Neal Boortz - Professional Career and Rise To Fame

Professional Career and Rise To Fame

Before going into radio, Boortz held many jobs including writing speeches for then Georgia Governor Lester Maddox. He began his radio career in College Station, Texas in the 1960s at WTAW-AM under the name of Randy Neal while attending Texas A&M University. After attending A&M, Boortz went to Atlanta in 1967 to visit his parents; he liked the area and decided to stay. He began searching for local broadcasting industry jobs, but experienced many rejections. For two years, Boortz worked at Rich’s Department Store as an assistant buyer in fine jewelry where he, in his words, "had the pleasure of assisting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.", and also worked in carpeting. Boortz went on to write speeches for the Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox. In 1974, Boortz started attending law school in his spare time.

When Boortz moved to Atlanta, a new radio station named WRNG-AM came into existence. WRNG, which called itself "Ring Radio," was Atlanta’s first talk radio station. Boortz was an avid listener and would call their morning talk show host, Herb Elfman, that led to a friendship between them. While watching the news one evening, he heard that Elfman had committed suicide. The next morning Boortz showed up at the front door of WRNG and announced that he was ready to take Elfman's place. Even though the management told him that "they were going to search for a 'qualified' host to take his place", Boortz was offered to be a temporary two-week replacement. In the interim, the evening host was moved to mornings and Boortz hosted the evening. Two weeks later, Boortz was moved to the morning show and has been doing talk radio in Atlanta ever since.