Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey, it has the second-largest circulation of the state's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger.

Following the purchase of the competing Herald News of Passaic, both papers began centralizing operations in what is now Woodland Park, where The Record is currently based.

[5] Based on Main Street in Hackensack, Runner had two investors initially, Frank Cook and George Alden,[6] and went through many others until 1920.

At that time, a group of eight investors bought the company, which had changed its name to The Evening Record and Bergen County Herald.

[8] It was one of the papers whose editorial position was in favor of the Metropolitan Regional Council (MRC)[8] In 1960, the newspaper changed its name to simply The Record, and expanded coverage beyond the county, including the opening of a Trenton bureau.

Donald Borg's sons, Malcolm and Gregory, with experience at The Record, were made assistant publishers at the Passaic County paper.

In 2001, the company flattened its structure, retaining only the Macromedia corporate entity, but renamed to North Jersey Media Group.

[11] In 1996, the paper won the coveted Gerald Loeb Award for its series "Formula for Disaster: The Lodi Explosion" by Michael Moore, Bruce Locklin and Debra Lynn Vial.

[7] Rather than a focus on breaking news on its front page, it features "The Patch," a thematic topic or investigative report.

[15][16] A follow-up story by Jeannine Clegg, a reporter for The Record, about the flag raising efforts by the firemen that led to the photo appeared in the newspaper on September 14, 2011.

[17] The Record owns the rights to the photograph, but has licensed it in exchange for donations to September 11 causes, as long as the photo is used in a "dignified and proper manner" for non-commercial purposes.