Dorothy Stimson Bullitt was a pioneering American businesswoman, philanthropist, and media executive who transformed a small Seattle radio station into a major broadcasting empire, King Broadcasting Company. Often called the “Queen of KING,” she broke barriers for women in a male-dominated industry during the mid-20th century, emphasizing public service journalism over pure profit. As a widow and single mother during the Great Depression, she managed family real estate holdings and entered broadcasting in her 50s, becoming one of the wealthiest and most influential women in the Pacific Northwest.
Born Dorothy Frances Stimson on February 5, 1892, in Seattle, —four years after the state joined the union—she was the daughter of lumber magnate and real estate developer C.D. Stimson and his wife, Harriet. Raised in wealth amid Seattle’s early boom years, she grew up on Queen Anne Hill and later in the family’s Stimson-Green Mansion on First Hill. Her family helped found key Seattle institutions, including Children’s Hospital, the Seattle Symphony, and Cornish College of the Arts.
In 1918, at age 26, she married A. Scott Bullitt, a charismatic Kentucky-born lawyer, Democrat, and political ally of Franklin D. Roosevelt who was 14 years her senior. They had three children: Charles Stimson “Stim” Bullitt (1919–2009), Dorothy Priscilla “Patsy” Bullitt Collins (1920–2003), and Harriet Stimson Bullitt (1924–2022). Tragedy struck in the early 1930s: her father died in 1929, her brother Thomas in a 1931 plane crash, and her husband of liver cancer in 1932, leaving her widowed at 40 with young children and vast family assets to manage.
Thrust into leadership, Bullitt taught herself real estate management, overseeing downtown Seattle properties inherited from her father in a “clubby man’s world.” By the late 1940s, she turned to broadcasting, purchasing KEVR (later renamed KING-AM) in 1947 for $130,000—a small station with few listeners. She founded King Broadcasting Company and aggressively expanded it, acquiring FM and TV assets.
1949: Bullitt bought Seattle’s first TV station (KING-TV, Channel 5) and FM facilities from KRSC for $375,000, gaining FCC approval amid post-war media growth. This made her one of the first women to own a U.S. TV station.
1950s–1960s: As president until 1962, she built KING into a powerhouse with 27,000-watt visual and 13,500-watt aural power—the maximum allowed by the FCC. The company prioritized innovative local programming, news, and public service, earning a reputation for liberal editorials (e.g., barring Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1952 and opposing the Vietnam War in 1966).
She passed leadership to son Stim in 1961 but stayed as board chair, fostering a culture of integrity under executives like Ancil Payne.
Her hands-on style was legendary: she once flew a news helicopter and vowed never to sell airtime to religious groups. By her retirement, King Broadcasting was a multimillion-dollar enterprise.
Bullitt died of heart failure on June 27, 1989, at 97 in Seattle. Her estate sale of King Broadcasting boosted the Bullitt Foundation, which her daughters Patsy and Harriet stewarded. The family preserved landmarks like the Stimson-Green Mansion (now a historic venue) and continued her philanthropy.