Johnnie Putman and Steve King take you on a journey back in time and surely you’ll feel like a kid again as we flashback with our friends!

Our first guest Alice Selke rejoins the show in time for her 107th birthday and together, we explore her history, her youth and some of her family’s history in the Hoffman Estates Fire Department along with some records she may or may not have grown up with.

Aaron Bearden is our next guest and he is the Owner of Instant Replay Sports in Panama City, Florida and a living encyclopedia of all things sports collectibles. We learn about the surprising value in some classic cards and his efforts to educate collectors in the form of good old fashioned television.

We then throwback to the Disco Demolition Night that took place 46 years ago with Chicago’s very own Vince Lawrence, record producer and one of the early pioneers in Chicago’s iconic house music scene. He takes us back to working in the disco scene on that infamous night and we analyze the destructive effects of that night on disco music and the culture of black and LGBTQ communities, much of which is covered in a new documentary called “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House.”

Our last guest, Tom Appel is Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive and Host of the Car Stuff Podcast touches on some of his latest test drives, listener questions on gas types and old engines, big recall numbers for Ford and why a car being too quiet is a bad thing.

With shoutouts, highlights out of the Windy City Smokeout and getting up to a whole lot of nothing with our News Director Ryan Burrow, it’s another show to remember.

Steve King and Johnnie Putman ring in the second half of 2025 with some special auditory treats while down in Panama City Beach!

Tracy Mick returns to share some covers and her own original songs taking shape from her life story in Florida and the tough part about being our own worst critic as a musical artist.

We then pay tribute to the late great Bobby Sherman, recently passing at the age of 81, with an old interview of Steve and Johnnie’s in which her excitement could barely be contained!

Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC shares the latest in tech, hacks and cyber news. The Supreme Court did something good and preserved the USF, which keeps telecommunication services affordable, we get the scoop on new tech revealed at Apple’s WWDC and Amazon launches Project Kuiper.

Plenty of other treats along the way including our gripes with NYT’s 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century and spreading the word on Bruce Springsteen’s massive music drop.

Singer, actor and teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman died on June 24th at age 81. In the 60s and early 70s, he appeared in countless television series and recorded over 100 songs, including hits like “Julie, Do You Love Me” and “Easy Come, Easy Go.” In this July 2000 clip, he talked to WGN Radio’s Steve King and Johnnie Putman ahead of a concert in Chicago to take them behind the early days when he met Micky Dolenz of ‘The Monkees‘ and his days on “Shindig.”

Johnnie Putman and Steve King return broadcasting in Panama City Beach after a two week hiatus, with good reasons, for a massive show sure to keep you cool and entertained!

Cary Baker, Journalist and Author of Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music stops by to tell us about a book signing event on July 8 at The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square and helps us follow the music with how the art of busking shaped his life.

Neal James is a new musically talented friend down in Panama City Beach and he shows off some great guitar and vocals in the studio and we learn a little about the man behind the music!

Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, makes a quick stop to cover what is considered to be the largest data breach in history with over 16 billion passwords leaked on the web. We learn all of the details of this massive hack and Patrick turns our attention to haveibeenpwned.com where you can find out if your emails have been compromised. Of course, everything is laid out in Patrick’s handy show notes.

Consumer Guide Automotive’s Publisher Tom Appel eventually glitches his way onto the show and gives the scoop on his latest test drives and we take a ton of listener questions. Plus, Steve shares his brother Lee’s difficult driving decision that comes for us all.

Plenty of other things along the way for you to sink your jaws into, so tune in below and be sure to head over to the Steve and Johnnie show blog for even more bonus stuff!

Steve King and Johnnie Putman offer their two cents and close out a very musical May with a little blues celebration!

Guitarist and Chicago’s very own Dave Specter stops by the studio for a special appearance to talk about his new album LIVE at SPACE! Performed at the venue SPACE in Evanston, we learn a little bit about the venue itself, his take on the modern blues crowd and some of his heroes that influenced his style.

Lynn Orman, Founder of Women of the Blues checks in to shine a spotlight on some of the huge names headlining the Chicago Blues Fest, including Bobby Rush, Nellie “Tiger” Travis, Mavis Staples and so many more!

We shift gears to car talk with Tom Appel, Publisher at Consumer Guide Automotive for the usual updates on recalls and test drives, plus some news on a Kia price bump and discontinuation of some Porsche models. We also introduce Tom to a new friend and automotive genius with the ability to convert a v6 engine to a v8!

Plenty of other treats along the way including but not limited to goats, Mrs. Robinson and our news director Ryan Burrow learns that June comes after May!

Johnnie Putman and Steve King have all of your favorites for this packed show! Racing, routers and a pair of talented musicians are just some of the things crammed in!

Our own Dane Neal stopped by before he covered the Indy 500 to share some of the traditions, superstitions and expectations all racing fans should have.

The big stars of the show were Josh Solomon and Erika Brett, the front half of The Empty Pockets! We always get more tales from their shows, early inspirations and we share some new music, both recorded and live in the studio!

After jamming out, we take a long deep dive into WIFI routers with Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. For those who might struggle following along for the router specific segment, Patrick’s show notes are the perfect companion for your brain to stay wired in.

We close out the show with some of Gabe Salgado’s latest sports analysis for Sports Between the Sheets, this time looking at the controversial move in football known as the “tush push”. Plus, we continue our spotlight on Celiac Disease Awareness Month!

Steve King and Johnnie Putman bring some more musical mayhem, along with the usual tales from back in the day, car stuff and tasty treats!

Suzy Bogguss is the first guest and she is quite the busy bee with lots to talk about! She is one of the inductees at the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum on Route 66 this September, she has a fantastic cookbook, and she has a brand new movie called “Everything Fun You Could Possibly Do in Aledo“, Illinois” coming in June!

Next up is a familiar voice for WGN-TV fan with the great Steve Sanders and he tells us what he’s been up to with his musical tribe known as The Mixaphors and why exactly they are called that!

Tom Appel, Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive and the Car Stuff Podcast has the latest car recalls, test drives and answering your questions!

Last, but not least, our news anchor Gabe Salgado returns with a lengthy segment of Sports between the Sheets! Plus, another sugary gluten-free Johnnie snack that will cleanse your palette!

Johnnie Putman and Steve King give you the “mother” of all shows! We have some childhood ‘momisms’, our weekly food jones, weird new tech jargon, and magical music that is both new to us and to the airwaves!

We jump right in with Don Drucker and Lisa Berman Drucker, Owners of Superdawg in Norwood Park in celebration of the restaurant’s 77th anniversary! We learn fun behind the scenes facts about the iconic blinking dogs and get a little backstory and connection to the original owners Maurie and Flaurie Berman!

Next up are the big stars of this show, Nikki O’Neill and Rich Lackowski, partners in life and music as the Chicago-based Nikki O’Neill Band! We learn how they were introduced to the show and are treated to some very magical, unplugged performances! Check out their website for upcoming shows and be sure to listen to her new album “Stories I Only Tell My Friends”, a magnificent work of art full of Americana soul that showcases the diverse range and storytelling chops.

After some calming music, Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at Keck School of Medicine of USC, returns to stress us out with more tech troubles. We learn about a type of text scam called Pig Butchering and how you can report them, a big legal payout at the expense of Apple, and we learn about Perplexity AI. We cover that and so much more, which you can also read on Patrick’s show notes!

We cover plenty of other stuff including mom stories for Mother’s Day and another of Johnnie’s gluten free recipes for Celiac Disease Awareness Month!

Steve King and Johnnie Putman are back for tons of music, Malort and motor related goodness!

Our first guest is Monica Eng, Author and Axios reporter with some real reporting on the Real ID, Chicago’s impending curfew law after an influx of late night “teen takeovers” and the obligatory food jones, if you consider Malort candy food.

Our big star of the show is Chicago blues musician Wayne Baker Brooks, with some upcoming performances, new music and a couple live performances right in the studio!

After some of Wayne’s tunes, we get some of Tom’s tunes, Tom being the Tom Appel, Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive. The tariff troubles continue, Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz has a recall, General Motors has immense recall numbers and we get more of Tom’s latest road tests!

Tons of other treats along the way with talk on new Chicago baseball outfits with Gabe Salgado and with May being Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Johnnie shares some delicious gluten free recipes!

Johnnie Putman and Steve King have another cavalcade of characters on this super stuffed show! Throughout the show, we’re paying tribute to the late legend Duane Eddy on, what would have been, his 87th birthday. Plus, we have the obligatory food jones.

Our first featured friend is Steve Bernas, President & Chief Executive Officer of BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois for the latest scams and spams. With reports on more text and call scams to restaurant reservation and concert scalping, there are plenty of reasons to perk up your ears!

With springtime weather in full bloom, it is the perfect time to go for a drive-in movie and who better to have on the show than Shelley and Paul Bottomley, Owners of the Route 34 Drive-In located in Earlville, IL. Following opening weekend, we learn about what is coming up in the following weeks, and we get some fun anecdotes from back in the day of old film reels before the shift to digital movies.

We also talk about our friend Steve Dawson‘s upcoming guitar class at the Old Town School of Folk Music along with a spotlight behind the scenes on the latest videos from his last in studio performance!

The last big player is Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at Keck School of Medicine of USC for his weekly roundup on tech and social media news! There is some news for Google Nest users, Google Chrome and we shed some light on Facebook as bad actors continue to plague the site.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete show if we didn’t have our very own newsman Gabe Salgado talking about the big wins and upsets from the NFL Draft on this week’s Sports Between the Sheets!