A leading figure in Wisconsin broadcast journalism for over 30 years, McCullough was the major news anchor for WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee, from 1967 to 1988. During that period, he covered the major events of the time, including five national political conventions, four presidential inaugurations and a papal visit to United States. He was born in Janesville and began his broadcasting career in 1955 in South Bend, Indiana, at the broadcast stations of Notre Dame University, WNDU AM and TV. There he eventually became Manager of News and Public Affairs prior to returning to Wisconsin and joining WTMJ-TV. He retired from his news anchor position in 1988 but continued to appear on the station’s broadcasts as a featured news commentator. He also contributed to broadcast public affairs by producing and serving as the host of documentaries for educational station WMVS-TV in Milwaukee. His bent toward community service found him deeply involved with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and with Sheboygan’s Lakeland College where he served on its Board of Trustees. He twice won regional Emmy Awards for his documentaries, and in 1989 he was inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame.
John McCullough passed away on July 20, 2011.
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The Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame was created in 1989 to honor those broadcasters who have devoted their careers to broadcasting and its development in Wisconsin, to recognize their outstanding service to broadcasting, their communities, and their state, over at least a fifteen-year career in the industry, at least ten of which were served in Wisconsin.The first twelve members of the Hall of Fame were inducted during the 1989 WBA Summer Conference. Inductees are chosen each year from among nominations by WBA members. Broadcasters who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame include managers, personalities, engineers, reporters and those broadcasting pioneers who were at once all of the above.
In October, 1989, Alfred C. Sykes, then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, came to Wisconsin to formally dedicate a Hall of Fame display, including plaques honoring the inductees, at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library in Madison. In 2010, due to remodeling of the SHSW facility, the display was removed. The Hall of Fame exhibit was relocated to the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in 2015 and enhanced with a touchscreen display featuring all inductee commemorative videos.
