The family of longtime Dallas radio personality Sam Putney confirmed his passing on Monday.
Putney, 76, was known for years as a news personality and singer on a top-rated morning radio show in Dallas.
“I don’t care how old you were, what age group, what demo of audience, everybody loved Sam Putney,” Nanette Lee said.
“The best thing about this is, we’re going to laugh and we’re going to cry,” Lee said. "So that’s what I think people are getting now.”
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Nanette Lee, Chris Arnold and Wig shared reflections of their colleague with NBC 5 on Tuesday. They made up three of the five personalities on the Skip Murphy and Company Morning Show on K104 FM from 1993 to 2006.
Putney grew up in Houston graduating from Jack Yates High School in 1966 and went on to work in radio in Los Angeles and WBAP in Dallas too, after his time at K-104.
The show was a ratings powerhouse on Dallas radio with Sam Putney as a newsman.
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“He would have, like, a news story and then he would have a funny story,” Chris Arnold said.
“Sam liked to make music,” Lee added.
Songs Lynne Haze with Smooth R&B 105.7 is still remembered with love during the midday show on Tuesday.
“He could sing this song, and it was stupid as hell, but it was so funny, and it would just make us feel good. But the community loved him because he knew how to connect,” Haze said.
A connection former colleagues and life-long friends say they hope listeners hold on to and cherish as they remember Sam Putney.
“He really was your uncle, your brother, your cousin,” Lee said. “That’s our motto, family for life,” Wig and Arnold said, completing each other’s thoughts.