STEVE , JOHNNIE AND LES
By Rick Kaempfer
L to R : Les Paul , Johnnie Putman , Steve King
I
n 2014 , when WGN Radio unveiled their Walk of Fame , two of the inductees were their long-time overnight team – the husband and wife radio duo of Steve King and Johnnie Putman .
“ That was one of those pinch-me moments ,” King says now . “ To be mentioned in the same breath as Wally Phillips and Bob Collins was an honor .”“ And to be inducted the same time as Ron Santo ,” Johnnie adds , “ I just loved that man , and I was sitting right there next to his wife . When they acknowledged us I thought it was cool that not only did they recognize us a team , but they gave each of us our own separate acknowledgement as well . That meant a lot to us .”
After 27 years doing the overnight shift , their lives changed dramatically over the last few years , and they are still making the adjustment . “ I have quickly adjusted to going back to sleep at night ,” Putman says , “ but Steve on the other hand has not . He ’ s still up all night and sleeps in the morning , and I wake him up around Noon and say , ‘ It ’ s time to start your day .”
But it ’ s not like they spend their days lollygagging . “ We never knew we would be busy as we are ,” King says , “ not having a five-day-a-week work schedule . ” One of the things they ’ ve been working on is a book that was recently released via Bantam Bay Books , A Little More Les . It ’ s about their long-time friend and weekly on-air guest , the late great guitarist Les Paul . “ Les Paul is the guy that got me interested in guitar ,” Steve says . “ My brother played one of his records for me , and I thought ‘ How is this guy doing this ?’ And that was one of the things that really started my interest in the guitar .” “ So interviewing Les was on his bucket list ,” Putman explains . “ Steve heard Les on Mike Rapchack ’ s show ( WGN ) and said ‘ Do you think Les would ever talk to us ?’ And Mike said ‘ Sure , here ’ s his phone number !’ But Steve was scared to call him . He handed the number to the producer and said ‘ Would you mind calling him ?’”
“ It was one of the few times I was intimidated ,” admits King . “ I ’ ve interviewed so many people and I ’ m never intimidated , but I was intimidated by Les .” He quickly discovered he needn ’ t be . Les Paul was warm and friendly , and instantly taken by the radio duo .
“ His relationship with Mary Ford was one reason ,” Putman says . “ He never remarried after they divorced . They remained friends . But their relationship started when they worked together , and he saw them in us . Two professionals working together and getting along . He plugged into that .” Steve concurs . “ He would occasionally , off the air , have conversations with us urging us to remember to balance the professional and the personal . He was always happy when we went on vacation . He would call us as we were heading down to Florida and say ‘ Now you ’ re leaving the office behind right ? You kids need this time together for each other .’”
Their personal friendship wasn ’ t the only reason King and Putman decided to write this book . They considered Paul an inspiration , and it ’ s not too hard to see why . “ People don ’ t know the stuff that Les overcame ,” King explains . “ He wore two hearing aids . He had crippling arthritis . There ’ s a picture in the book with Les ’ arm in a cast . In 1948 , Les and Mary were coming home from a gig and they got into a car accident . Les woke up in the hospital with two doctors standing over his bed . They both said that the elbow was shattered , and one of the doctors said they were going to have to take his arm . Luckily the other doctor recognized that it was Les Paul , and he needed his arm to play guitar . They told him they could fuse a bone into his arm there , but he wouldn ’ t be able to move his arm in or out . It would be in one fixed position . Les thought about that for a second and said , ‘ OK , point my index finger toward my belly button .’ That way he could still shove a guitar into that slot . And even with all of that , he never complained . He never said ‘ Woe is Me ’, he just overcame it .”
Paul was such a frequent guest , Steve and Johnnie had 60 hours of interviews on tape to peruse while they were working on the book . “ He would call us on his way home from the club on Monday nights ,” Putman explains , “ driving from New York to New Jersey . And he was always pumped up from the show , and wanted to tell us who was there at the club that night . He just wanted to chat . He was a night owl .” The people that excited him were not the musicians ,” King adds . “ It was the norm for a Jeff Beck or a Paul McCartney to come in to see him , but he got excited over Scott Carpenter the astronaut because he could talk to him about technology . Richie Sambora and Slash absolutely idolized him . If they were in town , they made time to bow down to him . That was cool for him , but he would get giddy like a child after he talked to a scientist or an astronaut .”
And King and Putman get giddy like children when they talk about Les Paul . That passion comes through in the pages of A Little More Les , available at alittlemoreless . com and Amazon . com .
18 illinoisentertainer . com october 2016