Dorothy Brunson b. 1939- d. July 31,2011
Dorothy E. Brunson was the first African-American female to own a radio 
station in 1979, WEBB in Baltimore, Maryland. Between 1973 and 1979, Brunson helped to increase Inner City Broadcasting’s sales from $189,000 (USD) to $22 million, by running five radio stations. As of 1995, she was the CEO of Brunson Communications. She bought WGTW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1989. She later sold WGTW to Trinity Broadcasting Network
Services for Dorothy Brunson will begin with the viewing, 10 a.m., Aug. 6, followed at 11 a.m. by the home-going celebration at Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church, 1128 Pennsylvania Ave. Baltimore, MD
I am stunned….Dorothy’s application for transfer of ownership of WEBB in Baltimore and mine to acquire WAAA in Winston-Salem were both approved the last week of October in 1979 by the FCC. Initially it was reported that I was the first, but I was the second and I made a point of always correcting what had been published and broadcast. — She and I met for the first time when we along with Mrs. Bell of WJZZ, Detroit, set on a panel together at the White House Minority Ownership Conference in 1980 initiated by President Jimmy Carter…We talked occasionally, but we both were very busy. In late 1986 or 1987, we were honored by the Southeast Atlantic Region of Delta Sigma Thetas. During her luncheon address, she paid me the ultimate compliment when she compared what we had accomplished and the difference in our ages….I held her in the highest esteem, for she was a true trailblazer having worked for Sonderling Broadcasting and Inner City Broadcasting in New York before acquiring WEBB (Baltimore), WWIl (Wilmington, NC) and WIGO (Atlanta)radio stations. She would later sell all three in order to enter television ownership…Why she even had a trade magazine called “Airwaves”, I believe She was smart, tough, and worked tirelessly, but you had to in order to survive in the white male dominated broadcast industry. RIP – Dorothy Brunson.
What an interesting icon, I thought it was Radio One’s Cathy Hughes…good work… Ms Brunson will be missed and remembered.
WHAT A BLESSING MRS. DOROTHY BRUNSON HAVE BEEN TO THE RADIO AND TV INDUSTRY.