‘What’s next? I’m eager to find out.’ Local 10’s Michael Putney has a few final words

Michael Putney made history in Miami two years before he officially worked in Miami.

WPLG-Channel 10’s senior political reporter and host of “This Week in South Florida” was one of the last journalists to interview labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa before the Teamsters president disappeared in July 1975. Hoffa’s body has never been found.

Putney, now 82, was in Miami to write a series on Hoffa for The National Observer. Two years later, in 1977, the Miami Herald hired Putney before he went on to a career in local TV.

He has interviewed every U.S. president since Richard Nixon. He’s challenged South Florida elected officials who can make Nixon seem timid and soft-spoken by comparison. He faced death threats for his coverage of the Elian Gonzalez saga in 1999.

Putney announced his pending retirement in October, and viewers are about to get their last dose of Putney in his final appearance on his weekly public affairs show.

“I stayed in the game,” he told the Miami Herald, “because I was still hungry to tell the hidden political stories.”

READ MORE: Putney’s ode to Miami, a love letter to his hometown

When will Putney’s final show air?

Michael Putney’s last time hosting “This Week in South Florida airs on WPLG-Local 10 at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 18. Co-host Glenna Milberg, who has been with WPLG since 1999, will continue as host.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., who also retired this week, will be one of Putney’s final guests Sunday, “sharing retirement stories,” Putney told the Miami Herald.

“I’ll also miss his trenchant observations in his Herald column. No one quite like him, a truth teller like no other,” Putney said of Pitts.

Pitts, in turn, said of his previous experiences with Putney: “A lot of TV interviewers will ask you questions because they have a sense of what it is that you’re going to say if you’re prodded by a certain question or they’re trying to lead you someplace. What I always liked about Michael is that he seemed to ask you questions because he honestly wanted to know the answers. He had this great curiosity and desire to probe what other people knew, at least in my case, that I always found very engaging.”

READ MORE: Leonard Pitts Jr.: Time flew, didn’t it? Now, it’s time for me to fly off, too | Opinion

Who is Michael Putney?

Michael Putney has come a long way from growing up in a family poor in wealth but “rich in knowledge and love and erudition,” he said in a WPLG video.

Putney was born in New York City in December 1940, but was raised in St. Louis. When he was 14, Putney moved with his family to Berkeley, California. By 16, he enrolled at Deep Springs College in California, a formative time, he said in a WPLG video.

“The whole idea of Deep Springs is self-governance. The students ran the college in many ways. And so I think it was there that, whatever I have done throughout my career in journalism, was really spurred by what I learned and believed,” Putney said.

Putney earned his bachelor of arts in English literature and his master’s from the University of Missouri. His first professional job was in 1966, as a Mizzou graduate student radio reporter and news director.

In 1970, Putney worked for The National Observer in Washington and Los Angeles as a general arts writer, general assignment reporter and national features writer, according to his WPLG bio. Putney also worked at Time in New York and the Miami Herald before joining then local CBS affiliate WTVJ in 1981 (now NBC 6), broadcasting reports focusing on government and politics. He joined WPLG in 1989 and continued writing semi-regular columns for the Herald through his career.

Putney’s thoughts on leaving broadcasting

“I’m leaving ‘This Week in South Florida’ proud for having presented hundreds of news and policymakers over the years who were asked direct questions in a civil atmosphere,” Putney said. “I never wanted a food fight. I wanted to have frank conversations with news makers, sometimes putting them on the spot. Sometimes getting genuine answers. Lawton Chiles did that. Iliana Ros-Lehtinen, too. Jeb Bush and others. What a pleasure.”

Most difficult shows?

“There were some shows during the Elian Gonzalez saga that were very difficult and almost teetered out of control. I got some death threats for not saying the boy should stay with his Miami relatives,” Putney told the Miami Herald in an email on Saturday.

Putney’s favorite interview?

“The interview I may be proudest of was with candidate Barack Obama in 2008. Never had a politician listen so carefully to my questions and succinctly answer them — not just rolling out his canned talking points. And he questioned me, too,” Putney told the Herald.

But Putney wasn’t only impressed by President Obama’s style. Nixon changed his life.

“It was an enlightening interview for me because I had, during the Vietnam years, come to detest Nixon, and he was so gracious and so willing to speak. And we had a pretty good interview,” Putney said in his WPLG video. “I did a little meditation and self-examination and said to myself, ‘Don’t be so judgmental. People are complex.’ And Richard Nixon was complex.”

As for Hoffa?

“Hoffa was fascinating,” Putney said in the video. “He exuded more menace than anybody I have ever met. Not towards me. But he was really a tough guy.”

Putney in the congressional record

On Dec. 16, two days before Putney’s final broadcast, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, visited the Local 10 newsroom in Pembroke Park to tell Putney that she had entered a statement into the congressional record to honor his service. She also said that she delivered a U.S. flag to fly in his honor over the U.S. Capitol.

“Michael was doggedly devoted to accountability throughout his tenure at WPLG and our community is far better as a result of that work,” Schultz said at the station.

What’s next for Putney?

“What’s next? I’m eager to find out,” Putney said.

“Travel, cooking, reading and volunteering. I’ve asked [former Herald publisher and chair of the Children’s Movement of Florida] David Lawrence for some advice about helping kids.”