Roy H. Park
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Roy Hampton Park (15 September 1910 - 25 October 1993) was an American media executive.
Park was born in Dobson, North Carolina and began writing for two local North Carolina newspapers at the age of 12; although he suffered a severe bout with rheumatic fever at 13, Park graduated from Dobson High School at the age of 15 and followed his brother to North Carolina State University.
After crashing his brother's automobile, Park took his first job to pay off the damages; this job was at the local Associated Press bureau, where we worked his way up from office boy to reporter by the time of this graduation from college. He also wrote for the college's student newspaper, The Technician, and extended his term of study at college so that he could serve as the paper's editor-in-chief. Upon graduation in 1931 with a degree in business administration, he was awarded the senior superlative of "Best Writer."
After gradutation, Park accepted the position of public relations director for the North Carolina Cotton Growers Cooperative Association; there, he pioneered innovative ways of promoting cotton, including "Cotton Balls," with dancers and performers dressed in cotton formal wear. In 1936, he married Dorothy Goodwin Dent, whom he met at one of these events.
At the Cotton Cooperative, Park founded three periodicals, the Carolina Cooperator, the Rural Electricification Guide, and the Cooperative Digest, which attracted the attention of H.E. Babcock, the founder of the Grange League Federation. Babcock offered Park a position at the agency, in Ithaca, New York, which Park accepted in 1942.
In the late 1940s, the Grange approached Park to find a way to market their excess food products; Park approached well-known food critic Duncan Hines to lend his name to a brand of packaged food products. The resulting company, Hines-Park Foods, was a stunning success in the American food market, especially with its flagship product, Duncan Hines Cake Mix. Only five years after releasing its first products, Hines-Park was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1956. Park stayed with Procter & Gamble as a senior executive until 1962.
Park began building a communications consortium in 1962; his company, Park Communications, acquired Greenville, North Carolina station WNCT-TV, buy 1977, he was the first broadcaster to acquire seven television stations, seven AM radio, and seven FM radio stations -- the legal limit at the time. He expanded into the newspaper arena with the acquisition of the Warner Robins, Georgia Daily Sun in 1972; eventually acquiring dozens of papers in 24 states. Most of his acquisitions were in medium-sized or rural markets.
By the time of his deal, Park Communications controlled 22 radio stations, 11 television stations, and 144 publications; the company's market reach was estimated at one quarter of all American households.
Park continued to reside in Ithaca, New York for the remainder of this life, where he sat on the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, but he maintained connections to his native state, also sitting on the board of visitors for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and on the Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University.
Late in life, Park was recognized multiple times by his home state; NCSU awarded him its highest honor, the Watauga Medal, in 1975, and an honorary doctorate in 1978. In 1989, the state of North Carolina presented him with its highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award.
Park died in 1993, but left a legacy upon American education. Ithaca College named its communications building after him in 1989, and the Park Foundation contributes heavily to both American public television and education, supporting scholarship programs at Ithaca College, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.