Because of the popularity of Dick Tracy, William Randolph Hearst wanted a strip in his King Features Syndicate to compete. The strip, which started in 1933 in the Boston Record, was originally called Pinkerton, Jr., since the main character was a boy named Pinky. (Dick Tracy also had a boy as a key character at the time.) The new strip was popular with Boston readers and the main character shortly became Sergeant Pat, while Pinky grew older quite rapidly. Sergeant Pat was a composite of many of the real-life Boston Police Department officers Sullivan knew personally. When the strip was picked up by King Features Syndicate in 1934, it was retitled Radio Patrol.