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
jeepers
January 19th, 2013
8:42 pm
Oh is Boortz signing off? Wow. Taking his money and running eh? His hate speech has done much to bring us to the point that we are at today. Of course he had much help with the other right wing hate filled radio hosts. I have nothing good to say about him at all. He has much to answer for- AND he will answer for them one day.
td
January 19th, 2013
8:48 pm
Hate speech, racism. Do you libs actually know any other terms?
HeBlewMyEarsOff
January 19th, 2013
8:53 pm
I finally went to XM radio. $9.99 a month and my ears are slowly healing. I fundamentally agreed with most of his philosophy it was just the same stuff every morning. It was as if he didn’t prepare for his shows and it bacame cookie cutter and bloviating.
honested
January 19th, 2013
8:54 pm
Push the flush handle and watch the vermin swirl away.
Good riddance to all of the miscreant ideas pretending to be truth and appropriateness.
One less fascist apologist!
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 19th, 2013
9:02 pm
Do blog comments about wishing the demise or death of a political opposite qualify as mental health precursors for HHS? I’m just asking because I noticed they are stepping up efforts to identify those most likely to show up at their workplace or a school with an assault rifle, intent on killing a bunch of people. If this is true, and the government is searching out those with violent tendencies or rhetoric, they should look no farther than the liberals that post to the ajc blogs. These people seem awfully angry. Pushing someone off a steep cliff?
I agree, we should lock these lunatics up and medicate them for the rest of their lives.
Capitol Idea
January 19th, 2013
9:10 pm
I think it was way past time for this man to sign off for good. He is such a bore. I mean, have you even tried to follow the illogic in that lame fair tax scam that he pushed.
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
January 19th, 2013
9:13 pm
I really enjoyed reading this, best column I’ve read in ages. No more Boortz, less Hannity and Rush. The decline of wingnut radio is a plus for the country. We’re on an upswing folks. I’m going to print it out and read it over and over again.
Lee York
January 19th, 2013
9:33 pm
You BlueDog, I have never heard a word come out of the 3 people you mention to be a bigot. The truth is very hard to take sometimes, thanks to these 3 people the lose of our once great nation has been slowed down,
Alphare
January 19th, 2013
9:57 pm
Stop listening to the guy long time ago. The only time I would turn to WSB is when I go out for lunch at 12:00 when Jamie Dupree is on the air, the only bad part for that is somebody else would chime in when Dupree is talking.
Limbaugh the drug head, Hannity the professed “Christian”, give me a break. What an insult to the public air, pollution to say the least.
DGAD
January 19th, 2013
10:05 pm
Belinda is gone too, right????
Gary
January 19th, 2013
10:14 pm
Glad to see him go. I really believe the only reason he stayed on the air so long was the fact that his station was the only one that could be received over most of the Atlanta area. He must have said “..um” at least 25 or 30 times in each sentence. His views were on the mark, but his delivery was terrible. I could not stand to listen to him saying “..um” a million times and bragging about his wealth. I will give Herman a try … it has to be better.
KA Turner
January 19th, 2013
11:07 pm
Talk radio has peaked but it is here to stay. It will not go away. We’ll see wannabes like Erickson lose their jobs. Gallagher and the other clones won’t be around too long. The radio market for talk isn’t like the “classic rock” or “CHR” craze; it’ll not go away but instead will consolidate.
Neal Boortz retired because he wanted to; nobody or no market factors made him retire. He was a master at his art and kept us glued to the radio. I called the Niels Bohr atom the “Neal Boortz” atom when I took notes in school- and I meant to give it than name too! Never will there be another. The best of luck, Neal Boortz!
Elle
January 19th, 2013
11:32 pm
Whaaaa? Neither Talk radio nor conservatism is disappearing. It is alive and well and working for a living unlike liberal Obama-tites’ entitled welfare / unemployment / food stamp / section 8 / collecting Cadillac drivers floating around this and many towns. I say the producers secede for a decade or so and see how much federal funding the liberals THEN decide they can get by without. Or wHen the country collapses because it cannot sustain, everyone will awaken to the painful truth Neal was honest enough to speak about at personal cost despite his color blindness……it has been content of character based, so Happy MLK Day. Then the vast majority of good and true Americans who really do want to work including conservatives will rise from the ashes. Please call in Neal if you don’t hear anyone speaking what needs to be said.
John
January 19th, 2013
11:59 pm
Hannity and Lumbaugh couldn’t carry Boortz’s jock strap if the shows were based on intelligence and ideas.
hackswa
January 20th, 2013
1:56 am
I don’t understand how or why the Boortz show was labeled as a conservative talk show. I listened to Neal for almost 20 yrs & his program was vastly unique from Hannity,Limbaugh,etc..Neal was very conservative on fiscal matters, but as liberal as anyone on the left when it came to social issues.To Neals credit he also spoke of other topics that were not political in nature. I believe these accolades set him apart from the rest of the industry.
Sir Aslan
January 20th, 2013
2:49 am
Liberlefty should realize by now that the worst racists are the ones who spout liberal demagoguery from their mansions in the lily white suburbs….do gooder Liberals who thumb their noses at the persons responsible for all of our troubles….the racist mean old white man..its all his fault…right!!? Also, by now he should realize that Obama was the son of a Chicago Communist by the name of Frank Marshall Davis…check it out…it will blow your mind..the birther thing is really just a coverup to hide the fact of who his real father was.
Sir Aslan
January 20th, 2013
2:52 am
If you want to know the reallllll Truth..check out what Dr Jerome Corsi has to say about it.
rawmilkdrinker
January 20th, 2013
5:11 am
Perhaps the most important requirement for a “talk” radio host of any stripe is to be mesmerized by the sound of one’s own voice.
marko
January 20th, 2013
6:43 am
The harms already been done. You don’t need any more Boortz. He helped turn America’s small tent party into a regional pup tent party. If there’s any silver lining, old Neal and his right wing counter parts managed to line their pockets pretty well. There’s a future for a party that’s fiscally conservative and socially liberal. That’s America. Today’s GOP is neither. Overwhelmingly old, fat, stupid and obsessed with other peoples sex lives. Now which party would that be, and who in their right minds would choose to voluntarily listen to their vile drivel. talk radio should be mandatory punishment for shoplifting.
Enjoy your golden years Neal. Sit back and marvel at everything you accomplished.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Vote American)
January 20th, 2013
6:55 am
The reason it’s hard to imagine “another Neal Boortz” is that, for decades, we haven’t had to. I’ve heard several folks, including Ericson and Cain, who can likely grow into the role. My personal favorite is a Rush fill-in, Mark Steyn. Of course, if you went to public schools or are so stupid as to vote for Obozo, you probably won’t be able to follow much of what he says, so perhaps there’s a natural limit to his audience…
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 20th, 2013
7:36 am
I can help with this -
obozo seeks “fuller understanding” of what happened in Algeria siege
al qaeda, who you said was on the run, killed a bunch more Americans while you stood by and did nothing but point fingers at some clerks in Washington, DC.
The only part I’m not sure about, do you say bang when you point that finger at other people?
LIBERALEFTY
January 20th, 2013
7:41 am
@ass hop 7:36
dont worry OBAMA wont let America get attacked like dub dub dubya did on 9/11
libweralefty
January 20th, 2013
7:44 am
li’l fairy
unless youre a angry homophobic racist white man with penis isssues or an ignorant woman who wants the government to control her womb, why listen to hate talk radio?
liberalefty
January 20th, 2013
7:46 am
li’l fairy
who listens to talk radio besides angry petulant white men whose easily intimidated by black men…
…
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 20th, 2013
7:57 am
LL fool J – This may be way over your empty head, kinda like filling out your username on every comment and forgetting to turn of the caps lock when doing it, but a US Embassy is America, same as new york city.
obozo got one burned to the ground.
liberalefty
January 20th, 2013
8:11 am
bushy boy couldnt protect America AND REPUBS think theyre better at defending AMERICA…priceless..thankfully 9/11 debunked this myth
liberalefty
January 20th, 2013
8:16 am
OBAMA has emasculated the whole republican house and senate…at least y’all have TIM SCOTT, HERMAN CAIN….hahahahaha
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 20th, 2013
8:18 am
I believe this was on obozo’s watch -
The Fort Hood shooting was a shooting that took place on November 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others. It is the worst shooting ever to take place on an American military base. According to eyewitnesses, Hasan had taken a seat at an empty table and bowed his head for several seconds when he suddenly stood up, shouted “Allahu Akbar!” and opened fire.
And there were far more clues to this happening than there ever was for 9/11.
LiveFromSavannah
January 20th, 2013
8:30 am
“You may be larger in numbers but you’ll never have the power and / or wealth you are so desperate to steal.”
THAT statement right there highlights what this whole entire climate in what we call a country is really all about. It is also what the election and re-election of Barack Obama represents. That is, that the inevitability of the U.S. becoming more of a pluralistic society. You want to know the obsession with guns by certain segments of the population? Here you have it. Voter suppression and gerrymandering in “minority” districts. There you go. That statement above tells you all you need to know. They believe in their heart of hearts those are the firewalls of sorts to hold on to any perceived wealth and power that is held by the current majority. See every now and then, you get someone who will actually spill the beans for you. By the way, nobody needs to “steal” anything. Most citizens only want fair competition and opportunity to share in those things. But people like the poster who made that statement are xenophobic, weak and power hungry. They see no problem with ill-gotten gains when its on THEIR end. They’ll pretend like it was actually worked hard for. No, in many instances it was “STOLEN” or gained off the backs of others in the first place.
Neal Boortz appealed to that in these loons.
liberalefty
January 20th, 2013
8:44 am
@ass hop
u equate the fort hood shooting with the masterminds that attacked AMERICA on 9/11…youre even more stupid than i thought..and u blame OBAMA because he didnt stop this soldier who he didnt know from killing people,,,lol,,,you are pathetic in youre denial of dub dub dubyas incompetence…fail
steve373
January 20th, 2013
8:50 am
Boortz needed to retire 5 years ago. The increasingly bitter tirades just got to be too big a downer for most to listen to each morning. Seems like this has become the common thread of conservative talk radio. Even reasonable conservatives have to turn it off at some point.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 20th, 2013
9:23 am
LL fool J – I get it, an attack on America can only be considered an attack on America if it happened at 8:58 am on September 11th, 2001. Anything other than that, things such as panty bombers and massed attacks on US territory et al, we’ll just call those “incidents.” Or “campaign setbacks.” How about “islamo eruptions?” This is like a groupthink session back on the home planet, Moonbat, isn’t it? What else do we want to wish away? The federal debt? Our educational scores? The 2nd Amendment?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 20th, 2013
10:14 am
As Sheldon Richman reminds in the Library of Economics and Liberty, “As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer. For those with the hubris to think they, not free markets, could better serve society, ‘fascism‘ (or as we prefer, “fascistic economics”) was seen as the happy medium between boom-and-bust-prone (classic) liberal capitalism, with its alleged class conflict, wasteful competition and profit-oriented egoism, and revolutionary Marxism.”
Somebody else is going to have to explain all the big words^^ to the see spot run liberals, so that they don’t go all race card on us. I’m not in the mood.
Whirled Peas
January 20th, 2013
10:40 am
We conservatives have made this nation great for 200 years. We are not going away, James.
Cliff
January 20th, 2013
11:06 am
I thought Boortz was moving abroad if Obama was reelected? Guess things aren’t as bad as he pretended they were.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Vote American)
January 20th, 2013
11:07 am
Our President Bush was handed a problem, Islamofascist terrorism, and did the hard work needed to fix it, and without blaming His predecessor. Obozo inherited a recovering economy, made all the wrong moves, and unemployment is higher today than it was four years ago. And of course he’s been a petulant partisan putz the whole time. The most divisive and biggest failure ever.
clem
January 20th, 2013
11:13 am
still bitter from losing i see
honested
January 20th, 2013
11:26 am
lil’ barry,
Still don’t have an adequate grasp of reality do we?
Take your meds and spend more time learning about the real world, it will astound you!
Guest
January 20th, 2013
11:32 am
“Obozo inherited a recovering economy…”
He did? Please cite your source.
liberalefty
January 20th, 2013
11:42 am
li’l fairy
Osama made dubya his bi@tch.lol
LiveFromSavannah
January 20th, 2013
11:42 am
So when did this economy FAIL exactly LBB? You did afterall state that Obama inherited a “recovering economy”. When did it FAIL, on the Clinton watch???
Tell us LBB, when exactly did it FAIL?? You really do need meds like the other poster suggested.
Corey
January 20th, 2013
11:45 am
@td
January 19th, 2013
5:56 pm
“HA, HA, HA and that is why 70% of the people making under $30,000 per year voted for Obama? Yes the moochers are conservatives. Try again”
Ladies and gentelmen, therein lies why the GOP does not get it. TD, you are aware that Asians(high earners), Jews(high earners), the Silicon Valley types, W. Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Colin Powell, people with post graduate degrees voted Obama.
LiveFromSavannah
January 20th, 2013
11:59 am
@Corey.
They really don’t get it and never will. I had the great pleasure of being amongst the most beautiful crowd last night at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. All of these highly successful people of Atlanta – Indian, Arab, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Black, etc…and yes, White. These are the people who voted for Obama. These are people who can come together and appreciate each others’ cultures, contributions and potential…and enjoy the humor in it all. This is the future of the U.S. They can keep fooling themselves if they wish. They can and will go to their graves miserable, just like their buddy Boortz will.
honested
January 20th, 2013
12:14 pm
It is truly a shame that WSB does not take this opportunity to expand it’s offerings and add at least one ‘talk’ host that is not a knuckle-dragging wrong wing troglodyte unable to accept the world as it is.
Atlanta’s loss is the lack of real, honest issue discussion rather than a place to go for one’s daily talking points.
Jay
January 20th, 2013
12:25 pm
Bill, don’t you fret – Ericson will take over the show in a year or two when Herman Cain has made a hash of it. Cain’s talk shows are extremely tightly controlled and limited in scope to appeal to a national audience – you really have to agree with him or be willing to be convinced to find him palatable whereas the article cites the large numbers who listened to Boortz just to get upset (and entertained). Ericson comes across as much more willing to listen and discuss multiple viewpoints. Don’t know how many syndicates Ericson will still have at that point though…
td
January 20th, 2013
1:08 pm
Corey
January 20th, 2013
11:45 am
@td
January 19th, 2013
5:56 pm
“HA, HA, HA and that is why 70% of the people making under $30,000 per year voted for Obama? Yes the moochers are conservatives. Try again”
Ladies and gentelmen, therein lies why the GOP does not get it. TD, you are aware that Asians(high earners), Jews(high earners), the Silicon Valley types, W. Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Colin Powell, people with post graduate degrees voted Obama.
Where did I say ALL poor people voted for Obama and where did I say ALL rich people voted for Romney? The only real wage group that Romeny carried was the people that make between $30,000 and $100,000. Yes it is the middle class that think Obama is bad for the country.
td
January 20th, 2013
1:11 pm
honested
January 20th, 2013
12:14 pm
It is truly a shame that WSB does not take this opportunity to expand it’s offerings and add at least one ‘talk’ host that is not a knuckle-dragging wrong wing troglodyte unable to accept the world as it is.
Atlanta’s loss is the lack of real, honest issue discussion rather than a place to go for one’s daily talking points.
Like who on the left will be able to have a greater market share for WSB then Cain? We have tried the Air America model and it was a complete failure.
clem
January 20th, 2013
1:56 pm
another loon on the blog, sir asian.