Steve and Johnnie

Latest Episodes:

Johnnie and Steve kick off the Chinese New Year Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

Johnnie Putman and Steve King are galloping into the Year of the Fire Horse with good friends and while you won’t hear any music, you can hear some of Steve and Johnnie’s new favorite Fire Horse songs at their blog!

First on the guest list is Dave Karger, Host at Turner Classic Movies for a talk about, you guessed it: movies! Dave shares some of his predictions for Oscar winners and we get a little sneak preview of his upcoming book 50 Movie Nights: Contemporary Stars on Their Favorite Classic Films. Be sure to preorder your copy to get the scoop on your favorite stars’ favorite films!

Ronnie Rice checks back in to share more of his glory days, stories behind some of his hits including TNT, which is featured on Chicago Rocks Vol. 1, a brilliant time capsule of Chicago rock and roll, courtesy of good friend Bill Dahl!

Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, brings this week’s latest news in tech, including a hefty Youtube outage, more Facebook shenanigans and a startling connection to the Epstein files. All that and more can be found at the show notes!

We also check in with News Anchor Gabe Salgado for his analysis on what’s to come for MLB as spring training begins.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7995451/7995451_2026-02-25-014351.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

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Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

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Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

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Feel the Love Jones with Steve and Johnnie Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

Steve King and Johnnie Putman are feeling the love as they celebrate their 41st year together on the radio with a couple of other couples!

Before getting to the lovebirds, they are joined by John Davis, Host of Motorweek to highlight the 2026 Driver’s Choice Awards and close out the Chicago Auto Show.

It’s no secret that Jon Duncanson and Sylvia Gomez were CBS anchors together in Chicago for many years, and to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we get the untold love story that started behind the scenes and continued across the globe while founding Aviana Productions, showing that true journalism and storytelling don’t take a day off.

Bringing love from the Florida panhandle are Mike and Maggie McKinney, otherwise known as Lucky Mud. They share some of their love story and what it takes to write music and share the stage with your life partner.

Rounding out the show is Consumer Guide Automotive’s Publisher Tom Appel with the usual slew of test drives and auto news, including the latest recalls, some tariff and EV updates and a quick pit stop with his Car Stuff Podcast cohost Jill Ciminillo for some of her highlights out of the Chicago Auto Show.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7986290/7986290_2026-02-20-013830.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

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Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

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Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

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Johnnie and Steve: Snacks, hacks and musical knicknacks Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Johnnie Putman and Steve King are here with a tasty show, but if you know them, you know there is no gluten here. Courtesy of Big Plug Bob Fukuda, we have a little taste test of gluten free Cheez-Its and similar products!

Our first guest is Howard Levy, a fantastic musician whom you might think has two brains with his ability to play harmonica and piano at the same time. With plenty of upcoming shows, new music and a new memoir called I Speak Music, there are plenty of reasons to check out his website levyland.com.

The music conversation continues with John Mueller, best known for Winter Dance Party, in which he portrays the long lost legend Buddy Holly, along with his friends Linwood Sasser as the Big Bopper and Ray Anthony as Ritchie Valens. Learn about his upcoming shows and learn more about him in honor of The Day the Music Died.

Patrick Crispen checks in with the latest tech and hack news covering the the latest TikTok news, smart TVs targeting you with their ads like everything else, more Facebook shenanigans and some helpful tips on passkeys to keep your personal info safe in a growing age of insecurity. As always, follow along with Patrick’s show notes at the Steve and Johnnie Show blog!

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7975608/7975608_2026-02-13-180508.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

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Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

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Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

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Steve and Johnnie are thinking warm! Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

Steve King and Johnnie Putman invite you to warm up as the temperatures hit single digits with some great guests and brilliant conversations!

Chris Smith, Meteorologist at Panhandle Weather for Northwestern Florida shared some of the crazy temperatures many Floridians experienced this winter which resulted in a delay to Steve and Johnnie’s February trip to the panhandle.

Our very own news anchor Ron Brown shares his take on the biggest Hollywood blockbusters from 2025 following the latest Oscar nomination news.

Chicago journalist James Elsener joins the show to talk about a new book on the City News Bureau that he co-authored with the late editor of City News Bureau Paul Zimbrakos, a legend among journalists. Sirens in the Loop: A History of the City News Bureau of Chicago, catalogs how integral it was to the efficiency of news and how many up and coming journalists sharpened their senses throughout the history of Chicago news

Tom Appel, Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive and Host of the Car Stuff Podcast shares his bi-monthly car news covering the usual test drives and recalls along with some helpful advice for engines in the winter, sound system rankings and the ever uncertain future of AM Radio

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7943590/7943590_2026-01-29-193030.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

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Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd} Click for more

Johnnie and Steve meet Dave Swerski! Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

Johnnie Putman and Steve King introduce you to another special guest on the show!

If you’ve seen Bears Superfan Dave Swerski‘s parody songs, you already know who he is, but do you know the man behind da ‘stache? Tune in to get to know the storied career of David Haack, the Iowa native behind the catchy songs!

We then check in with the Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, Patrick Crispen for his analysis on the big Verizon outage and we dive deep on the growing need of two factor authentication passkeys! There is so much more Patrick digs into but don’t worry about taking notes, here are his show notes!

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7928173/7928173_2026-01-21-234013.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

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Steve and Johnnie 2.0 celebrates its 3rd anniversary! Jan 07, 2026

Show notes

Start 2026 with the best Saturday night show featuring your favorite radio couple! Steve King and Johnnie Putman are starting their 4th year back on the air with some of their favorites AND a very special guest for a full circle moment!

Gino Salomone returns for a look back at some of his best ‘Showbiz’ moments of 2025 and we get a sneak peek at how Chicago’s iconic film critic duo Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert are being honored, plus Gino breaks down the new movie featuring the music of Neil Diamond and the new Chevy Chase documentary.

The loyal listeners of The Steve and Johnnie Show that stay up until their segment known as Last Call might know about The Closing Song by Red Peters, and who better than the man himself to kick off the 3rd anniversary of the show! You won’t hear it here but we finally get to know the man behind that song!

We catch up with Consumer Guide Automotive’s Publisher Tom Appel for the latest test drives and recall news that took 2025 by storm, including Ford’s very rough year for recalls. We get a look ahead to 2026 as Tesla is dethroned for number one EV manufacturer by a company in China plus a huge “screw-up” for BMW vehicles.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7900803/7900803_2026-01-07-001903.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

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Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd} Click for more

Say goodbye to 2025 with Johnnie and Steve! Jan 01, 2026

Show notes

Johnnie Putman and Steve King bid adieu to 2025 with two of their favorite things: family and some good old fashioned, hometown rock & roll!

Kicking off the show is the Crispen family, including Joseph and his parents Patrick and Christine! Patrick wraps up the year with some tech news including some computer chip woes for consumers in favor of AI, CAPTCHA hacks and we get Patrick’s tech predictions for 2026!

Shifting over to music, Grammy nominated author, journalist, music historian and lifelong Chicagoan Bill Dahl joins for a spotlight on some of Chicago’s finest rockers to ever hit the airwaves, including Steve King himself. Chicago Rocks: Windy City Rock & Roll, Vol. 1 catalogs the rich history of Chicago rock & roll with various hits from the mid 1950s to 1960s and is a must own for any music historian in your life!

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7884341/7884341_2026-01-01-000341.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

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Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd} Click for more

Relive the ’70s with Steve and Johnnie! Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

There were many eras of music that were memorable, but if you ask Steve King and Johnnie Putman, they’ll tell you that the 1970s in Chicago were the best for concerts and they have two guys who may agree!

The show kicks off with a frosty weather forecast from WGN-TV Meteorologist Mike Jansen as Christmas fast approaches.

The two guys mentioned above are Jim Summaria and Mark Plotnick, co-authors of ’70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts, a thrilling time capsule of concert photos, history and more! Mark is a retired Chicago journalist and Jim is a concert photographer and together they also are the hosts of That Rock Show with Jim and Mark where they celebrate all of the greatest music to come out of Illinois!

Later on, we check on tech with Patrick Crispen, Director of Educational Technology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. There is plenty to talk about with AI as Disney makes a big investment and Patrick clears the air on some unease around Facebook/Meta “expanding” their AI tools. For all of you last minute Christmas shoppers, Patrick shares a few ideas for the tech and music nerds in your life and his pick for a cable TV alternative. Be sure to follow along with the show notes directly from The Steve and Johnnie Show Blog!

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7860173/7860173_2025-12-16-030413.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd} Click for more

Car news with Johnnie, Steve and Tom! Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Johnnie Putman and Steve King are in for a super short show featuring our favorite car guru, Tom Appel, whom also happens to be the Publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive and Host of the Car Stuff Podcast to highlight the latest auto industry news, test drives and recalls, including the Trump’s decision to roll back fuel economy standards, which may impact drivers’ wallets at the pump, plus the shaky future of AM radio being a standard feature in vehicles.

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7853004/7853004_2025-12-11-064004.64kmono.mp3

Steve and Johnnie

Steve and Johnnie prep for Hurricane Isaias

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: The White Sox streaking

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve and Johnnie: Long Grove’s gluten-free fall fest

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd}

Steve Dawson, QB helmet stickers, and Ford recalls

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Steve and Johnnie: Will Byington rock star photographer

.cls-7{fill:#fff;fill-rule:evenodd} Click for more

Happy Thanksgiving from Steve, Johnnie and Muriel Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

Steve King and Johnnie Putman bring all the stuffing you need for Thanksgiving, and the main course: Muriel Anderson! It’s that time of year for her Saturday-After-Thanksgiving Concert! Listen in for all the details as she returns home to Downers Grove for her 34th annual concert featuring Alberto Lombardi from Italy!

Tune in for Patrick Crispen’s latest tech news including a new Facebook message that is sure to startle some, Google and TikTok features are improving the way they handle AI, and so much more that you can read all about on The Steve and Johnnie Show Blog!

Stay tuned on the blog for more, including Johnnie’s stuffin muffin recipe and Youtube channel for many servings of videos from our musical guests this November and all that came before!

https://serve.castfire.com/audio/7833841/7833841_2025-11-27-012141.64kmono.mp3