DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704090126

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

DAVIS LEAVES WCTV TO WORK FOR OMAN FUNERAL HOME THIS CAREER CHANGE FOR CHANNEL 23 STATION MANAGER ``HAPPENED QUITE BY ACCIDENT.''

Meyer Davis, program director at WCTV-23, recently stepped down as the head of the city's public cable access television station to tackle a new career.

Davis, the man who helped guide WCTV-23 to become an admired state-of-the art television station with up-to-date equipment and a hard-working versatile staff, resigned his position at the station March 28 to begin his new career as a mortician with the well-known and prestigious Oman Funeral Home, owned and operated by former Chesapeake and Elizabeth City mayor Sid Oman and his son Bob Oman.

``My interest in this field happened quite by accident,'' said the quiet-spoken Davis from his office on his last day at the station. ``It was maybe about a year and a half ago when Sid (Oman) asked me if I'd like to help him out from time to time with funerals. I said, sure. It sounded interesting to me and I have known Sid and been his friend for several years since he hosts our political interview show `Sounding Board.' I thought working with his business, that has such a good name throughout the area, would be an interesting change.''

Davis, 52, said he began to work with the Omans on the part-time basis and then about a month ago was approached by them to join the home. After the offer, he said he thought about it, discussed it with his wife and family and finally decided to make the career change.

``They offered me an internship,'' Davis said. ``I'll take funeral courses at John Tyler Community College in Chester, Va., several times a week and then work in the field, gaining practical experience with my internship. I should be fully trained within two years.''

Davis said that while driving to his last day with WCTV he began to feel a little sad about his decision.

``I knew this would be my last time with the station and I started getting a little melancholy,'' he said. ``But then the excitement and anticipation of beginning a new career and working with such a well-respected business as the Oman Funeral Home and working with such people like Sid and Bob made me feel I had made the right decision.''

Meyer, who began his career in television 34 years ago when he was 18, arrived at WCTV with lengthy experience in commercial TV. He worked at stations in Memphis, Tenn.; Charleston, S.C.; Atlanta and Winston-Salem, N.C. He was with WVEC from 1984 until 1992 just before he joined the city's station.

``I feel good about what I've done at the station,'' Davis said. ``It's been a real pleasure working here. I feel we've made good accomplishments and we've gotten good feedback from the city and the public. I feel like I'm leaving the station in good hands. It's this great staff I have that made it so good. I can't speak highly enough of this staff; they are that good and made my job easy.''

While working at WCTV, Davis brought the station up to technological speed with other stations in the area, bringing in state-of-the-art equipment and hiring a dedicated staff, adept at many jobs and television skills.

``Sure, I'm going to miss the station, but I have many, many good memories of working in television and with the station that can't be taken away, that will always be with me,'' he said. ``But it's time for me to do something different.''

Davis said the defining moment when he was convinced that going into the funeral business was a good thing took place a few months ago.

``I was working on this funeral, with the burial of a man's wife in Ahoskie,'' Davis said. ``I drove the family to a house in Chesapeake. When we got out, the man whose wife had just died, looked at me and asked me if I would be there at the burial site. I told him, yes, I would and then he took my arm and hugged me. That made me feel as if I were doing something worthwhile, something that made a difference in a person's life while going through something as serious as a death in the family.''

Davis said sitting down with both Bob and Sid Oman, talking about their business and learning their philosophy also convinced him he was making the right move.

``Everyone knows the Oman name, that it is synonymous with Chesapeake, integrity and quality,'' he said.

And if Davis ever gets the slightest homesick for television, all he'll need to do is talk with his wife, Jane.

``She still works with WVEC; she's the station's news and business manager,'' he said. ``If I want to talk television, all I need to do is talk with her when she comes home from work. So I'll always be close to television.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN

``Sure, I'm going to miss the station, but I have many, many good

memories of working in television and with the station that can't be

taken away, that will always be with me,'' said Meyer Davis, now

interning to become a mortician at Oman Funeral Home. ``But it's

time for me to do something different.''

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