As one of Seattle.s earliest broadcast engineers, Jack Butler spent over 4 decades creating and applying technology that took the broadcasting industry from black and white boxes to High Definition plasma screens. While he held many titles, Jack was always on the forefront of new innovations and found ways to introduce improvements to KING.s on-air signal. Some early highlights include converting the station to color, adding stereo sound, and setting up some of the earliest live remotes.

From 1956 to 1985, Jack was instrumental in live coverage of Seafair.s Hydroplane Races on Lake Washington; live coverage of Seafair.s Torchlight Parade; and live coverage of the Miss Seafair Coronation Pageant. In 1962, he coordinated live newscasts from the Seattle Center against the backdrop of the World.s Fair. Jack quickly earned a reputation as someone who would find the path to new concepts and creations.

Jack.s ingenuity was tapped in 1994 when he was charged with creating and implementing the engineering plan that would be the back-bone to Northwest Cable News. It was the first fully digital news operation in the country and launched in December of 1995. Just two years later, he executed another plan that launched KONG-TV 6/16. With two broadcast stations fine tuned, and a state of the art 24 hour cable channel humming along, it was time for Jack to turn his attention to H.D.

Jack studied High Definition from its earliest days and his readiness allowed the station to be the first full power HD station in Seattle, and one of the first few in the country. After converting KING to HD, Jack retired, but soon returned to the station to spearhead the conversion of KONG to H.D. From black and white, blurry images to the clear, crisp, clean images of High Definition -- Television broadcast has come a long way, and it wouldn.t have happened without engineers like Jack Butler.

Jack grew up in Shelton, Washington and studied radio and television at The University of Washington. He began his career with KING Television in 1955, and retired in 1998. His first assignment at KING was decorating the KING 5 broadcast tower with Christmas lights; a tradition that continues to this day.