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OUT OF
THE BOOTH, INTO THE TRAILER
As sports director of NJN,
the state's public television station, Pat Scanlon was named
New Jersey Sportscaster of the Year nine times. These days, as
president of Shamrock Communications in Long Branch, Scanlon
is producing high-profile sports programming.
Shamrock
produced three preseason telecasts of New York Giants football
games last year and could do more in coming seasons. "I
anticipate when and if certain things take place, we are going
to expand our role for Pat," says Rusty Hawley, the Giants'
vice president of marketing. "That could include in-stadium
production."
Shamrock
handled transmission and production of last year's preseason
games from a trailer parked outside the stadium. It beamed the
play-by-play action to WWOR-TV in Secaucus and other stations.
Scanlon's first run at producing Giants football tested his
mettle as a veteran of more than 20 years of television
broadcasting. "The first game was the day after last year's
blackout," he recalls.
The massive
shutdown darkened Northern New Jersey, much of New York City
and extended as far as the Midwest. As power was slowly being
restored, Scanlon scrambled to put the game on the air. "We
had to bring in a satellite truck," he says.
Scanlon, 47,
formed Shamrock in 1997 while still sports director for NJN.
Today the company produces telecasts, commercials and
corporate videos.
Scanlon kept
the business going while he launched Comcast Network CN8 and
served as vice president of television production and
marketing for The Racing Network in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
The latter network, which broadcast thoroughbred, harness and
greyhound racing, had to suspend operations in 2001 due to a
lack of subscribers.
Shamrock is
basically a one-man company. Scanlon hires production crews as
needed and maintains relationships with graphic artists and
other professionals to create animation and program
enhancements.
Scanlon's
clients reflect connections he has developed over his career.
They include The Daily Racing Form, which is opening a new
television studio in Manhattan that Shamrock helped design.
Meanwhile, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which
represents 10 area colleges, has turned to Shamrock for
television exposure for its games.
Rob Kennedy,
president of the Hoop Group, a basketball instructional
organization in Neptune, worked with Scanlon at NJN and is now
a client. "He basically generates all our sponsorship," says
Kennedy. Hoop Group events include summer basketball camps and
the annual Battle on the Boardwalk high school tournament,
which last month was held in Asbury Park.
Shamrock
recently produced a commercial for Rebounds, a Hoop Group
facility that rents out courts. "Rebounds were new to the
marketplace," says Kennedy. "The building has been in
operation for one year and the general public did not have any
idea about us. Pat helped increase our traffic.
"Sometimes
you get involved with a production company and never see the
boss again," adds Kennedy. "With Pat, he is the one handling
all of it."
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NJBiz.com | 
