Cannon to California

* — This item originally stated that Cannon had been off the air since July. In fact, he was on camera as recently as September. The mistake is mine, not Rob Owen’s. (Jason, 5:30 p.m.)

Longtime Pittsburgh TV anchor and reporter Don Cannon is headed to California and semi-retirement, according to the Post-Gazette.

Cannon, 68, tells the P-G‘s Rob Owen that his contract at KDKA-TV (2) was not renewed. Dozens of positions were cut at CBS owned-and-operated stations over the past year.

But Cannon has not anchored the news since July, when viewers saw him shaky and disoriented while reading the news — an appearance chalked up to illness. (Cannon was seen on camera in a reporting role after the incident.)*

Cannon declined to discuss his health with Owen, saying he didn’t feel “like recycling the same story from 10 years ago,” when he disclosed that he had been treated for alcoholism and depression.

The former WTAE-TV anchor has owned a home in Southern California for several years, and will look for a broadcasting job (Cannon says he will “never fully retire”), but says he will miss Pittsburgh.