Cannon Firing Line
It’s All About Paul
By Ellis G. Cannon
PSR Publisher

So your friendly PSR staff sits down to decide on this issue’s theme and things are going a bit slow.

They picked up when one man’s name was mentioned. Soon, we had “Letters to Santa”. That turned into an updated version, craftily named “Holiday email”. Same idea, new millenium.

That man’s name?

Paul Shannon.

Yeah, that Paul Shannon, as in WTAE-TV, “Adventure Time with Paul Shannon” and Backyard Carnivals benefitting Muscular Dystrophy.

Him.

If you were a kid in the ‘60’s you know where this is going. If not, we’ll try to do for you what Paul did for us: make you use your imagination.

It’s all about rocket ships, mister. The type Paul loaded up each December with our cards and letters listing what we wanted for holiday gifts.

Each year about this time, Paul would encourage kids to send their list to Channel 4, which aired his show. Then we’d watch our black and white to see if he read ours. You raced home, hoping that day would be your day.

That was when simple, but creative, production could be as invigorating as multi-media graphics and animation. All while you had to actually get up and change the channel rather than use a clicker.

This was about creating anticipation while Paul - that’s Mr. Shannon to you - would stand there tossing your list into what was portrayed as the guts of a rocket ship, one that would ultimately be sent to the North Pole.

Forgive me, but “portrayed” is wrong. It was the guts of a rocket ship and it would take off in time for Claus’ big trip. After all, seeing was believing. It pretty much looked like a rocket and that bin kept getting fuller. Paul would get through more and more cards as launch date neared, the increased pace doing the same to your anticipation.

Besides, the launch was documented right there on TV. Right after Paul would count down the launch, smoke came out and they’d cut away to real footage of a rocket launch. Looked a bit like the Polaris missile from the original Batman movie, but it worked.

This went on for weeks, so the build-up got crazy. You had to be a part of this - or your holidays were doomed. If this strikes you as bizarre, maybe it was. But we still like it better than having to practically babysit your kids through sports highlight shows, secure Internet safeguards and hide your kids from the after school music videos that belong on late night cable.

There was so much more to Paul Shannon. Reviving the Three Stooges. Naming a TV character “Nosmo King” after a No Smoking sign. The Backyard Carnivals like the ones my mom had for the neighborhood so we could raise money for muscular dystrophy. This wasn’t about watching television, it was about making an emotional connection.

Think about it. The man had enough game to make you believe everyone had to be a part of a rocket launch to the North Pole, then hook you into doing something meaningful for others.

Forgive us if we have the details messed up; we’re more interested in the spirit and not the specifics anyway. We like how we remember it, even if we’ve gone on-line and found some people recall Santa reading the notes from the kids live via a hook-up from the Pole after the ship landed. We don’t. Others say this all happened on the weekends. We don’t.

Who cares, even if we’re more imaginative than even Paul thought we’d be. Or that we’d still somehow be inspired by it.

So that’s how this Report came to be. Yeah, the guys updated things a bit and went to an on-line version. They put together wish lists and sorts, but sent emails instead, probably because there weren’t a lot of rocket ships available.

But that’s OK, because as much as we wanted to write about sports, we also desired to honor somebody who stood for a lot more-at the time of year he meant so much. We did both and hope you enjoy it.

Ellis Cannon is also a regular panelist on KDKA-TV’s “#1 Cochran Sports Showdown” aired Sundays at 11:35 p.m.