S P O T L I G H T
HULBERT TAFT, JR. ’26 1907-1967 His yearbook page bears the unforgettable line: “Who can compete with a person who calls the King ‘Uncle Horace’? It can’t be done. Formidable as this advantage is, it is all but intolerable since he never uses it at all.” In fact, Horace and Charles Phelps Taft were actually his great uncles. Hulbert’s family has become as synonymous with communications as other branches of the family have with politics. Although Hulbert, Jr., also got his start [with some previous experience at the Yale Daily News] at the Times-Star, his father— the editor and publisher of the family-owned Cincinnati paper founded by Charles—encouraged him to move into radio and later television. This was the beginning of the Taft Broadcasting Company, a pioneer in electronic communication, of which he became chairman. During his tenure, Taft Broadcasting controlled, in whole or in part, WKRC AM-FM and TV in Cincinnati; WTVN AM and TV in Columbus; WBRC AM-FM and TV in Birmingham, AL; WGR AM-FM and TV, Buffalo, NY; WDAF AM-FM and TV, Kansas City, MO; and WNEP TV in Scranton, PA. The company also acquired Hanna-Barbara Productions of Los Angeles. He had three children, Dudley ’58, Mary, and Nellie. In addition to creating a broadcasting empire, Hulbert, Jr., was also a trustee of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. The Taft School library was dedicated in 1969 as memorial to Hulbert Taft, Jr. photo courtesy of Dudley Taft ’58
An Abbreviated Family Tree... Charles Phelps ——— Peter Rawson ——— William Howard ——— Henry Waters ——— Horace Dutton | Hulbert | Hulbert, Jr. ’26 18
Fall 1996