Paul Schankman
Central 1978
Voted “most talented” as a high school senior, Paul Schankman has established himself as a news reporter with integrity in St. Louis.
Schankman produces special projects for “FOX 2 News at 9.” Among his many on-location assignments have been the Oklahoma City bombing, a space shuttle launch, two political conventions and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, where he was the first St. Louis reporter to begin broadcasting live. Also, at the tender age of 19, he covered President Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration for two local radio stations.
Schankman also hosts the program “State of the Arts” on the Higher Education Channel in St. Louis, and has hosted radio programs at KTRS-AM. Prior to joining FOX 2, he was a weekend anchor and reporter at the CBS TV/radio station in Rock Island, Ill.
In addition to his accomplishments in the studio, Schankman is involved in several community activities. He is an announcer at the city’s MUNY Opera, as well as a voting member of St. Louis’ Walk of Fame.
Schankman has won numerous awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award for writing, 17 regional Emmy awards, a bronze medal at the International Radio and Television Festival, the Unity Award from Lincoln University, and Dartmouth College’s Champion-Tuck Award for economic reporting. He also has received recognition from the St. Louis Association of Black Journalists.
A newsman with a sense of humor, Schankman recalls that his brush with an angry llama that pushed him into a creek will probably live on for many years, as it has been shown on television blooper shows all over the world.
At Central High, Schankman remembers the teachers who prepared him for his career as a newsman on camera. “Leroy Walters had me read news headlines to the class every morning in social studies class, and Carole Clary, who was my journalism teacher, appointed me editor of the paper my senior year,” he says. “Also, my drama teacher, Betty Pfaff, always told us to ‘be nice to the crew—you can’t act in the dark.’”
Schankman earned his B.S. degree in mass communications at SIU-Edwardsville in 1982. He graduated with honors and later received the Alumni Achievement Award.