Posted on 07/14/2008 1:03:53 PM PDT by VU4G10
RADIO LEGEND GEORGE PUTNAM STILL ON AIR AS HE TURNS 94...
(Excerpt) Read more at drudgereport.com ...
Wikipedia notes that Putnam and Paul Harvey are the only radio broadcasters left who are older than broadcasting!
Amazing! I grew up watching him on the news in Los Angeles. Thank you for posting this .
George Putnam bump!
George “God Bless America” Putnam at 94. God Bless George Putnam.
Wow, he’s still alive? I used to tune in to him when I lived in LA (1993-1998). I especially enjoyed his cranky, these-kids-today-I-tell-ya newscasts and his ad-libbed commercials for local sausages and feed-company dog food. It was like listening to one of the crabby old duffers at the DAV hall tell you about his bunions.
Seriously: I have a video copy of a 1950s Movietone newsreel with Mr. Putnam narrating. He’s describing a pretend Soviet invasion of Menomonie, Wisconsin done for patriotic purposes. In the film, the townspeople don communist party gear, run up the old Hammer and Sickle, and have a big parade featuring pictures of Lenin and Stalin. “Think ‘It can’t happen here’?” Mr. Putnam intones over pictures of grinning townsfolk saluting the Red Star flag. “Well, here’s what it would look like... if it should.” Classic.
Congratulations to Mr. Putnam.
In 1976, he started "Talk Back," one of the first conservative radio talk shows in Southern California, which could be heard over KIEV (now KRLA) at 870 kilocycles on the AM band. One of his most frequent guests in the early days was Howard Jarvis, who would become world-renowned after Proposition 13, the historic property tax limitation initiative, passed in June of 1978.
At noon on weekdays during the 1970's and 1980's, I would tune to KIEV and hear Harry Nilson singing "Everybody's Talkin'." A few moments later, as the music faded, Putnam would break in and say, "yes, everybody's talkin' 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."
Visitors to the Arco Plaza, a shopping center under the Arco Towers, site of the old Richfield Building in downtown Los Angeles could watch the show live behind a thick glass partition and even talk on the air with the host through a microphone set up outside the studio.
It's good to hear that he's still on the air.
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