George Putnam, R.I.P (Greatest Generation Journalist Passed Away Alert)

Just heard sad news. Los Angeles TV newsman and talk radio legend George Putnam has died. He was 94. George showed me great kindness, championing my book Invasion and inviting me on his show frequently to talk about immigration enforcement and national security when few outside the border states cared. He penned a weekly online column right up until the last few months of his life. He had a rich, full, colorful career. He was a gentleman and a patriot. And I was glad and grateful to know him.

Once, during a live radio interview, my then-two-year-old daughter woke up from a nap in her bedroom next to my home office. George heard her calling for me — and so did his entire listening audience. I braced for the producer to cut off the segment and chastise me. Instead, George welcomed her to the airwaves and dubbed it my daughter’s first official radio appearance. He loved recounting that moment with me over the years and I loved recounting it to my daughter and family.

Former Los Angeles television news anchor George Putnam, whose booming, iconic voice famously inspired the character of Ted Baxter on the classic sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died in his sleep Friday at a Chino hospital where he was being treated for liver and kidney ailments. He was 94.

Born in Minnesota, Putnam first worked in radio in Minneapolis before coming to Los Angeles in 1951 and moving to television. He served as news anchor at a number of Los Angeles TV stations for a quarter of a century, working from the early 1950s until 1975 at KTTV 11, KCOP 13, KTLA 5 and KHJ (now KCAL 9).

“The thing I remember most is that George had this personal contact with the viewers at home - they really would listen to him,” recalls Stan Chambers, who was news director at KTLA during Putnam’s tenure there and still works as a reporter for the station today.

…Ted Knight, who played old-school newscaster Ted Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore” show, based the character in part on Putnam and to a lesser extent on another L.A. newscasting icon, Jerry Dunphy. In a 1981 interview, Knight recalled encountering Putnam at a banquet, where the newsman said to him, “Hey, Ted, why don’t you get your own act?”

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.

I too grew up seeing George on the tv. As I grew up a friend turned me on to his radio show and I planned my days around listening-in for many years. My friend moved to Colorado and missed him very much so I taped the live broadcasts and sent the tapes to him. One day my friend, Kirk, called in from Colorado, talked to George on the air and George asked him why he was calling from so far away. Kirk told him the story of the tapes then George invited him to “look me up when you get into town.” Kirk did just that a few months later and George invited us to sit in on the radio show and lunch after. Of course we went.
It was October in 1992. We met the cowboy boot clad legend with the deep diaphragm voice before the show and we got to sit next to him in the studio with real radio headphones just like George's. It was up close and personal to hear the callers, watch him give Chuck Wilder a hard time on breaks and chat with us. We were supposed to hand George the copy of his new commercial (written in about 20 pt type and read through one time before the show) at one o'clock and we were supposed to be quiet. It was like a dream come true. Since it was Friday, George's “old friend Freddie” called in. Freddy was a retired government worker who had a high voice, was black, very liberal and sang in the choir at the First AME church in L.A.. On the surface this guy was like Lex Luther to Superman but George would always let Freddie say his piece, which was usually an out of control rant which would often include the phrase “President Clinton is the best president we eva haad” or “you aint nothin but a right wing racist bigot”. Upon hearing the first sound of Freddie's voice in the real radio headphones, I knew it was him. I looked at Kirk as he recognized the voice and we started laughing under our breath for about a quarter of a second then we both lost it. George laughed too as Freddie ranted and all of our listening friends heard us over the air. After a call like that George would sometimes say “that's proof we believe in the first amendment”.
As soon as the show was over we were barely able to follow George in his big, dust covered Mercedes and Kirk and I in my wife's BMW to Chef Piero’s restaurant. George drove fast and never looked back because he was the lawman's best friend and they all knew who he was.
Upon arrival, George introduced us to his fan club as “Kirk from Colorado” and Chris who “is a little to the right of Attila the Hun”. We met many individuals who occupied about half of the Godfather style restaurant. They were bankers, cops, and people in the entertainment business and they all met every Friday to hang out with George. The food was first rate and drinks flowed. It was a grand party.
George was not only a star but a rancher and a real down to earth guy. His first questions to Kirk were what kind of dirt do you have and how deep is your well. We talked about family and he was quick to pull out his wallet to show off pictures of his. We talked about work and how blessed we are to be Americans. We were able to match him beer for beer until about five o'clock when the party seemed to be ending and Kirk and I felt the pull from the wives at home and we tried to say goodbye. George would not hear of it so he ordered another round and had the phone (black with rotary dial and a long cord) brought to the table. We called the wives and George told them that he was Jerry Dunphy and sweet-talked them into letting us stay. After more rounds and conversation, he insisted on picking up the whole tab and tip.
George was the real deal. An American who spoke up for what is good and he hated evil. He loved his family, his ranch, animals, and the American way. I had a dream about him the other night and I miss him. The party will continue in Heaven.

Great story, thanks for sharing it. I'll always remember his radio conversations with Ann Coulter. They were very friendly affairs, real conversations unlike most rapid fire, go for the sound bite, interviews. These exchanges were my first introduction to this astute woman and I kept wondering who she was what she did because there was no sense of self promotion by her nor glad handing, buildups by George Putnam. He always introduced her and sent her off with the line, "Ann Coulter - beauty, brains, and guts."

I loved his brief profession of political loyalty, "I'm a Jeffersonian Democrat, descended from General Israel Putnam, an American patriot. I never left my party, the party left me."

And, of course, his frequent lament of the shameless open borders and the people who cross them like thieves in the night, to take what they want and reject the rest. All this at a time when no other broadcaster would go anywhere near the subject of illegal immigration.

I never heard one person relate so many personal anecdotes of their encounters and relationships with so many prominent public figures. He was a walking font of history.

This is a link to an mp3 archive of a show he did for his 94th birthday - George Putnam Birthday Show 2008

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