Editing Neal Boortz (section)

===Law school and radio===
[[File:Neal Boortz and Sean Hannity at Hannity - Boortz event.jpg|thumb|right|Boortz and [[Sean Hannity]] in 2008]]
[[File:NealBoortz.jpg|right|thumb|Neal Boortz at a [[FairTax]] [[Demonstration (people)|Rally]] in February 2008]]
Boortz began his radio career in [[College Station, Texas]] in the 1960s at [[WTAW (AM)|WTAW]], under the name of Randy Neal, while attending [[Texas A&M University]].<ref name="bio">{{cite web|title=More Boortz Bio|work=More Boortz|publisher=Cox Radio|last=Boortz|first=Neal|url=http://boortz.com/more/bio.html|access-date=2006-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060302002305/http://boortz.com/more/bio.html <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=2006-03-02}}</ref><ref name="bio2">{{cite web|title=Neal Boortz Bio|publisher=Soylent Communications/nndb.com|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/531/000121168/|access-date=2007-09-06}}</ref>  In 1967, after leaving Texas, Boortz moved to Atlanta and landed a sales job. For two years he worked at [[Rich's (department store)|Rich's Department Store]], where he sold jewelry and carpeting. He later recollected that one of his customers was [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>https://www.everand.com/book/250299984/Maybe-I-Should-Just-Shut-Up-and-Go-Away-The-last-no-holds-barred-literary-gasp-part-memoir-and-part-commentary-of-a-42-year-veteran-talk-radio-A. Retrieved Nov.5, 2024.</ref> During that time, Boortz was an avid listener of [[AM 680]] WRNG (now [[WCNN]]).  The station called itself "Ring Radio," as in the ring of a telephone.  It was Atlanta's first [[talk radio]] station.  Boortz listened to morning talk show host, Herb Elfman, and soon became a [[Fan (person)|devotee]]. "Boortz bombarded Elfman with calls, reading him little scripts he'd scribbled."<ref name="devotee">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.atlantamagazine.com/features/1998/07/01/neal-boortz-have-mouth-will-talk |title=Neal Boortz: Have Mouth Will Talk |magazine=[[Atlanta (magazine)|Atlanta]] |date=July 1, 1998 |access-date=October 9, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304093700/http://www.atlantamagazine.com/features/1998/07/01/neal-boortz-have-mouth-will-talk |archive-date=March 4, 2014}}</ref>

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 the role of temporary two-week replacement. In the interim, the evening host was moved to mornings and Boortz hosted the evening time slot. Two weeks later, Boortz was moved to the morning show, embarking on an Atlanta talk radio career that spanned more than forty years.<ref name="PMSB" /> Boortz honed his skills at the [[List of North American broadcast station classes#AM|tiny 1,000-watt station]], and even wrote a few speeches for then [[Governor of Georgia|Georgia Governor]] [[Lester Maddox]]. He continued working at the station until 1974, when WRNG "[[Termination of employment|dumped him]]." He was offered a job at radio station [[WGY (AM)|WGY]] in [[Schenectady, New York]], but turned the offer down to return to Atlanta and enroll in law school.
In 1974, Boortz enrolled in then-unaccredited [[John Marshall Law School (Atlanta)]] going to class in his spare time, while he and his wife Donna worked full-time loading mail trucks. Boortz credits his wife with providing "the money to keep me in law school."<ref name="devotee" /> After graduating from law school in 1977, Boortz practiced law in a solo law firm from 1977 through 1993.<ref name="faq"/> During that period, he divided his time between his law practice and work in radio. One of Boortz's clients was boxer [[Evander Holyfield]]. Holyfield later sued Boortz and other members of his management team in the aftermath of a failed [[Subaru]] [[car dealership]] investment. Boortz told [[Atlanta (magazine)|Atlanta Magazine]] "It had nothing to do with representing him as a boxer. It was settled and disappeared."<ref name="devotee" /> Some time later, in a heated on-air exchange between [[Atlanta mayor]] [[Bill Campbell (mayor)|Bill Campbell]] and Boortz, Campbell remarked on the Holyfield relationship: ''Campbell (sarcastically): By the way, Neal, Evander Holyfield sends his regards ... We talked a little about how good he's doing now and the fact he's getting ready to open up his 57,000 square-foot, $20 million home. How he's fighting for $35 million a fight. I was sorta thinking about when you were representing him. He was living in an apartment over on Lenox Road. He was fighting for about $20,000 a fight. It's sort of interesting how your great legal skills have transferred into financial well-being for Evander . ... ''<ref name="devotee" /> Boortz responded by calling mayor Campbell an "unethical [[son of a bitch]]." Boortz later remarked "It's the only time I've ever been on the air that I lost control."<ref name="devotee" /> In 1993, Boortz closed his law practice and devoted his full-time to his radio career.