From Our Archive
Dec. 26, 1996
Albert J. Schottelkotte, 1927-1996
CINCINNATI -- Albert J. Schottelkotte, the face and
voice of television news in Greater Cincinnati for a quarter
of a century, died Dec. 25 in his Lawrenceburg, Ind., home. He
was 69 years old.
"Through a long
and noteworthy career, Albert J. Schottelkotte defined how
news was reported in Cincinnati," said William R. Burleigh,
president and chief executive officer of The E.W. Scripps
Company. "He was THE voice of Cincinnati. He was aggressive,
he was thorough, and he loved the community that was his
beat."
After his active journalism career passed, he
undertook the presidency of the Scripps Howard Foundation with
the same dauntless dedication. He leaves a unique
legacy.
"Schottelkotte, was president and CEO of the
foundation from 1986 until Dec. 5, 1996, when he became
chairman of the foundation board. He was a retired senior vice
president of Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company.
He began his news career in 1943 when he was hired
- on his 16th birthday - as a copy aide for The Cincinnati
Enquirer. Within three months, the Cincinnati native became a
general assignment reporter - the youngest journalist at that
time on a major U.S. newspaper.
In later life,
Schottelkotte humbly explained his promotion, "The city editor
looked up one day and didn't see any other warm bodies in the
newsroom - they were all off to war. "
After two years
away for army service in the Korean Conflict, he returned to
The Enquirer in 1952 and began writing his "Talk Of The Town"
column. It ran for nine years.
A move in 1953 foreshadowed Schottelkotte's destiny
as a broadcast journalist. In the army, he had lectured on
current affairs. With this experience he was offered a nightly
news report at 6 p.m. on radio station WSAI-FM. It was the
first local news program to make regular use of taped reports
and interviews.
In 1959, he joined
Scripps Howard's WCPO-TV, anchoring the 11 p.m. "Al
Schottelkotte News." For two years, he continued his newspaper
column, radio show and the television news. Then, in 1961, he
turned his full attention to television and became director of
news and special events for WCPO. That year he also developed
and anchored the first half-hour newscast on local television.
Scripps Howard Broadcasting tapped him in 1967 as general
manager of its newly created news division and in 1971 he
became vice president/news for the company.
Throughout his corporate rise, he remained Cincinnati's
premiere news anchor. Without interruption, he led the news
ratings in Cincinnati for 22 years from 1960 to 1982. During
many of these years, his audience shares equaled or exceeded
the combined totals of the opposition news.
Schottelkotte's early news reports were unlike any
other. To illustrate his stories, he relied heavily on film,
videotape, photos, Polaroids and a library of 50,000 slides of
local landmarks and people.
Years later Ted
Turner copied Schottelkotte's approach to news when he
launched the Cable News Network.
Under his
leadership, Scripps Howard Broadcasting became known in the
industry as a pioneer. The Channel 9 Newsbird was one of the
first helicopters in TV news capable of live transmissions
from the air. Schottelkotte developed the first working
agreement of a local station group with CNN - a breakthrough
to be followed by major changes in TV news. He established a
Columbus, Ohio, news bureau which, for 10 years, was the only
full-time bureau maintained by any Ohio station.
Schottelkotte pioneered in many facets of local news.
In 1961 he developed and anchored the first half-hour noon
newscast in local TV, leaving it to take over the 6 and 11
p.m. newscasts in 1967. Other programs of long duration that
he created included "Impact," a Sunday evening current affairs
discussion program, which launched many local political
careers, and "Sports of All Sorts," one of the first of the
Sunday late-night sports programs.
In the fall of 1981
he became senior vice president of Scripps Howard Broadcasting
and in September of 1982 he was named station director of
WCPO, leaving the 11 p.m. anchor chair he had occupied for 23
years. He continued to anchor the station's early evening news
until 1986 when he was chosen to lead the Scripps Howard
Foundation. He would have retired from the foundation in March
1997.
As president of the
foundation, Schottelkotte was responsible for establishment of
the Cincinnati High School for Communication Professions, the
Scripps Howard Visiting Professional Chair at the E.W. Scripps
School of Journalism at Ohio University, development of a
unique summer training project for journalism teachers at
predominantly minority universities, expansion of the Ernie
Pyle Museum and Historic Site at Dana, Ind., birthplace of
Scripps Howard's legendary World War II correspondent, and
many other programs that fostered excellence in journalism.
His active broadcast career ended in 1994 when he
discontinued his twice weekly "Spotlight Reports" on WCPO.
Schottelkotte has been the recipient of numerous honors
for his career achievements. In 1981 he accepted the
International Radio-Television News Directors Association
Award for best spot news reporting for his staff's coverage of
WCPO's takeover by a gunman. He was one of the five initial
members of the Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame, established
by the Society of Professional journalists in 1990. That same
year he received the Distinguished Broadcaster Award of Alpha
Epsilon Ro, the University of Cincinnati's journalism
fraternity. He was named to the Cincinnati Broadcast Hall of
Fame by the Cincinnati Historical Society when the committee
waived its policy of inducting only retirees.
He leaves his wife, Elaine Green, a
former WCPO reporter who now owns a television production
company, and 12 children from a previous marriage: six sons
Paul, of Mineral Wells, W. Va.; Joseph, Bellfontaine,
Ohio; Matthew and William, Cincinnati; Michael, Covington,
Ky.; and Louis, Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; six daughters - Carol,
Martha, Mary Jo, Linda Brewer, Amy Wohleber and Ellen Noble,
all of the Cincinnati area. In addition, he leaves two
step-children: David Green, Cincinnati; and Tracey Corrigan,
Athens, Ohio; former wife, Virginia Schottelkotte, Cincinnati;
a brother, James Edward Schottelkotte, Cincinnati; and a step-sister,
Janet Heil, Cincinnati.
Contact: Sue Porter, The E.W. Scripps Company, 513-977-3030