George Putnam: An Appreciation

George Putnam: An Appreciation
©2008Jonathan Dobrer JonDobrer@mac.com
Being a local guy, I cannot remember a time without George Putnam. His death, though hardly shocking at 94, touches me at several levels--all of them personal.

I worked with Mr. Putnam for a time when we both had radio shows at KIEV, the call letters for 850 AM at that time. My show, Talkabout with Jonathan, followed his, Talkback with George Putnam. Given the conservative leanings of his show, I would occasionally kid him about being on a station named after a Soviet city. Yes, I know that Kiev is in the Ukraine, today an independent nation--at least for the moment.

My first time in the studio, he greeted me with his still booming voice, showing remarkable enthusiasm and energy for a man in his 80s. He was personally warm and helpful to me in learning the ropes of talk radio. He talked about how long calls should last and even explained the board to me, the anti-obscenity delay and kill button. He gave me welcome coaching in terminating calls without being rude. He was opinionated but gentlemanly at the same time. He was not one of those Joe Pyne "Go gargle razor blades" guys.

All the articles on his passing reference him as the model for the Ted Baxter character on the old Mary Tyler Moore show. He was certainly that. On TV, as a newscaster, he did change the pitch of his voice and take on a bass baritone solemnity when being serious. He also could lighten things up with, what he called a "cutie," a piece of cotton candy fluff to relieve the sour taste of hard news and tragedy. And yes, as Ted Baxter later copied, he would go up on his toes from time to time--as if to signal a change in the seriousness of the story.

He certainly had opinions and shared them freely on radio where he, as I, was in the opinion business. His great innovation on TV news was his commentary, his "One reporter's opinion." While all reporters have opinions, Putnam was intellectually honest and clearly labeled and separated his newscaster role from his personal thoughts.

Though most reports label him as a conservative, and that is mostly true; he was not a party-line kind of guy. A conservative on issues of the military and American interests, he was also a life-long registered Democrat and member of both the Urban League and the NAACP. He defied being easily defined. And he enjoyed his status of being difficult to capture in a simple and simplistic label.

Putnam was an icon, a perennial presence in Los Angeles news and talk. He was also a character who had character. I will miss him.