Radio station’s business manager carried on family business

Cheryl A. Scott was a dynamic businesswoman, a straight arrow, a nail driver and “a tough broad.” And that was only the half of her.

“She always cared about everyone else before herself,” said her sister, Maliya McIntyre of Shaler.

“Her greatest quality was forgiveness,” said her brother, Robert Dickey Jr., who ran KQV-AM 1410 with Mrs. Scott after their father, Robert Dickey Sr., died in 2011.

“The moment she found out she had cancer, she said, ‘I’m gonna fight this and I’m gonna kill it,’” said her husband of 41 years, Jeffrey A. Scott of Bethel Park.

Mrs. Scott, 62, died Friday from lung and liver cancer. For six months, she received chemotherapy while continuing to work three days a week at the radio station. The cancer went into remission for two months but returned in October.

Mrs. Scott was the third oldest of Patricia and Robert Dickey’s 12 children. The oldest is Carol Finelli Brown, whose Total Traffic reports are carried on KQV and many other radio stations.

“My father used to say, ‘Your sister’s a tough broad.’ She was, and I love tough broads,” Ms. Finelli Brown said in her husky radio voice.

Their father was the only other family member who could be heard on-air, but radio is in their blood. The family was living on Long Island when Robert Dickey Sr. helped pioneer the allnews, 22-minute radio show at WINS-AM in New York City. His No. 3 daughter was 18 and in charge of the cashiers at a department store when she met Jeff Scott from men’s clothing.

“In the break room, I decided to make my move,” he said. “I had two big shakes and a bologna sandwich on a hard roll. The plate fell and the shakes went everywhere. She couldn’t stop laughing. … It was love at first sight.”

They married three years later, in 1976, and had four children: Jeffrey J. Scott, Cherise Schwartz and Christina Murtaugh, all of Bethel Park, and Thomas R. Scott of West Mifflin. That same year, her father, a Beaver County native, moved back to Pittsburgh to become general manager of KQV and WDVE-FM, both Taft radio stations.

He called on the toughest of his seven daughters in 1982, when he and Richard Mellon Scaife bought KQV to keep its all-news format intact.

“He needed someone to do the books,” her husband said. Although she had taken only a few college courses, “she had that kind of mind.” Her brother Bob agreed.

“Cheryl took more and more jobs. She was such a hard worker. She did all the heavy lifting,” he said.

When their father died in 2011, Mr. Scaife offered to sell his stake in the station to them.

“Cheryl said, ‘ Do you want to do this? If you have any doubt, I will do it myself,’” Mr. Dickey recalled. “I said, ‘Dad wouldn’t want you to do it by yourself. Let’s do it.’ “

She became the business manager and he took over sales. Although they sometimes argued loud enough to shut the door, they always managed to forgive and move on.

“She once said, ‘I can’t think of anyone I’d rather partner with,’” he said.

The Downtown radio station will turn 100 years old in 2019.

In addition to her husband, four children and six grandchildren, Mrs. Scott is survived by 11 siblings: Carol Finelli Brown of Shadyside, Karen Ahmad of Hillsboro, Ore., Bob Dickey Jr. of Bethel Park, Joanne Zick of Cary, N.C., Cynthia Bergman of McCandless, William Dickey of West Newton, James Dickey of Downington, Pa., Julia Mundt of Los Alamos, N.M., Maliya McIntyre of Shaler, Patrick Dickey of Coraopolis and John Dickey of Apex, N.C.

A wake will be held at 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Beinhauer-Connell Funeral Services, 5120 W. Library Ave., Bethel Park. A funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Louise de Marillac Church in Bethel Park.