Joe Culligan's name may not ring familiar today, but his guest appearances on daytime radio and TV back in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s created quite a ratings sensation. Just ask Maury Povich, Montel Williams, Ricki Lake, Sally Jesse Raphael, and even NYC's favorite son, Joe Franklin, to whom Joe C. introduced me in a random meeting on Manhattan's west side.
Joe was a self-crafted private investigator. His uncanny exploitation of information sources many never even knew were portals of "public access" inspired him to write four successful How-To books on the subject of finding people. Demand for his services quickly rose. Joe, through a contract with Paramount, would make guest appearances on the popular TV & radio shows mentioned above. Many episodes featured visits by long lost friends & relatives Joe would secretly arrainge prior to taping. Stunned guests would tearfully embrace their long sought subjects, all before awe-struck audiences on national TV.
His firm investigated high profile billboard subects involving OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Dahmer and many others. But his passion for helping everyday people seemed to bring him the greatest joy and satisfaction. I know, because Joe was my friend. The last time we got together was in the Summer of 2000. Ostensibly, I was to accompany him (offstage) on a taping of one of Joe's guest slots on Montel, set to air a couple weeks later. That taping was rescheduled however, due to investigative loose ends. So, in a twist I jokingly called a consulation prize, Joe drove me to Fairfax, where we would spend 3-hours inside the studios of WRFK Radio, as Joe rounded up missing people being sought by live callers, on the syndicated G. Gordon Liddy radio show.
Joe died suddenly on June 14th at the age of 60. He is survived by his widow, his mother, two brothers and a sister. The G. Gordon Liddy Show was exciting, but I think the most meaningful tribute I could pay to Joe would be testimony to the memory of our high school days, crusing Long Island's Sunrise Highway and Hempstead Turnpike on those balmy summer nights, hanging out in the parking lot of WGBB's studio in Merrick, and singing along with "Ive Been Hurt", by Bill Deal and the Rhondells. I miss you, Joe.
Joe was a self-crafted private investigator. His uncanny exploitation of information sources many never even knew were portals of "public access" inspired him to write four successful How-To books on the subject of finding people. Demand for his services quickly rose. Joe, through a contract with Paramount, would make guest appearances on the popular TV & radio shows mentioned above. Many episodes featured visits by long lost friends & relatives Joe would secretly arrainge prior to taping. Stunned guests would tearfully embrace their long sought subjects, all before awe-struck audiences on national TV.
His firm investigated high profile billboard subects involving OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Dahmer and many others. But his passion for helping everyday people seemed to bring him the greatest joy and satisfaction. I know, because Joe was my friend. The last time we got together was in the Summer of 2000. Ostensibly, I was to accompany him (offstage) on a taping of one of Joe's guest slots on Montel, set to air a couple weeks later. That taping was rescheduled however, due to investigative loose ends. So, in a twist I jokingly called a consulation prize, Joe drove me to Fairfax, where we would spend 3-hours inside the studios of WRFK Radio, as Joe rounded up missing people being sought by live callers, on the syndicated G. Gordon Liddy radio show.
Joe died suddenly on June 14th at the age of 60. He is survived by his widow, his mother, two brothers and a sister. The G. Gordon Liddy Show was exciting, but I think the most meaningful tribute I could pay to Joe would be testimony to the memory of our high school days, crusing Long Island's Sunrise Highway and Hempstead Turnpike on those balmy summer nights, hanging out in the parking lot of WGBB's studio in Merrick, and singing along with "Ive Been Hurt", by Bill Deal and the Rhondells. I miss you, Joe.