Steve and Johnnie

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!

Kick back, relax and crack open a window for this full show with Steve King and Johnnie Putman!

After weeks of rescheduling, we finally get to add another hat to the many Jessica Radloff has! In addition to being the Senior West Coast Editor of GLAMOUR Magazine and the author of “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story”, we are excited to share that she is now the Host of the Official Big Bang Theory Podcast, which you can stream on Max or wherever you get your podcasts.

Next up, we jam out with the talented and versatile musician Robbie Fulks, promote his upcoming shows in Chicago on April 25th and 26th and showcase some of our favorite tracks that demonstrate his wide range.

Tom Appel, Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive and Host of the Car Stuff Podcast is back for continuing updates on the auto industry’s response to the tariffs, the New York Auto Show’s big reveals, Ford’s laundry list of recalls and so much more!

We close out the show with a tribute to the late Wink Martindale, a legend among game show hosts. All that and so much more is in our Easter basket of audio goodies!

Game show host Wink Martindale, known for programs including “Tic-Tac-Dough” and “Gambit,” died Tuesday at age 91. Earlier in his career, Martindale was a radio DJ. In 1954, Martindale recorded one of the first interviews with Elvis Presley. In this clip from a 2001 interview with WGN Radio’s Steve King and Johnnie Putman, Wink Martindale describes that interview.

Johnnie Putman and Steve King are back in Chicago and back in full form with full sized shows!

For this first (almost full) show back, we’ve got tons of TV history tidbits, along with the inside scoop on the latest edition of Watching TV: American Television Season by Season, Fourth Edition. It is coauthored by Wally Podrazik, author, historian, Beatles expert and longtime friend of WGN Radio.

We’re then joined by another dear friend, Patrick Crispen, the Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Patrick gives us the cost breakdowns as tariffs increase on our allies that provide a large majority of our technology imports. We also look at the Library of Congress’s additions to the registry of important songs and recordings, a few of which are a key milestone in the history in computer technology.

During their last week at WKGC in Panama City Beach, Steve King and Johnnie Putman introduce you to the latest master of music along the Florida panhandle.

Tracy Mick comes to the show for the first time to perform live at the studio and we learn a little about who Tracy is. Tune in below to enjoy some great guitar and some fantastic vocals!

Even for a shorter show, Consumer Guide Automotive’s Publisher Tom Appel sticks around to regale us with his car talk and car testing tunes! We catch up on the ongoing Trump tariff saga and how it is affecting the automotive industry.

Steve King and Johnnie Putman continue their Florida stay with some very special guests at WKGC in Panama City’s Gulf Coast State College.

We get to know more about fan favorite Floridians Eli Ingram and Sandi MarLisa, the Florida duo known as Jack and Gin are back on the show to talk about their new album Island of Light and they perform some of their top tracks.

There are plenty of other things to enjoy along the way such as some streaming picks and Gabe Salgado’s latest March Madness updates on Sports Between the Sheets!

Johnnie Putman and Steve King have left Chicago… and are enjoying the Florida weather running the show from Panama City! It may be reduced, but it’s still the same great Steve and Johnnie flavor!

Patrick Crispen checks in with the latest tech news, hacks, spam and AI updates, with the big headlines covering a major overhaul in how Amazon’s Alexa privacy system handles your audio recordings, big changes to Siri and a malicious social engineering scam known as ClickFix. For the full rundown on what they cover, check out Patrick’s show notes for the full details!

We also check in with our own resident sports expert Gabe Salgado for some March Madness themed Sports Between the Sheets!

Steve King and Johnnie Putman bring back Steve Dawson for his third appearance on Steve and Johnnie 2.0! We have tons of auditory treats for you to enjoy and some news on how you can catch a live show in April! Stay tuned for visual treats to come on Steve and Johnnie’s blog and YouTube channel!

Consumer Guide Automotive’s Publisher Tom Appel is back for his routine automotive updates on recalls, new test drives and the latest news. This time, we’re tackling how the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and how Elon Musk himself are hurting the auto industry and EV owners. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Tom show without some of Tom’s Tunes!

With March Madness in full swing, Gabe Salgado returns with his perspective during another round of Sports Between the Sheets!