Major Jordan Lawrence Mott *1881-1931* Radioman, writer and outdoors man. The major led
a life straight out of a romantic novel, born in New York, his father was the president of J.L. Mott
Iron Works, Trenton N.J. The younger Mott graduated from Harvard and went to work as a reporterin NYC. He covered his assignments in a chauffeur driven imported limousine and was dubbed the“Millionaire reporter.” Unhappy with his first marriage, Mott eloped with a married woman which
neither had bothered to secure a divorce. The young man was disinherited from his socialite parents.
During WW I our subject served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps commissioned as a major. Afterthe war, living on Santa Catalina Island off California where Mott pursued writing, deep sea fishingfor marlin and became prominent in the emerging radio industry.
Our man was engineer and founder of station KFWO -AM in 1925 from the living room of his homeon Claressa Street in Avalon from 1925 until 1928 (The first station on the air from Avalon!)
Catalina Island California. With only 250 Watts and a flat top wire antenna from Mott’s home.
Though the station was on the air a few hours in the daytime, the bulk of its broadcast hours wereat night, when the sky-wave signal was heard often outside of Southern California. With only a few
hundred stations on the air at that time, KFWO had reception reports from a least 25 states from thewest coast to the east coast. Doesn’t he look like CNN Caster Lou Dobbs?
The Major pictured here ina rare postcard fromCatalina in 1927. It features
Mott kicking back in his
ostentatious argyle socks as
he imparts wisdom to themasses from his verdantgarden on the tropical islewith 250 watts!
Our subject was a closefriend of Catalina Island
owner William Wrigley, Jr.,
thus KFWO was used topromote tourism on theisland, using the station
slogan taken from the call letters, “Katalina For Wonderful Outings.” Besides attempting to recruit
more visitors to visit Catalina with special news and talks, Mott used a phone line to broadcast musicfrom the Hotel St. Catherine orchestra a few times each day, along with live music from his home
performed by volunteer singers and musicians.
In 1928 Mr. Mott was exploring making KFWO a commercial station. He decided to move from
Catalina to the Hollywood Hills and he took KFWO off the air. He did not bother to sell his radio
station, he simply took it off the air and turned in the license.
The F.R.C. (Federal Radio Commission) Had about that time assigned KFWO to divide or share
air time on 1500 kc AM with KWTC in Santa Ana, but that never took place. Mott donated a lot of
his equipment to KWTC owner John Hancock. Some of the old KFWO equipment was still in placearound 1930 by KWTC at the Santa Ana Register newspaper building. Continued

It was soon discovered that the old KFWO equipment was outdated. Jim Hilliker said “My point isthat today, I don’t think one could get a regular radio station on the air in a residential neighborhood
as Mott did, and broadcast from a piano and microphone setup in his living room. Radio was much
simpler and maybe more fun in those pioneering days of broadcasting in Southern California.

Much of Major Mott’s time later on was spent campaigning for conservation of wildlife and naturalresources. He was attracted to Oregon and the North Umpqua for its excellent steel head fishing andmade his summer camp there until his premature death at age 50. Mott cherished his time atSteamboat Oregon so much that even after he had contracted the cancer that eventually killed him,
he traveled from California to his camp at Steamboat to spend his final days on the river. The springof the year after Mott’s death in 1931 marked the appearance at Steamboat of perhaps the most
famous sportsman in America, Zane Grey.
Major Mott’s legacy is well preserved in the Steamboat area. The bridge leading from the mainNorth Umpqua Highway across the river to the site of his old camp still bears his name, as do aseries of nearby fishing pools, collectively known as “Mott Water.” The fisherman’s trail thatprovides access to the south bank of the North Umpqua River is now maintained by the U.S. Forest
Service and officially known as the Mott Trail.
Partial text by Jim Hilliker, Monterey, Ca. (Hilliker was a commercial broadcaster for 25 years)andexpertise of The Steam Boat Inn dot com.

W8SU 2009