‘ I’ve really only had one idea through my whole career.’
Update: 2025-01-28
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The existence of my daily email newsletter, Chicago Public Square, became public Jan. 27, 2017, during a visit to my alma mater, WGN Radio.
So it seems appropriate, eight years later to the day, to share audio from another interview on WGN—earlier this month, at 10 p.m., Jan. 4, 2025—joining two people I’ve known for (wow) close to half a century: Steve King and Johnnie Putman. Johnnie and I met at my first job out of college, news director at WMRO-AM and WAUR-FM in Aurora—where I designed this T-shirt:
(2017 photo)
It was a privilege to take Johnnie and Steve’s questions about Square, my journalism career and the state of the news biz. You can hear how it went here.
If you’d like to hear their full show from that night, with other guests to follow, you’ll find that on WGN’s website here.
Or if you’re the readin’ type, here’s a rough—and roughly edited—transcript:
Johnnie Putman: We have a full show tonight.
Steve King: We do. And we are going to reconnect with a long-time friend that many of you know from this radio station and other radio stations around the Chicago area. Charlie Meyerson is gonna be joining us.
Putman: Yep.
King: Charlie is now the publisher of a wonderful news site, Chicago Public Square.Ron Brown: Isn’t that great? Putman: It is. King: It is one of the go-to news sites that we have every day. Putman: Wasn’t it just recognized as being the best blog? King: I think, yeah. Didn’t they get the Reader’s award for the best blog?Brown: If not once, several times. But at least once. And deservedly so. There’s nothing that really compares. There’s nothing as good. I’ve seen others. And they really pale in comparison. Putman: Yep.Brown: Yeah.
Putman: He puts a lot of effort into making that a first-class site where you can go and just get all the news you need to start your day.Brown: Maybe you can get ’im to talk a little bit about that. Putman: Ya think?Brown: Maybe be a good idea. King: We’ll see if we can twist his arm. Putman: 1977 is when we started together. Dean Richards, Charlie Meyerson and yours truly at WMRO and WAUR in Aurora.Brown: Oh, is that right? I didn’t know that. Putman: It was a wonderful radio station, too, ’cause it was like the WGN of the Fox Valley.
King: It really was.
Putman: Don’t laugh at that, ’cause Aurora was a big town. King: That was back in the day when the suburban radio stations, they played for their own audience. Like, at WJOB in Hammond—same thing. On the outskirts of Chicago—but still: Full-service radio station for their own audience, which is what WAUR was doing. Putman: WMRO in particular, ’cause we were talk and sports and we had a great sports department and carried all the NIU Huskies sports because we were a stone’s throw from DeKalb. It was a perfect fit. One of the funnest things that I ever did when I worked out there—there were competing Aurora teams and it was such a big competition. They had me out there with the wives of the coaches from the Aurora teams. I was like, OK, is this gonna be like a wrestling match? What’s gonna happen? I did not realize just how intense the rivalry was, and I think it’s probably still that way. But it was great because they had a radio station where you could listen to those games and it was a great service. And it was also pretty fun to be a big fish in a small pond. King: Sure. We gotta take a quick break and then we’ve got a whole lot coming up. So stay with us at WGN.Musical interlude: Bill Haley and His Comets, “The Paper Boy.” King: Steve King and Johnnie Putman at WGN Radio. Tell me just what. Do you read? We read Chicago Public Square, and we’re gonna talk about that and a whole lot more with a man that you know from the days when he was working at this here radio station, but Johnnie started her career with him. So I’m gonna turn it over to you. Putman: Yes, he is Charlie Meyerson. How are you tonight, Charlie? Meyerson: I’m fine and I’m delighted to be with you. And I’m gonna, I’m gonna steal a little bit of your thunder, Johnnie, because I wanna recap all the ways that that we have intersected over the years. Are you ready? Putman: I think yes. Meyerson: I listened to Steve on WLS during my formative years. I’m still in my formative years … King: Don’t blame me for this. Meyerson: … my earlier formative years. I started my first job out of college alongside Johnnie at WMRO-AM and WAUR-FM in Aurora in 1977. I attended your wedding—a wonderful event in 1984—where Steve did a killer version of “Johnny B. Goode.” Am I correct?
King: Yes, I did. I did.
Meyerson: … which I’m just now thinking about. “Johnny B. Goode”: What a great selection for a song that was, when you’re marrying someone named Johnn
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