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| Boortz FAQ |
Where are you from?
I was downloaded in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on April 6, 1945. Bryn Mawr was my Mom’s home. She was living there while my Dad was serving in the Pacific theater in World War II. My father remained in the Marine Corps after the war, retiring in 1964. Growing up a Marine Brat meant I moved every three years. I lived in such places as Hale Ewa and Honolulu, Ha, Virginia Beach, Va., Morehead City and Cherry Point, NC, Orange County, Ca., and Pensacola, Florida. Growing up like this means you have a lot of acquaintances, but few life-long friends. It probably would have been the same if I had lived in one place all my life. I'm not exactly user friendly.
Where did you go to School?
I know, it surprises you that I have any education at all, doesn’t it? Well, my first two years of High School were at Tustin Union High School in Tustin, California. I transferred to Pensacola (Fl.) High School for my Junior and Senior years. I then attended Texas A&M University from 1963 to 1967. For those of you familiar with A&M, I was in the Corps of Cadets. Fighting Seagram's Seven, to be exact, Ed Zatopek, C.O. I didn't actually "go to school" until law school here in Atlanta. That's when I started paying attention. Graduated law school in 1977.
When did you move to Atlanta?
When I finished at A&M I came to Atlanta to visit my parents. (Dad was working at Lockheed.) That was July 2, 1967. Much to the regret of various local politicians, I never left.
What did you initially do after A&M?
Many things, most of them legal. During my last two years at Texas A&M I worked as a disk jockey at WTAW-AM in Bryan, Texas under the name of Randy Neal. Now I am proud to say that WTAW carries The Neal Boortz Show live every morning! I'm also carried on KLBJ in Austin ... home of the University of Texas "Teasips." With that Robert Jenson character in the faculty over there they need The High Priest of the Painful Truth.When I got to Atlanta I immediately started trying to get a job in Broadcasting. I went to every single radio and television station in town and got a lot of "Don’t call us, we’ll call you" responses. These people just didn’t know what they were passing up! So, for the next two years I worked at Rich’s Department Store as an Assistant Buyer in Fine Jewelry, then in Carpeting. From that I went to write speeches for the Governor of Georgia. Even after I started doing talk radio I found it necessary to work two jobs to support my family. So, in addition to the jobs mentioned above I loaded trucks for East Texas Motor Freight, worked as night auditor at a motel, worked at the Postal Service Bulk Mail facility, sold life insurance and worked for an employment agency.After I graduated law school in 1977 I opened a solo law practice. Thanks to a little name recognition from radio, I did well from the start. I retired from the practice of law when I joined WSB in 1992. I was 49 years old before I only had one job.
How did you get into talk radio?
Soon after I moved to Atlanta in 1967 a new radio station named WRNG-AM signed on. WRNG, which called itself "Ring Radio" was Atlanta’s first talk radio station. I immediately became hooked and was a constant listener. Soon I started calling their morning talk show host, a man by the name of Herb Elfman. As I became a regular caller a friendship of sorts developed between us. One fateful evening I heard on the late TV news that Elfman had committed suicide. The next morning I presented myself at the front door of WRNG and announced that I was ready to take his place. The management informed me that they were going to search for a "qualified" host to take his place. In the interim, they were going to take their evening host and move him to mornings. I was offered a two-week stint replacing the evening host until a new man was hired and he was moved back into his customary slot. I took it. Two weeks later they moved me to the morning show --- and I have been doing talk radio in Atlanta ever since. Thirty one years this year. I don’t know if my longevity is due to talent or to the incredible collection of Polaroid’s I have collected.
Don’t you feel guilty moving in on Elfman’s job right after he killed himself, you pig?
Are you kidding? What was the station going to do? Were they going to run an announcement saying "In memory of our dead talk show host we now bring you three hours of dead air?" Hey, someone was going to get the gig .. and I was just the opportunist to go for it. You snooze, you lose.
That certainly wasn't very Christian of you, was it?
I don't know! Does taking advantage of an opportunity without stepping on anyone else sound "un-Christian" to you? I guess the next thing you're going to ask is whether or not I'm a Christian. OK, Yes, I am. Episcopalian would be my church of choice the Episcopal Church in the United State has been moving to the left faster than the U.C. Berkeley faculty. Right now I'll stick with the Dutch Reform church. I feel that religion is a very personal issue and I sincerely try not to push my beliefs on others -- and I ask that they treat me with the same respect. Imagine what a wonderful world we would have if everyone just tried to live their own lives according to their religious principals and spent a bit let time trying to tell other folks how to live theirs.
So, you’ve been doing just talk radio since 1969?
No. As I said, I didn’t have one job until I was 49. For the first seven years of my talk radio career I worked some of those jobs mentioned above. In 1974, as I indicated above, I started attending law school in Atlanta in my "spare" time. I took the bar exam in 1977 and started practicing law later that year. From 1977 to 1993 I combined my talk radio duties with a law successful law practice. During those years the law practice was my primary occupation, and talk radio came second.
Other than meeting your wife, what was the happiest day of your life?
The day I sent a letter to the State Bar of Georgia telling them to put me on the "inactive" list. I thought passing the bar exam would be a great moment .. it pales when compared with the day you escape that profession. I don't know many happy lawyers. The sooner a lawyer learns that his most dangerous adversary is his own client, the better off he is. Who needs that?
So, just what are you? Another hate-filled conservative?
Nope. I’m a libertarian.
I started out my political life as a bedwetting liberal. Young, idealistic -- and dumb. Then I started paying income taxes. Thankfully I realized sooner than most the difference between what I earn and my "take-home" pay. For a few years I guess you could have called me a conservative. I was troubled, though, by the penchant conservatives have for directing the social lives of people. That led me straight to the libertarian philosophy. Simply put, I believe in freedom. I believe the Constitution should be amended with a clause which states that neither the federal nor any state government shall make any activity that does not violate, through force or fraud, a person’s right to life, liberty or property, a crime. I firmly believe that if liberty is to be preserved in America, it will be libertarian thought, if not the Libertarian Party, that saves it.
You’re a libertarian, but you are always supporting the Republicans!
Not always. Wait until they get into their prayer-in-the-schools, war on drugs or anti-abortion mode. Sure, when it comes to differences between the Social Democratic Party and the Republicans, I will usually support the Republicans. Face it, the two big players are the Social Democratic Party and the Republican Party. I'll support the Republicans when they're right ... but I generally vote Libertarian in elections. The Republicans need to shrug off this Christian Coalition noose it has placed around its own neck and recognize the fact that, though they may not realize it, the majority of Americans are actually quite libertarian in their philosophy. They also need to learn to fight once in a while. What a bunch of wimps.
People often call you a racist. Are you?
Hell, who doesn’t get called a racist from time to time? It’s the all-purpose weapon to be used against any person who doesn’t toe the leftist line on matters of race. Ninety-nine percent of the people who throw charges of racism around can’t even define the term. Simply put – racism is the belief in the inherent, genetic superiority of one race over another, and the corresponding belief in the right of the superior race to dominate the inferior one. People often get racism mixed up with bigotry or prejudice. We need to get our terminology straightened out. We obviously have racial problems that need solving. The first step in solving a problem is to identify it. If we keep miss-identifying bigotry and prejudice as racism we’ll never make any headway. By the way, I do freely admit to being a "culturalist." This, of course, drives the multicultural crowd absolutely nuts.
You’re very offensive and insensitive sometimes.
Really? So is life. Deal with it.
Look, life is insensitive, and the truth can be highly offensive. To hide from either is to hide from the reality of life. Take comfort in the fact that I am an equal opportunity offender. You today. Someone else tomorrow. You have no Constitutional right not to be offended and I'm here to make sure this non-existent Constitutional right is honored.
Are they any childhood friends you would like to find?
Actually ... I didn't have any childhood friends. I'm not all that likable.
Anything else?
Yeah. I want to say that I wish for every one of you the same satisfaction and happiness I get out of doing a talk radio show. Life's too short to spend it getting up every morning and heading off to a job you dread. |
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