Dorothy Bullitt
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2019) ) |
Dorothy Stimson Bullitt | |
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Seattle, Washington, United States | |
Died | June 27, 1989 Seattle, Washington, United States | (aged 97)
Resting place | Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park |
Nationality | American |
Other names | Dorothy Frances Stimson |
Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, realtor, philanthropist |
Title | Founder/President/Chairwoman, King Broadcasting Co. (1946–1977) |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | A. Scott Bullitt (1877-1932) (1918-1932, his death) |
Children | Charles Stimson Bullitt (1919-2009) Priscilla Bullitt Collins (1920-2003) Harriet Overton Bullitt (1924-2022) |
Parent(s) | Charles D. Stimson (1857-1928) Harriet Overton Stimson (1862-1936) |
Dorothy Stimson Bullitt (February 5, 1892 – June 27, 1989) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist. A radio and television pioneer, she founded King Broadcasting Company, a major owner of broadcast stations in Seattle, Washington. She was the first woman in the United States to buy and manage a television station.
Birth and early life
Bullitt was born Dorothy Frances Stimson in Seattle in 1892, four years after
After Scott's death, Dorothy Bullitt hired a lawyer and took personal charge of her family's real estate holdings. Her father had bequeathed her a considerable number of properties in downtown Seattle, but it was the height of the Great Depression, and the Bullitt properties were losing lessees rapidly as businesses failed and their owners moved out. Working in the almost exclusively male business world, and despite knowing next to nothing about real estate at the time of her husband's death, Bullitt personally restored the family's real estate business to financial health. An increasingly prominent member of Seattle's business community, Bullitt became a member of a number of corporate boards and a regent of the University of Washington, and was named Seattle's First Citizen in 1959.
King Broadcasting
In 1947, Bullitt bought a small
In 1949, Bullitt purchased an eight-month-old television station, KRSC-TV, and renamed it KING-TV. As the only television station in the Northwest, KING had its choice of programming from all four networks, NBC, CBS, DuMont, and ABC. But as more stations came on the air following the lifting of the FCC's construction freeze, they peeled away KING's network affiliations, leaving KING with the then-poor-performing ABC. KING-TV became an NBC station in 1959 after Bullitt persuaded the more successful network to switch its affiliation from rival station KOMO-TV. KING-TV remains an NBC affiliate today.
Bullitt turned the presidency of King Broadcasting, as the company was called, over to her son Charles Stimson "Stim" Bullitt in 1961, remaining on the board as chairperson for several years thereafter. Dorothy and Stimson both believed strongly that the stations of King Broadcasting should serve the public, and not just be driven by ratings and revenue. At Bullitt's insistence, KING-TV built one of the first local TV news operations in the country, and through the 1950s and 1960s the station's news programming earned a national reputation for quality, on the strength of its locally produced documentaries and tough investigative journalism. Through the influence of the Bullitts and King Broadcasting executive
All of the King Broadcasting television stations including KING-TV,
Death and legacy
Dorothy Bullitt died on June 27, 1989, at the age of 97. She was interred at
Today, King Broadcasting is a subsidiary of
References
- "King Empire Began In '40S -- Inexperienced Founder Built Up A Communications Conglomerate. Archived 2011-05-19 at the Wayback Machine" The Seattle Times, August 21, 1990.
- Campbell, R.M. "Classical fans have depended on KING-FM for five decades.[permanent dead link]" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 21, 1998, page C1.
- Chronicle of Philanthropy. "The 2003 Slate 60: Top Donations." Slate, February 16, 2004.
- HistoryLink.org. "Bullitt, Dorothy Stimson (1892–1989)." Retrieved February 17, 2006.
- ——. "Bullitt Family, The." Retrieved February 18, 2006.
- ——. "Payne, Ancil H. (1921–2004)." Retrieved February 17, 2006.
- Limburg, Val. "Dorothy Stimson Bullitt: Queen of Broadcasting and Her KING." In Indelible Images: Women of Local Television, edited by Mary E. Beadle and Michael D. Murray (Ames, Ia.: Iowa State Press, 2001).
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections. "A. Scott Bullitt, Seattle, ca. 1925.[permanent dead link]" Retrieved February 17, 2006.
- Watson, Emmett. "Dorothy Bullitt Placed King-TV In A Class By Itself. Archived 2011-05-19 at the Wayback Machine" The Seattle Times, August 26, 1990.
- "Gannett to Buy Belo TV Stations in $2.2 billion deal." USA Today, June 13, 2013