There have been heartbreakers, but I've had some really best times, too!"

That's Pat Paton, 80, Kansas City's "Dean of Public Relations," summarizing his 55 years (and still going strong) as a public relations and business promoter in the metro area.

His passion for public relations is as notorious as his longevity.

Paton was born in 1931 at the former St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. His father was executive director of a large business association in Kansas City, and his mother was head bookkeeper at the old Baltimore Hotel—and the first "Miss Kansas City."

Because both parents were gregarious and well-known, Paton grew up in the thick of business and social whirls. He, too, would soon know everybody, and if he didn't, he'd find a way to meet them.

He graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City, Mo., then attended Kansas City Missouri Junior College and, in 1953, graduated from Kansas City University (now UMKC) with a bachelor's degree in business and economics. During his senior year in high school and while in college, he worked in the photo and camera departments at The Jones Store and Macy's.

Paton began his press and media career in 1953, when KCMO-TV hired him as its first TV news department employee. In fact, he went to work there in August before the station actually went on the air in October. He did still photography, directed, floor directed, did reporting, and was even on the air. That's how it was in those days; TV news people were Jacks and Jills of all things TV.

In 1956, he left KCMO-TV and formed his own public relations and marketing firm, PPPR / Pat Paton Public Relations. At that time there were fewer than a dozen PR consultants in the Kansas City metro.

"Harry Truman, who knew me through my dad, said to me one day, "Junior, did you ever think about PR?" Paton recalled. "I hadn't, but I soon did. Since then I've always been the guy behind somebody or doing a special project—and I love it."

Paton's first public relations client was the motion picture sensation Cinerama.

"Cinerama used three movie projectors, somewhat like 3-D, with a 180-degree screen," Paton said. "The Main Street Theater at 14th and Main streets was the Kansas City Cinerama home. Cinerama was a novel and wonderful 'movie experience.' I also worked with Cinerama operations in Omaha, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and Dallas."

Over 55 years, Paton worked with Kansas City's top professional theaters, banks, developers, airlines, medical groups, hospitals, manufacturing concerns, restaurant and food chains, civic and business organizations, and educational institutions, as well as with national marketing firms and even a national income tax preparation firm. His clients have included TWA, Braniff Airlines, the Gilbert-Robinson restaurants, Putsch's Restaurants, H&R Block, Bristol-Myers, and the Reynolds Tobacco Co. Pat even worked with tourism groups nationally and internationally. He also was a real estate developer and built the Sun Castle Complex in Cape Coral, Fla. For several years he even owned WREN-AM in Topeka, Kan.

What a whirlwind those years were!

How did he acquire all those diverse clients?

"I went after some, and some came after me," said Paton. "Word of mouth always brought more business. You get picked as a PR person because somebody has heard of you, knows your work, or was impressed by a PR project planned and carried out for a client. Back in those days, many companies kept small staffs in prime locations all over the United States. Often I would become a member of those staffs to increase the PR representation. You name a company and I've probably worked with it."

As a PR professional, Paton has been recognized for both personal and civic leadership achievements. He was among UMKC's "Outstanding Alumni" and was named "Best KC PR Person" numerous times by Kansas City's former Squire Publications.

Other honors include those presented by the National Press Photographers Association (Paton is a 50-plus-year member and was co-founder of the Kansas City Chapter when at KCMO-TV), Lake of the Ozarks Council, Lake of the Ozarks Yachting Association, Kansas City Mayors' Prayer Breakfast Committee, Public Relations Society of America, several Kansas City media groups, and several professional theater organizations.

Why was he the go-to guy in PR?

"Contacts plus experience," he said, "and contacts are really the name of the game."

He has pretty clear ideas about what makes a successful PR professional.

"In my case, I always gear news information to specifics and tailor to a targeted audience," he said. "I learned news media and what they'll consider using, because I worked in early TV broadcasting. Today with many media staff cuts, the PR consultant is truly the media's 'second staff.'"

He also stresses the importance of personal bonds and friendships with clients as well as members of the press.

"Your client has to be a friend," he said. "If you don't get along, the partnership doesn't work and neither does the PR effort."

Paton is a member of many organizations, including the exclusive Kansas City Star Forty Years Ago Column Club.

"To belong to the club, your name had to have appeared in The Star's former 'Forty Years Ago Today' column," Paton said. "I was in there when the column ran the anniversary of my 1931 birth announcement!"

The invitation-only group isn't too active these days; members regularly meet for lunch "and to talk about how bad we are feeling," Paton said with a laugh.

He belongs, as well, to the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas City, Scottish Rite, and other professional, civic, and business groups. He's a 50-year-plus member of the Ararat Shrine, and lunches monthly with several Ararat past potentates he worked with as PR chairman of the local organization for years.

Paton was a co-founder of the Kansas City Media Legends, which meets twice a month for lunch and a "gab fest" at the Red Robin Restaurant at 95th and Metcalf.

"The Legends is a 'Who's Who' of Kansas City broadcast representatives," Paton said. "Members include Walt Bodine, Dan Henry, Ted Cramer, Mike Shanin, Kris Ketz, and Larry Moore. Five of us formed the Legends about four years ago. We invited other broadcasters past and present, and we now have grown to 149 members, guys and gals alike."

Public relations has changed dramatically over the decades in which Paton mastered it. His is an electronic world now; no more Royal typewriters, mimeographs, carbon paper, licking envelopes, and rolls of postage stamps.

"Electronic communication lets me get information out much quicker," he said. "I can have it in people's e-mail boxes in seconds, where in the past it would take one to two days, unless we hand-delivered information, which seemed to be the case most of the time. Today our ability to time things is also a lot better. And thank goodness for spell-check!"

So you might think Paton would bemoan the impersonality of electronic media, but it's just the opposite.

"Electronic news releases can really be more personal," he said, "because I can actually pinpoint each message to a specific person or happening."

Paton can look back over his half-century-plus of PR and summon memories both happy and painful.

"When you've represented somebody for 10 or 15 years and you helped build the organization, and they say they don't need you anymore, that hurts," he said. "But you know, I say a good PR man always gets fired."

Other tough moments—though they're endemic to the profession—involved performing "damage-control."

"There were times when I had to deal with problems with airlines, theaters, banks, and even professional groups," he said. "And there was the Golden Ox fire several years ago. My response to that was to put out a press release electronically as the fire was in progress, explaining what was going on. That really interested the media and they made quick efforts to cover it. Besides lots of local coverage, we even got some national TV exposure."

Some of his favorite memories center on theater PR. He helped save Starlight Theatre from closing several years back by developing a marketing program that helped break all early sales and attendance records. He opened a new local dinner theater, and for more than 10 seasons helped move it to a ranking of second in the nation. He worked with American Heartland Theatre more than nine seasons, with a theater in Olathe nearly five seasons, and has been with The Barn Players Community Theatre in Mission the past two seasons.
Through theater PR, he met, worked with, and formed lasting relationships with prominent personalities including Elinor Donahue, Larry Storch, Charlotte Rae, and Don Knotts, who was a favorite. He still corresponds with them and considers them all good friends.

Paton also points to the sheer pleasure of picking up a newspaper and seeing a headline or a story for which he was responsible, hearing a story on radio, or seeing TV coverage. For a PR guy, it doesn't get any better.

He fondly remembers other perks, like being aboard the first TWA jet flight from Kansas City to St. Louis in the early 1960s as a TWA PR representative. It was a luxury flight complete with wine in glasses, which he placed on seat trays to show the smoothness of jet travel (no spills!).

Tenure has been a big hallmark of Paton's work. He was with most of his clients a minimum of five to 10 years, ranging up to a local banking group for whom he did PR for nearly 35 years.

When Pat Paton started his PR firm in 1956, he was one of a dozen or so PR people in the area. Now the Yellow Pages has 165 listings. So it's a much bigger, more competitive world. Does he have any advice for young people getting into what's now usually called "marketing and communications"?

"Know your product. Know what you expect from your client and what your client expects from you. Hold onto your integrity. If a client asks you to print negative information, simply say no! If something is newsworthy, it's a story; if not, it's a waste of effort. You need the ability to determine what is and isn't newsworthy."

Paton has absolutely no interest in wrapping up his career at 56 years.

"I don't want to retire," he says vehemently. "I'm still having too much fun."

He has knowledge, skills, connections, and energy to spare, and he's ready for another client or two.

Paton is divorced, and his family focus is on his son, Neal, who is Southern California district manager for Yamaha Music Corp. of America.

"He's the coolest son that anybody could have," Paton said. Neal and his wife have one child, Catharina, 13, who is showing a lot of interest in theater these days and looks to Grandpa maybe being her PR guy!

Pat has been a resident of Johnson County more than 40 years and has lived in his current Leawood home for 26. He can be contacted at pppr@kc.rr.com.

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