[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.
[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.
[10] In the late 1930s and 1940s, McCollough's career began to include more prominent state and national positions.
[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.
[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.