- George Putnam (newsman)
Infobox Person
name = George Putnam
imagesize = 300px
caption = George Putnam in "Perversion for Profit " (1965)
birth_name =
birth_date = birth date|1914|7|14
birth_place= Breckenridge, Wilkin County,Minnesota , USA
death_date = dda|2008|9|12|1914|7|14
death_place= Chino, San Bernardino County,California
occupation = Televisionnews reporter andtalk show host
nationality= flagcountry|US
show = George Putnam
station =KCAA andCable Radio Network (CRN)
timeslot =
show2 =
station2 =
timeslot2 =
style =
country =
prevshow =
party= Democrat
spouse = (1) Estranged from Virginia Putnam
(2) Companion Sallilee Conlon (1956-his death)
children=Daughters Jan and Jil
by wife VirginiaThree grandchildren Jennifer, Thomas and Jessica.
web =George Putnam (
July 14 ,1914 –September 12 ,2008 cite web |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10447298 |title=Former LA TV anchorman George Putnam dies |date=2008-09-12 |accessdate=2008-09-12 |author=Associated Press |publisher=Mercury News ] ) was an Americantelevision news reporter andtalk show host based inLos Angeles .Biography
Putnam was born in Breckenridge,
Minnesota . Hisradio career began on his 20th birthday in 1934 atWDGY inMinneapolis . Putnam had been working in the Los Angeles area since 1951. By the 1950s, he had switched totelevision and hosted the highest rated newscast in the Los Angeles area. He anchored at all four of Los Angeles' major independent stations --KTTV ,KTLA ,KCOP , and KHJ-TV (nowKCAL-TV ) -- at one time or another. In addition to his salary, he was provided a Rolls Royce automobile while at KTTV and KTLA. He was replaced by news legendHal Fishman in 1975.Putnam long carried a grudge against Fishman, stating on his radio show 'TALKBACK with George Putnam' that he was back-stabbed by Fishman. Putnam has made this claim for decades. It is noteworthy that when Fishman produced KTLA's 50th-anniversary history in television in 1997, the footage of Putnam was not used, though Putnam had been the face of KTLA news in the 1960s and 1970's before the arrival of Fishman. Ironically, during KTLA's 60th-anniversary special during Thanksgiving weekend in 2007, the KTLA News intro from when George Putnam anchored the news was shown [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPdDwozZOQ&NR=1 KTLA News Opens from the Last 60 Years] , Youtube video.] . Fishman died on
August 7 ,2007 , three months before the 60th anniversary special aired.In 1965, Putnam narrated a film entitled "
Perversion for Profit ," in which he warned viewers about magazines containingnudity andhomosexual material, saying homosexuals were perverts and misfits. The film was financed byCharles Keating . However, by the 1980s Putnam had changed his views. He stated on his radio show 'TALKBACK with George Putnam' that he felt gays were born that way, and added many of his friends and coworkers were gay and good people.For his contribution to the television industry, George Putnam has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6372 Hollywood Blvd. The lateTed Knight stated that he used Putnam in part as his role model for the "Ted Baxter" character in the 1970stelevision series "The Mary Tyler Moore Show " on CBS. [Citation
last=O'Halloren
first=Bill
title=Ted Knight...Too Close for Comfort
magazine=TV Guide
date=January 3 ,1981
year=1981
month=January
day=3
url=http://www.mtmshow.com/tvgknightart1.html
accessdate=2008-07-09 .] Putnam was also noted for his years of participation in theRose Parade , having ridden in that event from 1951 until 2000, when his horse died. At the time, Putnam said that he was too advanced in age to train another Parade horse. Putnam lived and died at his 20-acre workingranch in Chino. The ranch houses his sixty-five racehorses, which have competed at theKentucky Derby and all of the racetracks in Southern California. He also spent time at his home of fifty-seven years in Beverly Hills.Putnam was the well-known host of 'Talk Back', a conservative radio show he hosted daily since leaving the television anchor chair in 1975. It is based at
KCAA 1050 in San Bernardino, and distributed nationwide on theCable Radio Network on CRN1. Although Putnam advocated many conservative viewpoints, he stated many times his status as a "lifelong Democrat" since his youthful admiration ofU.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt .Putnam also published a weekly column, "One Reporter's Opinion," on the Web site
NewsMax .com. His most recent focus was illegal immigration from Mexico. [ [http://www.newsmax.com/putnam/ Newsmax.com - George Putnam ] ] Putnam received an honoraryLL.D. fromBates College in 1985.In a
June 12 , 2008, e-mail to Putnam's Newsmax.com readers, it was announced that Putnam was in a Los Angeles hospital undergoing medical treatment on hisliver andkidney s. In mid-July he took part in a special on-air 94th "birthday" show, hosted by Chuck Wilder. [http://www.crntalk.com/default.aspx?date=7/9/2008&eid=238847&pid=0] .
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