RIP--John McCullough Channel 4 News Anchor

[JimH5]

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/125926698.html

 

Any Milwaukee area resident from the 1970s and 80s will recognize his name and face. To me, he was the news. He seemed very level headed and professional, and I don't remember tv news being loaded with so many puff pieces back then, either.

 

His passing is especially sad for me.

[chuckiehacks]

As far as I can remember, his were the last of the single-anchor newscasts.

[FIPS133]

I agree. Growing up in the John McCullough era he was and continues to be my paragon of television journalism. Perhaps it was my perspective as a child and young adult but McCullough made the Milwaukee of that time seem larger and more significant. Frankly the transition from McCullough to Gousha spoiled and insulated our market from the dramatic changes to television journalism that were occurring throughout the nations newsrooms. Gousha also allowed John McCullough to slip easily into private life without the constant pull from the viewing public asking for his return although it would have been welcome.

 

By the time Mike Gousha left TMJ4 - because he could no longer stomach the direction of the newscast - John McCullough was long retired but not forgotten. I say thank you John McCullough for the standards you set and the impact you had on my developing critical thinking skills.

[RockCoCougars]

Did not know that he was from Janesville. I remember watching him a lot back in the day on the antenna at 10, and later when we actually got Milwaukee stations on cable (now we are stuck with Madison and Rockford).

 

I cannot stomach the local news anymore, mostly because guys like John with their approach to the news are gone. The definition of 'news' has changed for the local stations. It also drives me crazy watching the local stations for Brewers news- with the Madison stations leading with two UW stories, followed by a prep story, then the Brewers blip- good thing it isn't necessary anymore.

[hawing]

I was born in Janesville and lived there till age 12. By the 70s we had cable and Milwaukee stations, but my parents' news of choice was TV 6. So I grew up in a Carl Zimmermann household instead of John McCullough - but I still know what you guys are talking about.

 

The everything's-a-sensation approach to broadcast news nowadays frankly turns me off. I cut way back on my TV news absorption after the terror attacks in 2001 and have scarcely looked back since. Like RockCo, one source of special dismay is Madison TV's "coverage" of the Brewers...but that's a tangent for another thread.

[JimH5]

Carl Zimmerman was also a classy gent, and someone who would merit my youthful respect. I just couldn't handle getting the weather from a puppet.

 

http://www.toontracker.com/milwaukee/dublon.htm

 

To me, it was McCullough at the news desk with Paul Joseph on weather and Hank Stoddard on sports. Those guys were my tv window to the world.

 

I also can't handle local news anymore--because it's just not news. If they would just give me 30 minutes of what happened around the city and state, with a short weather forecast and maybe a sports recap--that's enough. Instead, we get 5 minutes on a house fire, 10 minutes of weather (how much can we possibly need?), a story about how a Wisconsinite was delayed at some airport somewhere, a restaurant that failed a health inspection, local reaction to national stories, a guy eating a cream puff at the fair, and then 6 minutes of Packer stuff.

 

Stop interviewing local residents. Unless they escaped from Dahmer's apartment, they don't have anything interesting to say. Stop showing headless fat people walking around while you read about the latest obesity stats. Stop showing some goof from the health department telling us not to over-exert ourselves in hot weather. We know not to.

 

McCullough and Zimmerman wouldn't recognize today's local news--and I might watch one broadcast every two weeks. I'm a family guy, home just about every night--if they're not getting my eyes, who's watching this stuff?

[hawing]

Carl Zimmerman was also a classy gent, and someone who would merit my youthful respect. I just couldn't handle getting the weather from a puppet.

 

http://www.toontracker.com/milwaukee/dublon.htm

Yeah, see, to someone under 10 years old, a weather cat puppet wasn't all bad. I still remember my mom being mad at Ward Allen once in the 1970s after we got (as she put it) "nine inches of flurries!"

 

I'm tired of the media's incredible overuse of "Breaking News." WTMJ-AM sticks in my craw particularly, as seemingly half the time their "breaking news" isn't happening anywhere near Wisconsin. If it's not Wisconsin and it's not something like new terror attacks, I question whether it's breaking.

[RockCoCougars]

Stop interviewing local residents. Unless they escaped from Dahmer's apartment, they don't have anything interesting to say. Stop showing headless fat people walking around while you read about the latest obesity stats. Stop showing some goof from the health department telling us not to over-exert ourselves in hot weather. We know not to.

 

Post of the week, my friend. You have summed up why watching the local news makes me nearly as angry as watching Kammy Loe choke a lead away.

[ilovebeer]

Channel 6 weather cat puppit was named Albert.

[homer]

I honestly think there's a market out there for old style news reporting but I doubt any station has the cajones to try it.

[patrickgpe]

i really wish someone would do it, most of tv news is unwatchable, i think john mccullough would be shocked to know that ch 4 features dirty dining and speed patrol on a regular basis.

[JimH5]

I honestly think there's a market out there for old style news reporting but I doubt any station has the cajones to try it.

 

I haven't watched it in awhile, but Channel 58 used to bang out story after story during their newscasts. Not sure if they still do it that way, but I used to like them.

 

I used to live in Jacksonville, and there the NBC and ABC affiliates were owned by the same company, and they combined news operations and called it First Coast News. They simulcast it on both stations, and it was a decent newscast. Milwaukee is small enough that it might make financial sense for two locals to team up to form a better quality organization than they could afford as competitors. At least they could send their reporters to more places.