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.
Read more about this topic: Neal Boortz
Famous quotes containing the words professional, career, rise and/or fame:
“Smoking ... is downright dangerous. Most people who smoke will eventually contract a fatal disease and die. But they dont brag about it, do they? Most people who ski, play professional football or drive race cars, will not dieat least not in the actand yet they are the ones with the glamorous images, the expensive equipment and the mythic proportions. Why this should be I cannot say, unless it is simply that the average American does not know a daredevil when he sees one.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (182595)
“the petals creak and
begin to rise.
They rise and recurl
to a buds form
and clamp shut.
I wait in the dark.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for.”
—Alexander Smith (18301867)