“I Wanted to Kill Myself” – George Putnam

LA RADIO ^ | 3/30/04 | Don Barrett

[BurbankKarl]

(March 30, 2004) George Putnam started in tv at a Minneapolis/St. Paul experimental station in 1939. George Putnam started in L.A. on KTTV/Channel 11 in 1951. George Putnam started one more time yesterday as he launched a noon – 2 p.m. show on Art Astor’s KSPA-Riverside (1510 AM) and nationally on Cable Radio News Network. The 89-year-old L.A. legend was off and running from the Art Astor complex in Anaheim surrounded by press, sponsors, friends, and colleagues. George didn’t miss a beat from his last SoCal broadcast at KPLS that ended the day before Christmas last year.

“For 40 years I have talked about what was going to happen and it has come to pass,” George told me yesterday in a far-ranging interview prior to his broadcast. “All we had to do was follow the rules with the illegal aliens. What the hell is wrong with us? No other nation in the world violates its own sovereignty. The people at my old home at KPLS [now Spanish-speaking] are bashing this situation morning, noon and night.”

George talked about building three radio stations – KIEV, KRLA, KPLS, and now KSPA. “We took KIEV to the highest ratings they ever had. Then they sold to KRLA and then I had the highest ratings they had. At KPLS the Catholics failed, they sold it to a Jew and the Jew put the Spanish-speaking people on the air.”

George will be broadcasting from his ranch in Chino, perhaps as early as the end of the week. Producer Chuck Wilder (right) lives close by and they will be reunited for this current incarnation at KSPA.

“I married a war correspondent after learning she was pregnant. Turned out she was nuts,” disclosed George. While attempting to get custody of his daughter, his wife claimed wife beating and George left New York disgraced. “She lured me to her place to talk about custody, held up a piece of cutlery in front of my face. I pushed it and broke her nose. Into the tabloids and away we went. She was one of those strange, bisexual women. She ended up getting married six times, one time to one of the first families of Philadelphia. She was very charming, but she was crazy.”

When George arrived in the Southland, he hosted Sons of the Pioneers tv show. “At KTTV, George Martin, a charming man without fire, hosted the news. The station auditioned me. I didn’t have a script. I ripped off the front page of the LA Times, went to work and gave them the fire they wanted.” He got the anchor job. It had a show biz touch that they didn’t have.”

His daughter was four when he received that phone call that all parents dread. She had been taken to the hospital for a tonsillectomy. “A plug or something was pulled and she bled to death." George's body noticeably slumped as he struggled to tell the story. "It destroyed my life. I wanted to kill myself. You never recover from that. I remarried, have grandchildren, but it is a scar you can’t describe. You are no longer frivolous. It was horrible.”

During George’s three months off the air this year, he had a lot of opportunity to listen to talk show people. “I was listening and judging. It was a wonderful, wonderful privilege to just listen. All of my life I’ve been talking at people, For three months they talked to me.” George is concerned that labels don’t work, especially the new liberal network, Air America. It might be a horrible thing to have a label. I’m worried that people are locked in like Hannity and Rush. Give me a little objectivity. I’m a democrat, but a conservative democrat. You know Pat Brown [former CA governor] was a republican who opportunistically became a democrat. I can’t believe we have a choice between Bush and Kerry. Good God! Who have we got? Who is left?”

George is concerned about the newest threat – the Chinese. “I believe in fair trade, but I worry about the Chinese. Very quietly they are going about picking up everything! Chinese are the big threat!”

During George’s tv heyday in the 1950s, he made between $300,000 to $400,000 a year. “On a trip to California, I had lunch with Walter Cronkite. He wanted to know if the rumors about what I was making were true. Cronkite admitted to making $125,000.”

Jeff Gehringer, operations director for the Astor Group of stations, said: “George Putnam is an original. He is one of the last few Broadcasters left. He is a great communicator and we look forward to a long and profitable relationship.”

Well, it was noon. The interview was over. It was time to begin a new era in a seven-decades long distinguished career. On came Nillson’s Everybody’s Talking and George flipped the mic switch one more time: “High noon in the West. George Putnam here. Often imitated, never duplicated original Talk Back.” Boy, isn’t that the truth?

[BurbankKarl]

Man, they dont make them like this anymore!

[StoneColdGOP]

He lacks 100% blind loyalty to Lord Jorge Bushamecha.

He is an infidel.

[South40]

I remember Putnam's daily "Talk Back" program on KRLA. I miss both KRLA and Putnam.

[EUPHORIC]

I remember in the early 60's hearing Putnam railing against the evils of miscegenation... (interracial marriage)

[kellynla]

Thanks for the post, Karl.
I am a big fan of George Putnam.
I read the other day where he is going to be on the air again.
I guess I'll have to catch him online since I can't raise the station he's broadcasting from.
Semper Fi,
Kelly

[kellynla]

"He lacks 100% blind loyalty to Lord Jorge Bushamecha."
I don't quite understand what you're saying???

Putnam backed McClintock in the recall.

[StoneColdGOP]

I'm making fun of the fact that Putnam is a conservative who dares disagree with Bush and doesn't pray to Bush like so many on this forum.

I'm not surprised he back Tom. Most principled, unbreakable conservatives did.

[kellynla]

ohhhhhh...okay, I gotcha...LOL

[MistrX]

George is a good man.

[ambrose]

Lies.

[flamefront]

he launched a noon - 2 p.m. show on Art Astor's KSPA-Riverside (1510 AM)

Pass it on.

[EUPHORIC]

"What the F*CK are you talking about!!!!"

Just talking about something I heard live with my own ears 40+ years ago.

[Pagey]

Man, they dont make them like this anymore!

George Putnam,an absolute one of a kind human being.

[Nachum]

Excuse me if I find it hard to believe. I doubt that George Putnam would have been offered the largest contract in broadcasting at that time if he in anyway came off as a racist.

[EUPHORIC]

"Excuse me if I find it hard to believe. I doubt that George Putnam would have been offered the largest contract in broadcasting at that time if he in anyway came off as a racist."

Back then there was not any real stygma attached to what we now call "racism". Doubt all you desire but I sat in front of the tube and watched it myself.

[BurbankKarl]

** Putnam on the Internet (from laradio.com)
“The other day there was an item on George Putnam and his new radio home, KSPA 1510 AM Ontario, but that station is almost impossible to hear in Southern California except for the Riverside/San Bernardino area. If you have cable and are in a place where you can access your cable during the time he is broadcasting, Noon to 2pm M-F, you can listen through KPXN channel 30 [SAP]. But everyone reading this on LARadio.com already has a computer and can listen from work or wherever (around the world) through the Internet. Very easy with a very clear signal from Cable Radio Network (and no, I don't work for either CRN or George). Click the CRN1 channel on www.cableradionetwork.com and listen away! Isn't it fascinating that George is very much a pioneer in broadcasting yet here he is, on the cutting edge of "The Revolution in Radio" (current issue of Time). What stories he has to tell!” – Carol DeLis

[kellynla]

Thanks for the reminder, Karl. I've been so busy with my work, I forgot to check him out on the internet. I couldn't raise him on the am radio.

Have you listened to his program since he came back?
And have you heard any news as to whether he will be back on the LA/OC radio waves anytime soon?

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[abigail2]

Being against interracial marriage does not mean you're a racist!

[cyborg]

for what possible reasons could people have for that?