Dr. Bill Crounse, started his career in broadcasting long before he became a physician. He started when he was in college at UPS in Tacoma. Bill came up with an idea for a local television show aimed at teens and young adults. He sold the idea to Max Bice, then general manager of KTNT-TV in Tacoma. The show, which he produced and hosted, was called Opcom. The weekly, half-hour show ran for three summers from 1968 to 1970. When Bill was just 20 years old, he also anchored the Sunday Night News for KTNT. Shortly after that, he hosted Quizathon for KING-TV in Seattle.
A few years later, Bill decided to go to Medical School. After is residency in family medicine he returned to Seattle to join Virginia Mason Medical Center. Soon after, broadcasting came calling again. Between 1983 and 1990, Dr. Crounse was featured as KOMO’s family doctor on the evening news where he provided daily medical reports. He provided similar services for KIRO-TV in the mid-90’s. Additionally, his broadcasting career went national and global when, for three years, he provided medical reports for ABC News, The Health Show, and between 1984 and 1990, anchored medical programming for physicians on Lifetime Medical Television (Physician’s Journal Update). He commuted between Seattle, Los Angeles and New York to do those shows.
Besides practicing clinical medicine part-time over the years, Dr. Crounse eventually entered hospital administration as a Senior Vice President/CIO for Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. In 2002, Bill joined Microsoft as the company’s senior director for worldwide health. There he was part of a small team based in Redmond that manages Microsoft’s worldwide health technology business. In that role, he traveled all over the world giving keynote addresses, interviews and meeting with customers and government officials. He retired in 2016.
Note: Screen shot from KOMO-TV; Corporate head shot from Microsoft.
Worked at KTNT, KING (Opcom, Quizathon) KOMO (Dr. Bill Crounse, Healthwatch), KIRO (medical reporting) ABC Network (The Health Show) Lifetime Medical Television (Physician’s Journal Update), Discovery Channel
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