 1977 where The Enquirer handled printing and operations for both papers, though the editorial divisions were separate.

Average weekly circulation continued to grow, reaching its peak for that decade at 5.7 million copies in 1978.

1979: Print facilities open on Western Avenue, printing both The Enquirer and the Post.

In 1982, Pope raised the Enquirer's cover price by 20 cents, to 65 cents an issue.

By 1984, Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch introduced the Star, a four-color gossip sheet, to take advantage of consumer desire for naughty news.

Generoso Pope, Jr. passed away in October, 1988.

In 1989, Pope's widow sold the paper to American Media (which also owned its rivals the Star and the Globe) for $412 million.

In early 1990, GP Group purchased the Star, National Enquirer's rival publication, from Rupert Murdoch's New America Publishing Inc. for $400 million in cash and stocks.

April 9, 1991: Cartoonist Jim Borgman wins the Pulitzer Prize.

July 4, 1992: The offices move to 312 Elm St

In 1993, the company entered into a joint venture with Brandon Tartikoff (former chairman of Paramount Studios) to begin production of a one-hour television program produced by the staff of the Weekly World News to be aired on network television.

Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.

31, 2007: The 30-year joint operating agreement between The Enquirer and the Post expires and the Post closes.

In 2016, “The Accused” podcast found millions of listeners and climbed to number one on iTunes.