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George Putnam [Born July 14, 1914]
Newsmax ^ | July 14, 2006

Posted on 07/14/2006 12:24:55 PM PDT by Fiji Hill

The legendary George Putnam is 92 years young and a veteran of 72 years as a reporter, broadcaster and commentator... and is still going strong. George can be heard on simulcast coast-to-coast via Cable Radio Network (CRN) and KCCA, 1050 AM in San Bernardino, CA. and KCAA in Los Angeles.

Always dedicated and hard working, George rose up from humble beginnings in St. Paul, Minnesota to build an illustrious career, which began on his 20th birthday in 1934 at WDGY, Minneapolis. Since then he has worked as a newsman, reporter and commentator for most of the major broadcasting organizations in the United States including NBC, ABC, Mutual, Dumont and Metromedia. His investigative reports influenced the exit of a district attorney, elected a mayor (Sam Yorty) and brought about the property tax saving measure Proposition 13. He's covered crime stories over the past 68 years and actually had the scoop and broke key details on the some of the most high-profile cases in American history, including the Manson murders, Barbara Graham, L. Ewing Scott, and the Freeway murders.

During WWII, George served first in the Army and later as a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, winning two citations during his three-year stay. Prior to entering service in WWII, he acted as Master of Ceremonies for "The Army Hour" and he and Lowell Thomas shared the role as the voice of Fox Movietone News. While George achieved early success in New York (where Walter Winchell described his voice as "the greatest in radio and television"), he has been a fixture on the Los Angeles news scene since 1951.

He's perhaps the one reporter who interviewed the four most decorated war heroes - Sgt. Alvin York, Audie Murphy, Joe Hooper and Col. David Hackworth. He has covered every presidency since Herbert Hoover, whom he interviewed after he was out of office and has known most of the big names in politics - Nixon and Reagan in particular - whom he knew on a first-name basis before they rose to prominence. At one point when George was the highest rated television newsman and anchor in Los Angeles, he was urged to run for governor of the state of California. He chose instead to support his friend Ronnie.

For almost a quarter of a century, George Putnam's daily "Talk Back" program on LA's powerhouse KRLA was a blend of two-way conversation with in-studio guests, newsmakers across the nation and his listeners who are likely to hear people of all ages and from all walks of life. Regardless of who is on the phone or in studio, George draws on his wealth of experience and instinct as a newsman to stimulate lively and thoughtful conversation on issues facing us every day... whether serious or lighthearted. Always on top of the latest happenings in the world, George's "One Reporter's Opinion" has become a very popular op-ed column on the Internet via top news services such as NewsMax.com.

The West's most honored newsman, George Putnam added one more accolade to his remarkable career in 1995 - the prestigious Los Angeles Area Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award recognizes an individual who has made a special and unique contribution to LA area television. He is the recipient of four Emmys, six California Associated Press Television & Radio Association awards, eight annual Radio & Television News Club awards and over 300 other honors and citations for service to country, community and mankind.

His great passion is animals and George tends to a veritable menagerie at his ranch. Over the past 50 years, he has been a breeder of thorobred horses - at least 400 of them - at his ranch in Chino, California. His horses have won at least 150 races, among them a dozen stake races. His horse Fleet Shoe ran 7th in the Kentucky Derby and 5th in the Belmont and he has ridden his Palomino horses in at least 45 Tournament of Roses and Hollywood Christmas parades.

Many Hollywood figures have been his intimates, and he had more than a passing relationship with the four great silver screen vamps - Theda Bera, Clara Bow, Tallulah Bankhead and Mae West. He's appeared on television with Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Martin & Lewis, George Burns & Gracie... and many others.

George missed the chance of a lifetime when he chose a career in television news, rather than take the second lead to Tyrone Power in Diplomatic Courier. Director Henry Hathaway told him, "You've made the worst mistake of your life to choose to be a news reporter on television rather than a movie career." But George has no regrets and feels that television and radio news reporting is the most exciting field of journalism. He has remained outspoken and provocative in his career as one unique reporter with that great, classic voice people have trusted for decades.

Partial Filmography:

Independence Day (1996) ... Himself

Gus (1976) ... TV Interviewer

Helter Skelter (1973)

I Want to Live! (1958) ... Himself

Fourteen Hours (1951) ... Radio Announcer

We've Never Been Licked (1943) ... Announcer


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: broadcasters; commentators; georgeputnam; radio; television
Happy birthday, George Putnam! I'm listening to him broadcast as I write this.
1 posted on 07/14/2006 12:24:57 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill

I remember listening to him on television when I was about 10 years old -- many decades ago.


2 posted on 07/14/2006 12:26:50 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: Fiji Hill

I grew up and lived over half my life in the LA area and George Putnam was a news fixture. It's surprising to me he is still in the business.


3 posted on 07/14/2006 12:34:26 PM PDT by jazusamo (DIANA IREY for Congress, PA 12th District: Retire murtha.)
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To: Fiji Hill
For almost a quarter of a century, George Putnam's daily "Talk Back"
program on LA's powerhouse KRLA was a blend of two-way conversation
with in-studio guests


Hey, the "talk-back" format was really about the CALLERS!

I even listended to George before it was KRLA...back when the Los Angeles'
most conservative radio had the call letters of "KIEV".

The man was ahead of his time...on the cutting edge of telling us we
were under invasion by Mexico and we'd better do something about it.

I loved his usual shutdown for pro-illegal/open-border callers:
George: Sir, may I have your address?
Caller: What does that have to do with my support of
the undocumented immigrants?
George: Sir, I simply want to send them over so they can live with an
open-minded person such as yourself.
4 posted on 07/14/2006 12:34:35 PM PDT by VOA
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To: Fiji Hill

God Bless you, George!

George Putnam was the first to assist inmates at the California Institution for Men at Chino. He visited them in the prison and conducted discussion groups. All of this without cameras, news coverage, or hype. How do I know this? My father was a Correctional Officer at the CIM.

Thank you, George, for your service and never, ever forgetting the raids on our borders by illegals. He was the first person to warn us, and still does.


5 posted on 07/14/2006 12:39:43 PM PDT by olinr
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To: Fiji Hill

I like Putnam, but I swear Ted Knight modeled his Ted Baxter character's on-air delivery after Putnam's. Putnam doesn't share Baxter's airheaded buffoonery, just the way he holds himself and speaks.


6 posted on 07/14/2006 12:39:45 PM PDT by John Jorsett (scam never sleeps)
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To: Fiji Hill

When he was a news anchor, he once endorsed Ronald Reagan for governor in an editorial at the end of the news broadcast. It was surprising and gutsy.


7 posted on 07/14/2006 12:40:53 PM PDT by Rocky (Air America: Robbing the poor to feed the Left)
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To: EagleUSA
I first became acquainted with George Putnam when he was a television newscaster during the late 1960's. He was an outspoken conservative and anti-Communist, and he always concluded his newscasts with a shot of the American flag, which he announced was "flying proudly' over Whittier, Santa Monica, Watts, Pasadena, or some other Southland community.

I was also a regular listener to his daily radio program on KIEV, now KRLA, at 870 kilocycles on the AM band, which he began in 1976. Putnam regularly featured Howard Jarvis as a guest, and his show was a major factor, in my opinion, in the success of Proposition 13 in 1978.

8 posted on 07/14/2006 12:41:30 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: John Jorsett

Putnam, or Jerry Dunphy.


9 posted on 07/14/2006 12:43:26 PM PDT by Gumlegs (Posting only punchlines since 1997)
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To: VOA
Hey, the "talk-back" format was really about the CALLERS!

For years, he would introduce his radio program as follows:

"Yes, everybody's talking at you. Now it's your turn to talk back. You at home, and you here at our studios in the Arco Plaza, it's your turn to talk back. We're going to bring you the news, bring you newsmakers and celebrities, but most of all, we want to talk with you."

10 posted on 07/14/2006 12:45:47 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill

He was an outspoken conservative and anti-Communist, and he always concluded his newscasts with a shot of the American flag...
------
Yes, remember him well, as I grew up in Long Beach, in SoCalif. Too bad his breed is a small number in the media now. He is an American patriot...something that cannot be said for most in the media.


11 posted on 07/14/2006 12:46:55 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: doug from upland
PING!
12 posted on 07/14/2006 1:19:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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To: BenLurkin

More than any American, George has been a champion for decades speaking about the illegal invasion and what it would do to our country.

Here's to a better, stronger America. See you at 10. See you then.

Happy Birthday, George.


13 posted on 07/14/2006 1:33:04 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: BenLurkin

On hold with a birthday limerick.

He's a champion compared to the rest
As a patriot, passes the test
For decades his warning
Illegals were scorning
Happy Bithday to broadcasting's best


14 posted on 07/14/2006 1:39:24 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: Fiji Hill

He is a true legend and a great American.


15 posted on 07/14/2006 2:07:16 PM PDT by Uncle Hal
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To: doug from upland

Bump that!


16 posted on 07/14/2006 3:20:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin ("The entire remedy is with the people." - W. H. Harrison)
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To: BenLurkin; All

On Mr. Putnam’S recent DEATH:
From WW2 ‘Stars & Stripes’ during the campaign in Italy, it was called ‘A Toast’, and though A WW2 vet had long since lost the original clipping, he could still recite it from memory:

I toast to him who has felt the battle’s sting.
I toast to him who has felt in anguished pain
the sting of a bullet marked with his name.
I toast to him who would not boast
that he knew no fear when death was near,
but shook like a leaf in a frenzied wind.
I toast to him who still had courage to go on and win.


17 posted on 09/18/2008 5:34:51 PM PDT by cowboy_code (Note for visitors at Arafat's grave - first dance, THEN pee.)
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