[3] The Reader Magazine was founded by Christopher Theodore in November 2000 and was originally called The Redlands Community Coupon Book.

In 2005, the name of the publication was changed to The Reader Magazine and circulation doubled to 120,000 households by including the cities of: Banning, Beaumont, Colton, Grand Terrace, Loma Linda, Highland, and San Bernardino.

The four Reader Magazines are mailed to a total of 390,000 persons in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

In March 2018, Noble Media, which owns Reader, raised $200,000 in capital from the Valley Economic Development Center (VEDC), a non-profit community funder.

The Reader undertook legal action against the Columbia Journalism Review and the article's author.