Hugh Ike Shott (September 3, 1866October 12, 1953) was an American

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

editor, pioneer broadcaster, and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician in the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

Career

Shott apprenticed as a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

. He moved to the then-booming new city of

Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield WV- VA micropolitan area, which had a population of 106,363 in 2020. Geography Bluefie ...

. He took control of the

Bluefield Daily Telegraph The ''Bluefield Daily Telegraph'' is a newspaper based in Bluefield, West Virginia, and also covering surrounding communities in McDowell, Mercer and Monroe counties, West Virginia; and Bland, Buchanan, Giles and Tazewell counties, Virginia ...

, the city's primary morning newspaper. Via straw parties, he also controlled the "competing" evening ''Mountain Sunset Review''. He was also involved in the railway mail service and was

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

for several years. In that era, postmaster was a political appointment given by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

. He was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in 1928 and re-elected in 1930. However, he was defeated for a third term in 1932, as well as in his attempt to run for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

in 1936. In 1942, he was a candidate for the special Senate "short term" caused by the resignation of

Matthew M. Neely Matthew Mansfield Neely (November 9, 1874January 18, 1958) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician from West Virginia. He is the only West Virginian to serve in both houses of the United States Congress and as the ...

. He won and served from November 18, 1942 to January 3, 1943. The election was almost honorary, as the Senate only met twice during his term of office. He was not a candidate in the regular election, held on the same day, for the following regular six-year term. He was referred to as "Senator" for the rest of his life.

Broadcasting

In 1928, the Daily Telegraph Printing Co. obtained a license for the only radio station in Bluefield at the time. The

call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

stood for his initials –

WHIS '' Dragon Ball'' is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, ''Dr. Slump''. While many of the c ...

. In 1948, Jim and Hugh, Jr. started a companion FM station, WHIS-FM. The venture turned out to be premature, as there weren't enough FM receivers to make the station a success, and it was temporarily shut down. The FM station now has the call letters

WHAJ WHAJ (104.5 FM, "J104") is a contemporary hit radio formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Bluefield, West Virginia, serving Southern West Virginia and Southwestern Virginia. WHAJ is owned and operated by Charles Spencer and Rick Lambert, ...

. His control of both daily newspapers and both of the primary radio stations gave him a virtual news

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

in his area. His newspaper, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, was an unashamedly Republican publication. The radio stations and the television station that would later become part of the company were not organs of opinion. In 1955 his heirs obtained, by the only special exception ever granted by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

, the sole

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

station in the city, which likewise carried his WHIS initials. After extended litigation, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ordered that no one company could own both the primary AM and FM stations, the only TV station, and the only daily newspaper in the same town. WHIS-TV was sold and the call letters changed to

WVVA WVVA (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Bluefield, West Virginia, United States, serving the Bluefield– Beckley– Oak Hill market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on U ...

in 1979. His name lives on in WHIS-AM although it also was later sold, as was the FM station he owned.

Legacy

The Hugh Ike Shott, Jr. Foundation – Shott's youngest son, H.I. Shott, Jr., established a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

in 1984 with the objective to help improve the social and economic quality of life within the trade area of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Shott Jr. was with the newspaper founded by his father for more than 60 years.

References

Hugh Ike Shott
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of ...

Hugh Ike Shott
at GovTrack {{DEFAULTSORT:Shott, Hugh Ike 1866 births 1953 deaths People from Bluefield, West Virginia Politicians from Staunton, Virginia Editors of West Virginia newspapers West Virginia postmasters Republican Party United States senators from West Virginia Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia Journalists from Virginia