Robert A. Mott papers

Robert A. Mott began his career in journalism while serving in the armed forces during World War II. Prior to enlisting in the army, Mott was preparing for a career in print journalism, but was forced to discontinue his education after two years. While in the service, Mott wrote a column for the Emporia Gazette about the activities of the National Guard from 1940 to 1945. Although he enjoyed working in the print journalism field, his colleague Russ Porter convinced Mott to pursue his interest in the electronic news gathering business. In 1945, after he completed his military service, Mott began working for KTSW, a commercial news station in Kansas, covering news and sports. Mott worked his way through his last two years of college and graduated with a BA degree in 1947, at which point he made the decision to stay at KTSW until 1949. Mott continued on to earn a masters degree in Radio-Television Journalism at the University of Denver, while simultaneously teaching there until 1953.

Mott began working for an ABC radio station, which was also a commercial television station owned jointly with CBS radio. Here, Mott gained experience in radio broadcasting while also continuing to air television broadcasts. After two years Mott transferred back to Denver where he accepted a managerial role at KVCD until he accepted a job at Washington State University (WSU) in 1956. Mott remained a WSU as the instructor of Continuity and News Editor for twelve years. In 1968 he was approached by John Witherspoon, in association with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), who offered him a position as Executive Director of National Educational Radio which he eventually accepted. Other associated interests in radio and television broadcasting include Mott's involvement with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the Public Service Satellite Consortium (PSSC), National Public Radio (NPR), National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).