Why you’re not likely to see another Neal Boortz
Neal Boortz and his radio crew, after his last broadcast on Friday. AJC/Rodney Ho
Neal Boortz signed off for the last time on Friday.
You won’t hear the likes of him again. And not just because retirement has doomed him to wander the world in an over-sized bus, like some middling country music singer who can’t find enough studio work.
The larger reason is that talk radio and its conservative clout have probably peaked.
As a cause, Boortz fans are sure to point to the Talkmaster’s departure, after four decades on our airwaves and 20 years at AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB. But four months ago, Clear Channel’s WGST – once a burning bush of conservative talk in Atlanta – shifted to sports. In Spanish. Last week, Allen West, the fire-breathing, former congressman from Florida, joined the corps of professional talkers. His program will be on the Internet.
It’s all of a piece.
Forty-eight hours before he bade farewell from the basement studios of WSB, Boortz sat for a relaxed conversation about the mark he’s left, and the where the talk industry is headed. And why, after all the shouting was done, the combined forces of conservative talk radio had been unable to push Mitt Romney across the finish line and stop the re-election of President Barack Obama last November.
Possibly, he said, talk radio had been a little too hot and, at the same time, a little too cold. “The failure of talk radio in this election may have been a little less time on the dangers of this man’s political philosophy” – if you know Boortz, you know this “this man” is how he speaks of Obama – “and a little more time trying to empathize with some of these voters out there. ‘I understand why you feel that way. Let me try to explain to you why this guy is not the answer.’ Maybe a little more of that would have helped,” Boortz theorized.
As for the mark he leaves, the Talkmaster understands that, despite 14 years of national syndication, he was always a “backbencher.” His phrase, not mine.
“One of the things that hurt my syndication was broadcasting from Atlanta. I was a Southern show. There is a bias against the South. We are ignorant, we are uneducated, we have stills, we drag our knuckles, there are dogs chained under our porches,” he fumed.
He pointed to an article by a talk radio consultant on the website of Talkers magazine, forecasting success for Herman Cain, the former Republican presidential candidate, who will take Boortz’ seat before the mike on Monday. Boortz has nothing but good things to say about Cain, who he is sure, will thrive. What galled him was the writer’s contention that Cain, though he was born in Memphis, would come across as “less Southern,” while Boortz had regionalized himself by using phrases such as “up in Washington.”
And so Boortz doesn’t place himself in the ranks of giants who, like Uncle Miltie and Walter Cronkite before them, may be the last of their kind. “The whole radio thing is changing. I don’t think you’ll ever see another [Sean] Hannity or [Rush] Limbaugh come along, because the spectrum is so much broader now,” he said. “You have people that are streaming shows on the Internet. And whatever listeners they do have will probably be taken from somebody else.”
Prior to sitting down with Boortz, I’d put in a call to Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers magazine. He didn’t write the article that Boortz had cited, but Harrison does think that parochialism – though not “bias” — had kept the Talkmaster in the second tier of talk jocks.
“His mark will really have been made as one of the great broadcasters in Atlanta history,” Harrison said. “He made an impact nationally – but not on an A-plus level. He would have had to abandon a lot of the flavor and the roots and the substance that made him such a star in Atlanta. And he didn’t do that. It hindered him going into that next national level.”
But Harrison agreed with Boortz’ larger point – that talk radio, over the next few years, is likely to become a more pallid version of itself. More voices, with less individual impact.
Talk radio, especially the conservative version, has enjoyed a fine run — for a couple reasons, Harrison explained. “Liberals are more likely to listen to a conservative host with whom they disagree. Many, many people love to listen to Rush Limbaugh because they enjoy hating him. The conservative listener is less tolerant of listening to a liberal,” he said. Result: Fewer liberal talk radio show hosts.
Conservative listeners are also a more compact demographic group, and thus easier for marketers and advertisers to target. “There is more of a diversity among people who might vote for Obama or vote for a Democrat or vote for a liberal,” Harrison said.
The looming problem for talk radio – as well as for talking heads on television and columnists in newspapers – is the Internet. “The Internet is causing a dilution of impact for everything. The bar to entry has been lowered. The bar to anyone paying attention to you has been heightened,” Harrison said.
As it shifts to a digital world, the talk industry on both sides of the political spectrum is likely to become more extreme, the publisher of Talkers said, because of the need to attract attention. But with hundreds of Boortzs, Hannitys and Limbaughs competing for your ear, chances are that no single set of voices will dominate as they do now.
The final question, of course, is what young up-and-comers Boortz sees on the horizon. He gave good marks to Erick Erickson, who handles WSB’s evening talk. But after that, his list is pretty short. He was never one for busman’s holidays. “I’ve never been much of a talk radio listener. So I can’t really tell you who’s out there. I’ve got friends in the business, but I don’t listen to them,” he said.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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198 comments Add your comment
Who-knew?
January 19th, 2013
12:54 pm
Hey Blue Dog, why don’t you move out of the country if its so baaaaaad here. Liberals….pffft.
HoppedUpOnClarity
January 19th, 2013
12:55 pm
Here is what I find insulting. You can take these people who subscribe to Neal Boortz’s racist, sexist, everything -ist philosophy and are apologists for it and they will tell you how it was nothing more than “harmless ENTERTAINMENT”. That jerk Neal Boortz did more to stoke the anger of resentful White people over especially the past 4 years than just about anyone else. Here is what is insulting…
You take these same people and Neal who was not shy about taking aim at all things “Urban”, “Hip-Hop” and “Ghetto” and engage them on the subject of RAP MUSIC. See if they tell you that THAT is “entertainment”?? It uses the same medium as Neal, expresses the perspective seen from THEIR eyes, is gritty, “thought provoking” and all of that. Yet, you see…people like Neal and his ilk view that as POISONING THE MINDS OF THE PUBLIC and the people who consume it as idiots. They are so myopic though that in THEIR minds they cannot possibly be consuming poison.
There is where the intellectual disconnect is. How in the hell can you simply pass off vitriol and hatred packaged as “entertainment” put out over the air for years and years as “harmless” and ineffectual to those who gladly consume and espouse it, and in the same breath present (Black ) rappers, athletes and anyone else in the public eye who consumes hip-hip as some type of mindless uncivilized animal. That supremacist perspective (let’s just call it what it is), is what needs to change. Boortz knew exactly what he was doing. It is who he is. I mean…it’s not like he’s moving out of the country or anything. His situation doesn’t change to anything much different than it has been in life. He just could no longer contain his hatred for having a man with brown skin elected to the highest office in the land again, that it became too much for him to deal with. He admitted it as much. Now THAT’S some hatred for your @**! Glad he’s gone. P.O.S.
…and Herman Cain. You will see REAL SOON what those who claim they would “support you in a heartbeat” think of you now that “Uncle Neal” is gone and you are no longer needed as window dressing and camouflage for his bigotry. You are seeing it already on these blogs with listeners. They have already begun WRITING YOUR EPITAPH; they have no use for you any longer. There has always been a place in history for people like HC. Six months Herman…tops! Watch and see.
Alphare
January 19th, 2013
12:55 pm
WillinRoswell ,
yes I do, Limbaugh has houses in all those places.
td
January 19th, 2013
1:02 pm
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
12:54 pm
The token HERMAN CAIN will try to make the racist birthers happy!
Glad you could come back on Representative Johnson. Has Guam tipped over yet?
td
January 19th, 2013
1:05 pm
HoppedUpOnClarity
January 19th, 2013
12:55 pm
Must be nice to walk thru life and see everything in color. Look in the mirror my friend if you want to see tru racist HATE.
td
January 19th, 2013
1:09 pm
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 19th, 2013
11:44 am
I wonder why so many people want to get into the various Conservative talking formats? I wonder why there are so few liberal talking formats? Is it because Conservatives can actually discuss their issues without grossing people out?
Like liberals can’t?
It is because liberals have to be stealthy and hide what they really are. They do not want their uniformed voters to really know that they hate God, hate capitalism, hate whites and hate our country in its present form> Remember “This is the first time in my life that I am proud of my country”?
Tom
January 19th, 2013
1:13 pm
Hope he has a happy retirement. I know I’m glad to be able to listed to WSB radio again.
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
1:21 pm
td
spoken like the racist birther that you are!
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
1:24 pm
YESSS @td!!!
Because EVERYONE knows that when one speaks out AGAINST racism and bigotry, it by default makes THEM the racist and bigot and not the ones they spoke out against in the first place.
Off yourself fool.
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
1:24 pm
td
conservatives hate the fact that its not 1950 anymore…lol
JDW
January 19th, 2013
1:25 pm
Goodbye and good riddance. Boortz and his ilk are one of the greatest sources of misinformation in politics today. When you look at the dysfunction that is todays Republican Party and try to understand why…Boortz, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc… are right there towards the top of the list.
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
1:25 pm
conservatives think that speaking out against racism is racist…smh…
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
1:26 pm
conservatives think that being a racist birther is proof that you’re a good AMERICAN.
BRW
January 19th, 2013
1:27 pm
Just looking at his picture, all I have to say is he better be glad it wasn’t a TV show!
In fact I think he had a short run on the telly and now we know the real reason it was cancelled….
Not enough makeup to go around.
Good riddance. Talk about dividing a nation. This guy wrote a book on how to do it.
seriously
January 19th, 2013
1:31 pm
sad to him go… maybe it’s time, but the thing about it is that liberals will always play dirty and name call. He had a good run at WSB.
BRW
January 19th, 2013
1:33 pm
td is back. Couldn’t stand not reading his own drivel for a day.
Neal’s gone td and as the song says “Another bites the dust”
Obama is Neal’s president and your president. LOL!
td
January 19th, 2013
1:33 pm
liberalefty
January 19th, 2013
1:24 pm
Yes Hank we believe everything you have to say.
William Baranowski
January 19th, 2013
1:40 pm
The “right wing” is NOT anti science and does NOT have a flat earth agenda. That is just left wing hate speech.
BRW
January 19th, 2013
1:41 pm
Looks like Savannah struck a chord too close to the truth with wittle td.
BRW
January 19th, 2013
1:43 pm
“The “right wing” is NOT anti science and does NOT have a flat earth agenda. That is just left wing hate speech.”
Then I would invite you to check some of Mr. Broun’s and Mr. Mourdoch’s mouth garbage.
Knowshon5dollafootlong
January 19th, 2013
1:55 pm
Neal Boortz was nothing more than a professional complainer. He consistently preferred tearing down as opposed to offering anything productive. The only time he paused from his vitriolic bitch session was to gloat about his home in Florida, his airplane, and his latest trip to play golf at Augusta. I’m sure his bloated ego has convinced him that he’ll be missed. Sorry, Phil…what was his name? We’ve already forgotten you.
t-bone
January 19th, 2013
1:55 pm
Neal disagreed with most of the liberal agenda before Obama even came on the scene and correctly predicted that anyone who disagreed with Obama would be deemed a racist. He was 100% correct. Whenever a liberal can’t win a debte on facts he/she just calls someone a racist for daring to question liberal policies.
JKL
January 19th, 2013
1:57 pm
Tell Boortz his smear campaign against Brandon Hall School failed. He was such a shallow person that he refused to have lunch on the campus even when he was invited after whining about the school in his old neighborhood….
findog
January 19th, 2013
2:01 pm
I still have my SAWB button
While I may have never wholly agreed with Neal I never thought it right for a Mayor of Atlanta to denigrate free speech just because it came from a Caucasian, Christian, heterosexual, male of European decent
Kris
January 19th, 2013
2:08 pm
Nate shady dealer, I want a job like this.
Former state Sen. Chip Rogers will start his new job Tuesday earning a lofty $150,000 – making him the seventh executive at Georgia Public Broadcasting
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/chip-rogers-will-make-150000-at-gpb/nT2Nc/
Will crooked deal have enough back bone. Spine. Say no to BLANK, no money No stadium. Do the will of the 73% who do not want a stadium..
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/falcons-face-pressure-to-ask-for-less-public-funds/nT2QX/
Buy shady Dealer 2014.
The falcons will go down in flames!
Doug
January 19th, 2013
2:13 pm
G O O D
R I D D A N C E ! ! !
td
January 19th, 2013
2:19 pm
We will now have a good conservative African American on the air everyday. Maybe he can show the good Christian African Americans and fiscally conservative African Americans that they are being used by the White secular humanist progressive plantation owners and some more will shed the yoke.
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
2:19 pm
So @td let me get this straight…
If I sit and listen to someone over a period of years day in and day out rant about a specific demographic or group for no other reason than to piss off another group and pit them against other because it’s great for his ratings and enriches him. This person boldly and gladly attaches ALL of the stereotypes, taglines and slogans of a racist or sexist nature to the individuals he attacks, and for ME to point that out is playing the “race card”???
Oh I get it. It’s the turn the other cheek principle eh? The good old “Christian” way. Accept the oppression of your oppressor. Don’t complain about it. Just be humble and thankful for it, lest it be perceived as your playing the race card. Sure, I get it now. Like I said before…
td
January 19th, 2013
2:25 pm
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
2:19 pm
So @td let me get this straight…
“If I sit and listen to someone over a period of years day in and day out rant about a specific demographic or group”
If you are talking about the moochers of society. The ones that refuse to get an education, not develop a marketable skill set, have children when they can not afford them and want to be dependent on the government for their subsistence regardless of race then yes that is what Neal was talking about. If you think Neal was only talking about Black people then you are full of crap and see nothing but see the KKK behind every corner.
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
2:27 pm
How ironic that right after I post, I see this statement of “good Christian African Americans”. You see people, some people’s ideas just don’t come from nowhere. “Christianity” has been used since the beginning to neuter masses of people so that those who desire to take advantage of them can continue to do so. Just be “good Christians….(and allow yourselft be $*** upon)”. And None of that is said to attack faith, spirituality or belief in a higher power, because I myself do. I do see things for what they are though.
Paul
January 19th, 2013
2:27 pm
Erick Erickson is fine with me.
Keep It Real
January 19th, 2013
2:29 pm
I would like to personally thank Neal Boortz and the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for getting President Barak Obama re-elected in November. The vernacular used on election day to describe African Americans was very demeaning but in the end, it backfired. It is great to see that all people are not bigots like you and your counterparts named above. You guys are killing the Republican party. The Republicans are scrambling trying to come up with a new strategy for the next election when all they need to do is shut you guys up. You guys purport to be the voice of your party as a whole and people don’t like you for it. All I can say is “One down and two to go”! It’s funny how they brought Rush Limbaugh over to 95.5 FM in Atlanta recently. It’s obvious they thought he was better than you anyway but just did not want to hurt your feelings. The token boy Cain won’t cut it either. I only pray that you stop teaching hate and teach your family how to love.
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
2:31 pm
” moochers of society…..”
This is Neal Boortz’s impact, contribution to society and legacy. It’s like quoting the Bible for some people. On full display…
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 19th, 2013
2:33 pm
Does anyone else find it hilarious that these libs have the nerve to complain about “right wing anger” in the midst of their own vein bulging, purple foreheaded, slobbering curled lip fit of rage?
What a bunch of whackjobs.
td
January 19th, 2013
2:40 pm
LiveFromSavannah
January 19th, 2013
2:31 pm
” moochers of society…..”
This is Neal Boortz’s impact, contribution to society and legacy. It’s like quoting the Bible for some people. On full display…
And what would you call them? The under privileged? The non LUCKY of society? After 46 years of the “Great society” with no progress in war on poverty with government programs. You leftest still refuse to see the real problem and that problem is government intervention.
Phil
January 19th, 2013
2:41 pm
Go back to watching American Idol people
Steve Lathem
January 19th, 2013
2:44 pm
Someone explain why if you have different views than liberals you are a hateful bigot when they claim the mantle of all inclusive!!!!!!
Google "NEA" and "union"
January 19th, 2013
2:44 pm
Dream on, Galloway. Thirty of the fifty states have Republican governors. In Georgia, both houses of the legislature are controlled by that party. And Fox News continues to dominate cable TV ratings.
Then consider the AJC’s rapidly dwindling circulation.
clem
January 19th, 2013
2:45 pm
cain is a carny at best
Mark Silver
January 19th, 2013
2:49 pm
Yes, I agree, we will not find another Neal Boortz, for I have noticed, he was just a handful of talk radio shows that had the guts to speak the truth. I found that every other media refused to admit the truth and allowed obama to constantly get away with out right lies, fraud and half-truth. The media is supposed to report the truth and be unbiased. During the months before the elections it was amazing how the media pointed out how Romney plan or speech had errors, but obama could give a flat out lie, and the media ignored it. Even when proof showed obama lied, everyone in the media and radio ignore his lies and even passed it on as the rock solid truth, but you had a few out there with the guts and morals to report the lies, like Neal Boortz, Glen Beck, and Herman Cain. What are we to do, and who are we going to look to, to report the truth with Neal Boortz retiring? We know we can not believe the local news media and papers, or most talk show host, for they all will follow the leader when it comes to obama and his constant lies.
BORING
January 19th, 2013
2:51 pm
Boortz was pretty good at one time but the same ole shtick grew to be tiresome.
Erickson and Cain have zero pizzaz.. They are about as amusing as those “sea monkeys” they use to advertise in comic books…
WSB landed Rush which will help their bottom line, but the other two are dreadful…
Neither Red or Blue
January 19th, 2013
3:10 pm
Promise we wont see another of his kind? Please dont tease us with these titles!
West Point
January 19th, 2013
3:11 pm
Hey blue dog, I got another Titanic for you, Obama, Biden, and the rest of you tree hugging commies. We don’t need wussies like you in this country. Get out!
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 19th, 2013
3:18 pm
Does anybody else wonder how bookman is able to post 3 or 4 articles per day? You think he spends a lot of time thinking about each and everyone of them? Ever get the feeling there is a bunch of in depth investigative reporting going on behind the scenes? Heh, me either.
Must be nice to have the white house do all the work that you claim as your own.
Ever wonder how the Closeminded News Network can say the same things over and over, all day long, and the morons and obozombies just sit and stare at it? Until what is being said finally dawns on them and they are programmed? And able to go forth and babble?
Look, here’s a few of them now.
Old Hippie
January 19th, 2013
3:21 pm
Herman Cain won’t last a year – he was an embarrassment to the GOP during the campaign and will do the same for talk radio. Neal Boortz was/is a racist anti-intellectual, flat-earther – good riddance.
Talk Radio Listener
January 19th, 2013
3:23 pm
Guess what Galloway … newspapers have peaked too. There won’t ever be another Henry Grady or Ralph McGill. Deal with it.
Avery Bundren
January 19th, 2013
3:25 pm
It is great that Boortz is finally giving it up. Here is a man who has the capacity to appeal to people’s basest emotions and fears and has made a damn good living doing it. I have always said and will continue to say it: Boortz is an oral aggressor and he comes off as a coward as most people of this ilk do. He has had great appeal to the economically oppressed and the intellectually disinherited. Too bad that we have such individuals who see civility as a sign of weakness and sincerity is never subject to proof.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 19th, 2013
3:28 pm
Rush, Cain, Hannity et al. use big words, and talk about all kinds of different subjects and this frightens and confuses the average liberal. It’s like way over their heads. They are unable to comprehend such things so they become angry and sullen. Do those acting out here not seem dumbfounded? They are used to flashcard type clown shows such as johnie stewart, who acts like a fool to establish that special connection with the mouthbreathers who watch him. They have no attention span so he must make like an ape to keep them sentient. It’s all pretty sad.
irwin
January 19th, 2013
3:37 pm
President Obama re-elected; Boortz “retires ” sounds right to me.
Vashtai
January 19th, 2013
3:39 pm
Well said Jim! I’ve been listening to Neal on the radio since I got my driver’s license. I didn’t always agree with him, but even you haters have to agree he was well informed. Besides, Neal is 68 years old. It’s time to do something else. And BTW, do any of you know why Clark Howard’s show was replaced with “Rush, Radio’s own Goebbels?” Clark’s show was so much more interesting.