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

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...

. After a stint at

WLTH WLTH (1370 AM) is a radio station in Gary, Indiana east of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Michilliana Broadcasting, LLC. The station's current format is African-American Talk Radio. Notable radio alumni of WLTH include Steve King ...

in nearby Gary, King spent two years in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

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) is a top 40 (CHR) radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It is known on the air as B96 and it is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,300 watts, broadcasting from a transmitter atop the ...

, 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. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

WIND-AM WIND (560 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and broadcasting a conservative talk radio format. It is owned by the Salem Media Group with studios on NW Point Boulevard in Elk Grove Village. WIND is powered at ...

in 1978, where he stayed until 1984 (with a brief detour to

WDAI WDAI (98.5 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 (FCC) to broadcast ...

). 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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

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

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

games) has also been

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

. 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, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

and

Doyle Dykes Doyle Dykes (born May 23, 1954) is an American country acoustic guitarist from Jacksonville, Florida. He is influenced by a wide variety of musical styles and musicians such as Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Duane Eddy, to the Beatles and U2. Cited ...

. 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, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...

, an intolerance to

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Although "gluten" often only refers to wheat proteins, in medical literature it refers to the combination of prolamin and glutelin proteins naturally occurring in all grain ...

. 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