Monitor timeline
November 1908: The Christian Science Monitor is founded as a daily newspaper in Boston, Mass., by Mary Baker Eddy. Its first editor is Archibald McLellan.
1920: The Monitor joins several other newspapers in developing distribution of worldwide news via radio, beginning AM transmission in February 1922, adding programming seven years later, and expanding to shortwave broadcasts by late 1935.
May 1938: Color printing is first used in the news section, with one color added. (Three-color printing would be tested in 1948.)
September 1943: The Monitor joins the Mutual Broadcasting System to broadcast “News From Everywhere.” The 15-minute weekday show, on Mutual’s American Network, is the first nationwide news program to use the resources of an international newspaper.
October 1960: Daily “London Edition” of newspaper is launched.
February 1971: Microfilm containing eight pages of The Christian Science Monitor is carried by Apollo 14 commander Alan B. Shepard to the moon.
October 1973: The paper switches to weekday publication, eliminating a Saturday edition.
January 1974: Pages are sent by fax to remote plants – at an average speed of five minutes per page – eliminating the need to fly plates to presses in Chicago and California.
November 1974: Weekly “International Edition” is launched, replacing a limited “London Edition.”
April 1975: Format changes from broadsheet to “compact” tabloid format.
April 1977: The Christian Science Monitor Radio News Service offers short radio segments to radio stations around the world.
October 1983: A relaunch standardizes all editions, eliminating several regionals.
January 1984: “MonitoRadio Weekend Edition” makes its debut on American Public Radio.
July 1984: “Conversations With The Christian Science Monitor” offers half-hour in-depth interview programs to commercial radio stations in the US.
1985: Distribution of Monitor print content via syndication peaks at some 200 subscribing papers, with a combined circulation of about 20 million. A monthly syndicated TV news program, “The Christian Science Monitor Reports” begins a brief run.
December 1986: Christian Science Monitor Syndicate, Inc., buys WQTV Channel 68, Boston.
February 1987: “The World Service of The Christian Science Monitor” begins broadcasting on international shortwave radio to Europe and Africa from station WCSN in Scotts Corners, Maine – and a year later to Japan, Korea, and China from station KYOI on Saipan, Mariana Islands.
September 1988: “World Monitor: A Television Presentation of The Christian Science Monitor” launches nightly programming.
October 1988: World Monitor: The Christian Science Monitor Monthly magazine begins publication and a five-year run.
January 1989: Four-color ink and photographs introduced in daily and international editions of the daily.
May 1989: New TV programs première in Boston: “One Norway Street,” “Today’s Monitor,” Monitor de Hoy,” “Monitor Forum,” “Inner City Beat,” and “Affairs of State.”
1989: “MonitoRadio Early Edition” premières on American Public Radio stations. Shortwave expands to reach Latin America and the Pacific Rim. “World Monitor: A Television Presentation of The Christian Science Monitor” begins international distribution.
June 1992: The Monitor Channel goes dark.
1995: Beta website built to circulate news about the reporting of David Rohde, who went behind Serb lines in the Balkan war to tell the story of the Srebrenica massacre and was captured. (He was released unharmed after nine days.)
1996: Debut of CSMonitor.com. It carries complete MonitoRadio broadcasts, making it one of the first sites to feature audio.
1997: MonitoRadio shuts down in June; shortwave scaled back.
1998: A significant redesign of the paper is introduced in November.
2000: MonitorWeek, a national insert for local papers, launched as a 12-page color publication. MonitorWorld becomes the paper’s weekly international edition. SciTech Blog, one of the first news website blogs, is begun.
2001: Terrorism & Security: A Daily Update begins Web publication shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. By year-end, other blogs are produced by the Web team, Washington bureau chief, and library staff.
2002: The “Treeless edition,” a digital replica of the daily newspaper, is first delivered in PDF form.
2003: Staff writer Ben Arnoldy goes to Iraq as the first journalist sent to cover a war for a newspaper’s online edition.
2008: CSMonitor.com averages 1.5 million unique visitors per month. The Monitor becomes the first national newspaper to introduce a Web-first model, and announces its intent to end daily print edition. A new print weekly edition (above) is unveiled.
