Steve King (born July 26, 1943) is a broadcast personality who has been heard on several different stations, mostly in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

area. For more than 25 years, King and his wife, Johnnie Putman, hosted ''The Steve and Johnnie Show'' overnights on WGN. After ten years on the road and in recording studios as a rock singer/guitarist, King's broadcast career started in 1966 at WJOB in

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. Located along Lake Michigan, it is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the Li ...

. After a stint at WLTH in nearby

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

, King spent two years in

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at WIBC and WNAP-FM, his only foray outside the Chicago market. He returned to the Windy City to work afternoon

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

WBBM-FM WBBM-FM (96.3 MHz, "B96") is a gold-based contemporary hit radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,300 watts, transmitting from atop the Willis Tower (formerly th ...

, then moved to WLS in 1973, where he spent five years working the late evening slot. He left that job for the new format of

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

at WIND-AM in 1978, where he stayed until 1984 (with a brief detour to

WDAI WDAI (98.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "98.5 Kiss FM") is a mainstream urban radio station licensed to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and serves the Grand Strand area. The Cumulus Media outlet is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FC ...

). It was at WIND that he met Putman, a fellow show host. On Christmas Eve, in 1984, King moved to WGN, and on Valentine's Day 1985 Putman followed. Putman's initial work included traffic reporting on WGN's morning show. Steve and Johnnie were paired as a broadcast team initially on weekends and ultimately segued to the overnight show. Their show became the top-rated overnight show in the market. It began as a three-and-a-half-hour show, then became four hours, then five, then six, and then five hours again. Because of WGN's clear channel signal, their show has been heard throughout most of the

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and

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, and their show (along with all of WGN's programming, except for

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games) has also been

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. As avid fans of the guitar, King and Putman have often featured guests well known for their guitar work, including

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Aus ...

and

Doyle Dykes Doyle Dykes (born May 23, 1954) is an American country acoustic guitarist from Jacksonville, Florida. Cited along with guitarists such as Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel as one of the best fingerstyle guitarists in the world, he is also known f ...

. Steve and Johnnie completed their 5,000th show together on August 17–18, 2006. On December 4–5, 2011, they announced that they were leaving WGN following their program of December 8–9, wrapping after 6,207 shows. After leaving WGN, Steve and Johnnie's first book was published. The book, "A Little More Les," is a personal memoir of their long-time friendship with the legendary Les Paul. In 2013, Steve and Johnnie returned to WGN radio for a few shows during the Christmas holiday season. Since then, they have continued to maintain their residence as part of the WGN Radio family with, what they call, occasional “drive-by” shows and guest appearances

Steve and Johnnie will return to WGN on January 7, 2023, as hosts of a five-hour Saturday night program.https://www.talkers.com/ December 13, 2022 King has been diagnosed with

celiac sprue Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine. Patients develop hypersensitivity, intolerance to gluten, which is present in foods such as wh ...

, an intolerance to

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

. Since his diagnosis, King has become involved in local and national organizations which fight the disease.

References

External links

Steve and Johnnie's personal websiteTommy Emmanuel playing "Over the Rainbow" on their WGN program
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Steve Living people 1940 births American radio personalities