John Popovich

The broadcasting bug bit John Popovich as a student at Struthers High School near Youngstown. He worked for the school’s radio station, WKTL (Key To Life), then followed his brothers and sisters to Ohio University in Athens.

His ambition was to combine radio, television and sports into a career. It didn’t take long for that dream to become reality.

Graduating from OU in 1973, Popovich headed west to do radio news at WDBQ-AM in Dubuque, Iowa. A year later he moved to WOC Radio/Television in Davenport, Iowa, doing news and sports on both radio and television. He settled into the community, but WCPO-TV’s Al Schottelkotte came calling in 1979. 

Popovich was hired that July as a sports reporter doing features for the original 7:00 O’clock Report. He was named Sports Director in 1981 and hosted the popular Sports of All Sorts program which aired for decades Sunday nights after the 11 O’Clock News.

“Popo” was one of the best writers in the business combing words and images into incredible reports that both entertained and informed viewers.

He used that talent to produce memorable stories while traveling the world for major sports events. He covered the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 for WCPO-TV and CBS and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 

There were also three Super Bowls, the Reds 1990 wire-to-wire season, the Hall of Fame inductions of Johnny Bench and Pete Rose, two Masters tournaments, two US Open tournaments, six Final Fours – one involving the University of Cincinnati and much more.

He retired from WCPO-TV at the end of 2019 after 40-years with the station.