BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mere months from graduation at Georgetown University during the Great Depression, Mortimer Charles Watters knew he'd better boost his resume if he wanted a job.
So he went to NBC's radio station in Washington, D.C. For no pay and for six months, the man friends called Mort sharpened pencils and emptied ash trays, absorbing what he could about the burgeoning business.
The job was his entry into a field he would soon pioneer. Within six years, he became general manager at WCPO radio in Cincinnati and later joined
Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., where he would shape the future of television in Cincinnati.
Thursday, the nationally known broadcast executive died at his Indian Hill home. He was 87.
Mr. Watters' success sprang from his innovation and his willingness to step back and grant his employees the freedom to experiment, friends say.
''He was a good guy to work for in that he trusted us to do a job without a lot of interference,'' said Allan White, 72, of Fort Wright, Ky., who worked as WCPO-TV
news editor from 1959 to 1989. ''He allowed coming to work to be fun.''
That management philosophy made him a star-maker. Some of the well-known radio and TV personalities he signed included Al Schottelkotte, Bob Braun, Dottie Mack, Paul Dixon and Al and Wanda Lewis.
''He had a magnificent personality and the ability to get more out of you than you really thought you had,'' said Al Lewis, whose Uncle Al's Show aired for 35 years.
Mr. Watters had hired Mr. Lewis from the Cleveland School of Art in 1949 to be WCPO-TV's art director.
''I was in charge of graphics for commercials, scenery, putting sets together, that kind of thing,'' Mr. Lewis remembered. ''But in those days, we had a problem filling time. He knew I was an entertainer - I used to perform at supper clubs in Cleveland. So he told me: 'Grab your accordion and go out there and fill an hour.' ''
A Rochester, N.Y., native, Mr. Watters attended the La Salle Military Academy, a New York preparatory school, and then studied philosophy at Georgetown University.
He worked as radio director at the Ryan Advertising Agency in Washington, D.C., in the early 1930s before going on to various radio jobs in New York and West Virginia.
He joined Cincinnati's WCPO in 1938.
At the time, WCPO's power was the weakest of Cincinnati's five radio stations. At 250 watts, it was difficult to pick up past a 10-mile radius. But under Mr. Watters' direction, the tiny station more than held its own among its rivals.
Mr. Watters moved to WCPO's parent, Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., in 1940. He worked there as vice president and director and finally as executive vice president before his 1981 retirement.
When television went on the air in 1949, WCPO took the unusual tack of broadcasting all day and night. When the news wasn't on, Mr. Watters invited dozens of people to try their talents on the airwaves. In the first few months, the overnight programming consisted of a man who told jokes, had a band and played records.
''As a wife, I was so fortunate that I was married to a man who totally loved what he did,'' said his wife, Paula Jane, who met Mr. Watters when she became a ''weather girl'' at WCPO. ''He loved his work, and consequently, he loved life.''
In addition to his wife, Mr. Watters is survived by three daughters, Mary Ellen McCarthy of Raleigh, N.C., and Boca Raton, Fla., Rosemary Gargano of Pound Ridge, N.Y., and Victoria Anne Round of West Palm Beach, Fla.; seven grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Monday at St. Gertrude Church, 7630 Shawnee Run Road, Madeira. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, Montgomery.
Memorials can be made to the
Scripps-Howard Foundation or the charity of one's choice.
