Butch McCain

Early life

Born in Muleshoe, Texas, and raised on a farm near Bovina in Parmer County, Texas, Butch and his older brother, Ben, were encouraged by their parents, Rose and Leslie McCain, to pursue their interests in performing and athletics while also helping on the family farm.

While in high school in 1975, Butch started working at radio station KLVT in Levelland, Texas. He worked his way through South Plains College with two part-time jobs, a roustabout in the oil fields for Mobil Oil during the afternoons and as a disc jockey at night. After graduating from South Plains College, he transferred to West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas, and quickly found work at KGNC Radio in Amarillo doing afternoon drive.

After graduating from WTSU, Butch was encouraged by his brother, Ben, to get into local television. Butch's first TV job was in 1979 as weekend sports anchor at CBS affiliate KFDA-TV in Amarillo, Texas. He was soon offered a weekday position of anchoring and doing the weather for the morning show. A few months later, Butch accepted a job to be the primetime weatherman. Months later, Butch accepted the evening weather anchor position at KLTV in Tyler, Texas in 1980.

In 1981, Butch was offered a weather anchor job in Oklahoma City at the same station where his brother worked. Butch jumped at the chance. The McCain brothers teamed up to do a morning show in Oklahoma City from 1981 to 1994 at NBC affiliate KTVY (now KFOR-TV) and eventually at ABC affiliate KOCO-TV, where they also anchored that station's noon newscast. The McCain brothers, with Ben anchoring the news and Butch forecasting the weather, hosted a morning TV show for 12 years (six each on KTVY and KOCO), at one time attracting a 58 share, according to Nielsen in 1984. The brothers moved to California in the summer of 1994.

Music

While in Oklahoma, the brothers recorded three CDs. The country single, “If Love Was a Crime I Couldn't Get Arrested” went number one on 50,000-watt KOMA radio. The boys and their band of Oklahoma musicians opened concerts for major acts touring through the state and for eight years played the Oklahoma State Fair. For several years, the brothers hosted a favorite Sunday night music video show, Hot Country Hits. They also hosted a syndicated TV music show called The McCain Brothers Show.

Film and television

While hosting their daily morning television program, the brothers appeared on the syndicated TV show Hee Haw as well as ABC soap operas General Hospital, All My Children and Loving. They both earned their Screen Actors Guild cards while appearing in Dark Before Dawn in 1989 a film shot in Oklahoma City. Rex Linn (now a regular on CSI: Miami), was the associate producer and put in a good word for the brothers with executive producer Ed Gaylord. As a result, both landed roles as reporters (Rex, along with singer Garth Brooks and actor James Marsden made their TV debuts on the McCain Brothers show). Classical guitarist Edgar Cruz made his television debut on the McCain Brothers show.

The brothers moved to Los Angeles in 1994 to combine their interest in TV, film and music. The McCain Brothers appeared in regular live shots on the morning show for the Los Angeles’ CBS station KCBS-TV.

Butch and his brother Ben, have appeared in numerous films together including MGM's cult classic Bio-Dome, Roger Corman's Humanoids from the Deep and Bruce Campbell's My Name is Bruce, where they wrote and performed the theme song, "The Legend of Guan Di". In the movie, Ben plays the mayor and Butch has dual roles as the sheriff and a uni-browed farmer. In a 1997, Daily Variety columnist Andrew Hindes described the McCain Brothers as "multi-hyphenated". Butch also appeared in Jonás Cuarón's Desierto.

Butch played a sports broadcaster in a Pepsi commercial with Jeff Gordon which debuted during Super Bowl XXXII in 1998 and continued to play during national sporting events for two years.

Butch is the evening weather anchor for the NBC affiliate KKCO in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Butch is part of a family farming and cattle operation in Texas.