McCollough was born in York, Pennsylvania in the early 1900s as the son of A. E. McCollough.[1] At the age of eight, he was run over by a horse and buggy while playing in the middle of a York street.[2] At the age of 10, he was a carrier boy for Lancaster Newspapers, owned by the Steinman family; he later worked in newspaper offices in high school and college.[3] After graduating from Millersville State Normal School, where he played on the football team,[4] he started his career as a classified advertising salesman for Lancaster Newspapers.[5][1]
The Steinmans branched into broadcasting in 1929, and McCollough moved with them. After starting as manager of the two Steinman outlets in Wilmington, Delaware, WDEL and WILM,[3] by 1932, he was the general manager of York station WORK.[6] Two years later, he had been promoted to general manager of the Mason Dixon Radio Group,[7] with stations at Lancaster, York and Hazleton as well as the two in Wilmington.[8] The group grew to seven outlets by 1944, having expanded into Easton and Harrisburg.[9] By the late 1940s, he was president of WGAL radio and television, a post he would hold until his retirement.[10]
In the late 1930s and 1940s, McCollough's career began to include more prominent state and national positions. In 1938, the NAB elected him as a director, which began a lengthy involvement with the association.[11] A year later, he served on the copyright committee that oversaw the creation of performing rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc.[1][12] He presided over the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, the first state association of its kind, from 1940[13] to 1945.[14] At the NAB, he served on various committees.[15] By 1955, he had been elected to the NAB board more times than any other individual.[16] McCollough also served as the group's president in 1958.[17]
McCollough was also active within the NBC network with which WGAL radio and television were affiliated, chairing the NBC stations planning and advisory committee.[18] He also took part of the founding of the Television Bureau of Advertising[19] and was the president of Broadcasters' Foundation, Inc., in the 1960s.[20] The NAB presented McCollough with its Distinguished Service Award, one of its highest honors, in December 1959.[14] Days later, he was named to a commission created to clean up the radio and television industries in the wake of the 1950s quiz show scandals and other controversies.[19]
Two years later, when the radio and television boards of the NAB were unified, he was unanimously elected chairman and served in that post for two years.[17] McCollough retired from all of his positions—president of WGAL, president of the Steinman Stations, and president of Steinman's cable television division—in 1974.[17] After retiring, he became a consultant to Steinman[17] and was named vice-chairman of WGAL radio and television.[21]
Personal life and death
In addition to his broadcasting involvement, McCollough served as president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce[22] and was active in a myriad of civic and business organizations in Lancaster.[17] A member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), McCollough served on its long-range planning committee[16] and chaired its Department of Radio and Television.[23] McCullough was honored with the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service in 1980.[12]
After having been active on the Millersville state normal school's council of trustees from 1936 to 1942, a $200,000 gift from McCullough in 1985 established a broadcasting center at the now-university,[24] and a scholarship was also established in his name at the university.[25] McCullough married Velma A. Dilworth in 1926 and had one daughter; Dilworth died in 1982.[26]
McCullough died in Lancaster on November 30, 1995.[25]
