Same here. I feel a terrible sense of loss. I missed out not meeting the guy.

And the great thing is we get another Christmas next month.

Back the 90s I worked as a technical producer at a local radio station. We had Mr. Cannell on for a phone interview. The show in question wasn't huge, not a big audience at all, and so getting someone like this on the air was a big deal.

Normally, interviews with big names had some measure of baggage going with it. Either they are difficult to get a hold of or they can only talk for fifteen minutes, or something else that just makes the whole thing a pain. That wasn't the case with Mr. Cannell. Even though we weren't a big show, we had him on for the whole hour.

As I recall, we also ran something of a contest. He was doing a casting call for a movie or TV show (don't remember which--it was almost fifteen years ago). We had callers essentially audition for some of the parts on the air. I took down names and numbers of the callers, and at the end of the show Mr. Cannell decided on winners. The winners were given invitations to the audition (I don't think any of them actually got a part--they were just able to go). It was one of the better interviews we had.

At the end of the hour, I spoke with him on the phone. I gave him the information on the winners and he handled everything from there. That's unusual in situations like this--you usually have to deal with a publicist who handles these things, or the stations handles it themselves. But Mr. Cannell handled it all himself. I remember him being very kind and professional.

It's damn shame he's gone. His shows were some of the best on TV. Prayers and condolences to his family.

When I was a kid I went to a lot of rock concerts. Ronnie James Dio was the third concert I ever went to. I was 14, and the show absolutely blew me away. It's a damn shame he's departed this mortal coil.

"HA HA HA"

You're quoting us in 2 years, and again in 4.

The fat lady hasn't sung yet. StlDan is right. We'll know more after 2010 and 2012.

The irony is that Sadly No's adolescent ravings will likely boost the sales of the novel.

Just today I saw this link on Linkiest (John Hawkin's link site). Essentially, the article is about a liberal supporter of Obama and national health care admitting it is about making the middle class dependent on the government.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704...

Interesting. The left-wingers are ignoring the big wins in NJ and VA and focusing on NY-23, a seat that Owens will have to fight for next year and will probably lose. Good. That means they're cocky, and they'll get hammered in '10.

All good points and I agree. I wanted to comment on the media paying attention to the customers (the public).

I worked in news radio in the Denver metro area for almost six years. No one saw the listeners as customers. No one I worked with cared for the listeners. The listeners didn't pay us to listen to us, they listened for free. TV and radio get money from the advertisers who purchase air time for commercials. Essentially, they are selling our attention span.

That's why journalists and the MSM in general doesn't care about us. We aren't the customers--we're the product.