George Putnam, the pioneer television news anchorman and conservative commentator whose distinctive stentorian voice was a mainstay of Southern California broadcasting for decades, has died. He was 94.
Putnam, who had been suffering from a kidney ailment since December, died early Friday morning at Chino Valley Medical Center, said Chuck Wilder, Putnam's cohost, producer and announcer.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
George Putnam obituary: The obituary of pioneer Los Angeles television news anchorman George Putnam in Saturday's California section misspelled the name of his daughter Jil as Jill. She and his other surviving daughter, Jan, are Putnam's children with his estranged wife, Virginia.
Beginning at KTTV Channel 11 in the early 1950s, Putnam quickly became a dominant and influential force in Los Angeles TV news. The winner of three Emmy Awards, he reportedly at one time was the highest-rated and highest-paid TV news anchor in Los Angeles.
"George Putnam established the template, the prototype of the local news anchorman that everyone came to accept -- the deep voice, the carefully groomed hair, the friendly I'm-talking-directly-to-you-and-no-one-else presentation," Joe Saltzman, a USC journalism professor, said Friday via e-mail.
"He became a friend ('George') to thousands of viewers, and his 'One Reporter's Opinion' was one friend talking directly to another and explaining how he felt about the issues he spoke about on the news," said Saltzman.
Putnam began his broadcast career on a Minneapolis radio station in 1934.
More than 70 years later, he was still at the microphone with his weekday, noon to 2 p.m. "Talk Back With George Putnam" syndicated radio program.
Distinguished career
Putnam did his last regular broadcast May 8 but returned July 14 for a one-hour broadcast marking his 94th birthday, during which he fielded phone calls from well-wishers, including actress Doris Day.
When Putnam was working for NBC in New York City in the early 1940s, influential newspaper columnist Walter Winchell declared that "George Putnam's voice is the greatest in radio."
But it was on television in Los Angeles a decade later that the tall, wavy-haired broadcaster with the rich baritone voice made his biggest mark.
"George was the great communicator, before that title was ever applied to anyone," veteran KTLA-TV reporter Stan Chambers wrote in his 1994 book "News at Ten: Fifty Years With Stan Chambers."
"His vibrant enthusiasm, commanding appearance and booming voice blended to make him a major force in television news," Chambers wrote. "He not only delivered the news, he cared about it and got involved in his stories."
