Verdict with Ted Cruz - Bonus： The Sean Hannity Show - Neil Boortz and Sean Hannity Remember When

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00:00:13.220 So we had Matt Towery joining us in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

00:00:18.300 And by the way, we have part two of my interview with J.D. Vance.

00:00:21.900 We've gotten so much feedback on it.

00:00:24.320 Linda, did you see all the social media pick up on it?

00:00:26.620 It was massive.

00:00:27.940 Oh, yeah.

00:00:28.280 People were very excited about that segment.

00:00:31.120 And Pam Bondi, we also had.

00:00:33.400 And I spent time with RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz,

00:00:38.540 and they'll join us tonight.

00:00:41.020 Really, really productive day.

00:00:42.820 I did other things that I can't talk about yet.

00:00:45.580 And as soon as I can, I will.

00:00:48.640 And important things.

00:00:50.280 And I'm actually headed back to D.C.

00:00:52.180 I have another trip planned for reasons that I can't disclose either.

00:00:56.320 Boy, I'm really sharing a lot with the audience today.

00:00:59.460 But anyway, so we had our friend Matt Towery in studio.

00:01:03.040 And I was a local radio host in Huntsville, Alabama.

00:01:07.740 And I got a call one day from Eric Seidel, better known as Sluggo on this program.

00:01:13.480 Still friends with him to this day.

00:01:15.020 Still friends with the owner of the radio station at the time when I worked in Huntsville.

00:01:19.720 As a matter of fact, I'm friends with everybody I've ever worked for.

00:01:22.720 It's crazy.

00:01:23.920 And anyway, and I go to Atlanta.

00:01:26.480 I audition for two days.

00:01:27.860 And I realize why I am auditioning.

00:01:32.000 Because the star radio host in the market at the time for somewhat 30 years

00:01:37.300 was a guy by the name of Neil Bortz.

00:01:40.020 And he had jumped ship from Seidel's station, the news monster we called it back in the day,

00:01:48.480 to what he referred to affectionately as the ex-wife to another station.

00:01:53.420 And I got hired after the two-day audition.

00:01:59.440 Little did I know I was going up against a monster in the market.

00:02:02.980 But it was originally not planned to be that.

00:02:05.340 So I told this whole story yesterday.

00:02:08.020 This is like old school, old-fashioned, hardcore, deep in the paint, you know, radio war days.

00:02:16.060 And I learned a lot from Neil.

00:02:18.900 And I have to give him credit because I'm better as if I'm any good at talk radio,

00:02:24.840 in part is because I would listen to Neil.

00:02:28.240 And I knew that my career was being threatened every day.

00:02:31.720 Long story short, he initially went over to the news station

00:02:36.440 and was going up against Rush at 12 to 3.

00:02:40.800 And then one day, my first day, I'm going on vacation.

00:02:44.660 I'm driving to Hartsfield Airport.

00:02:46.000 And I turn on Neil.

00:02:47.340 And I listen to him tell me, Sean, I know you're listening to this program.

00:02:50.740 And I'm like, how the hell does this man know I'm listening to his program?

00:02:55.500 And I was.

00:02:56.560 And I listened the whole way.

00:02:58.080 And he's like, well, your phone's about to ring.

00:03:00.240 And it's going to be Sluggo.

00:03:01.260 And Sluggo is going to tell you to come back and not go on vacation.

00:03:05.600 Because starting Monday morning, I was on 9 to noon.

00:03:09.300 At 8.45, he was going to get a 15-minute jump on me.

00:03:14.240 I'm going back to my old time slot.

00:03:16.640 And I'm taking my audience back with me.

00:03:19.860 And I'm listening to this.

00:03:21.860 I then arrive at Hartsfield.

00:03:23.760 All Sluggo say, I'm coming back.

00:03:25.960 He didn't have to call me.

00:03:27.020 I called him.

00:03:27.680 He would not allow me to come back.

00:03:30.600 I didn't have.

00:03:32.100 I had no power to fight him.

00:03:34.940 Because I was, you know, still new, fresh to the market.

00:03:37.920 And it was the worst vacation of my life.

00:03:41.340 Worst week of my life.

00:03:42.400 And that began a series of radio wars.

00:03:45.020 And then one day I'm driving into work.

00:03:47.340 It's 6.15 in the morning.

00:03:48.760 And I tuned into Neil's station just to see what they're talking about.

00:03:52.360 At 6.15, not only was Neil there, he telegraphed his entire show.

00:03:57.580 And he had read every newspaper, knew every news story.

00:04:01.520 And I was just driving to work.

00:04:03.180 I hadn't done any work yet.

00:04:04.740 I was never, ever late to work again.

00:04:08.760 I was there at 5 o'clock every day.

00:04:10.880 And I would tune in.

00:04:12.200 And he would telegraph his show every day at 6.15.

00:04:15.340 I'd take notes.

00:04:16.640 And if he was going to be talking about a topic, he didn't do many guests.

00:04:19.820 I did.

00:04:20.880 I'd find the guests that he would be talking about at the beginning of his show.

00:04:24.600 And you had a choice.

00:04:25.980 You can hear the people directly.

00:04:27.260 Or you could listen to Neil talk about the people that were in my studio.

00:04:31.920 Anyway, so it was kind of a fun radio story.

00:04:35.340 The irony of all of this is we became really close friends.

00:04:39.780 Even, you know, I was only there four years.

00:04:42.580 But he swears he ran me out of town to the Fox News channel.

00:04:46.860 Kind of a joke.

00:04:48.420 But we became really good friends.

00:04:50.500 We'd even talk to each other in breaks.

00:04:52.720 We had a very, both were very competitive.

00:04:55.300 But we had respect.

00:04:56.820 I think we had respect for each other.

00:04:58.160 I certainly respected him.

00:04:59.780 And if I didn't learn that I had to work harder, I don't think I'd be here today.

00:05:06.460 And it's a pleasure to welcome back my dear friend, Neil Bortz.

00:05:09.320 How are you?

00:05:10.320 I'm fine.

00:05:10.800 What part of that story is not true?

00:05:14.320 Well, no, it's all true.

00:05:17.760 It's all true.

00:05:18.500 I heard you were going.

00:05:19.160 How did you know I was listening on my way on my first vacation ever since I had taken that job six months into that job?

00:05:27.200 Well, wait a minute.

00:05:27.880 We were in Atlanta.

00:05:28.760 And who wasn't listening to me?

00:05:30.400 Actually, that's not true.

00:05:33.420 If you go back and I have the history books, Arbitron used to do ratings in three-month intervals.

00:05:39.960 There were three books in a row.

00:05:41.640 And I told this to Matt Towery yesterday, where between the two of us, we had 25% of the market in men 2554, which for those that don't understand ratings, that is a massive number in the key demographic.

00:05:59.380 And we both had, and it's almost impossible mathematically for it to work out this way.

00:06:05.020 We had nine months in a row.

00:06:06.920 We both had a 12 and a half share each.

00:06:08.680 So, but I think, I think actually it was higher than that.

00:06:13.000 It could have been.

00:06:14.120 I, you know, that's the number I remember.

00:06:15.940 I mean, I don't even know if I can go back and find those old books, but you did not know the story of that day that I tuned in and heard you at 615 in the morning.

00:06:27.080 What time did you get to work every day?

00:06:28.780 I never asked you that.

00:06:29.940 Well, I usually got there about four, 430 in the morning.

00:06:32.700 Okay.

00:06:33.320 So I realized I'm never going to be late again.

00:06:35.740 And the interesting thing was you had read every newspaper.

00:06:40.720 You were fully prepared to do your show at 615.

00:06:43.920 What the heck did you do for the, for the next two hours, two and a half hours?

00:06:47.860 I spent that time bothering other people at the radio station.

00:06:52.220 Oh, I could tell stories.

00:06:54.600 They're so bad.

00:06:55.780 The stories about you and especially about Monica Kaufman that if I told them in this day and age, I know you're dear friends with her, by the way.

00:07:04.760 Uh, yeah, Monica and I get along just great, but, uh, you know, well, I, I messed with you a good deal too, you know?

00:07:12.260 Oh yeah.

00:07:12.720 You, you, and every, everybody in the market, you couldn't stand the fact that I was younger and, and prettier than you.

00:07:18.960 Well, listen, who isn't?

00:07:20.560 Uh, I'm the radio at that radio station.

00:07:24.640 You're mentioning on my ID card that I wore around the neck.

00:07:28.180 They didn't put a picture of me.

00:07:29.280 They put a picture of Homer Simpson.

00:07:31.620 That's absolutely positively true.

00:07:34.000 By the way, uh, I have a special guest to say hello to you.

00:07:37.320 Uh, the guy that hired me to replace you after you took the money and ran to the other station.

00:07:43.580 Sluggo, Eric Seidel is with us.

00:07:45.800 Uh, Sluggo, why did you not let me return when I called you from Hartsfield airport and Neil was going to, was moving from 12 to three back to his old time slot?

00:07:55.720 I was furious at you.

00:07:57.140 Well, I'm calling today to let you know you can go on vacation now.

00:08:01.460 Okay.

00:08:02.040 I really appreciate it.

00:08:03.260 Sluggo.

00:08:04.420 Um, and, oh, you two for a while, by the way, hated each other.

00:08:08.260 I think I had to bridge that gap, didn't I?

00:08:10.300 Well, no, wait a minute.

00:08:11.260 After I left, Neil, uh, yeah.

00:08:14.420 Can't you hear me?

00:08:15.580 Yes, I can hear you.

00:08:16.520 Okay.

00:08:17.160 Uh, after I left, Sluggo sent a picture of you hammering nails into my coffin. 0.77

00:08:23.860 I remember that one.

00:08:26.200 The final nail in your car.

00:08:27.780 By the way, I did not approve of it.

00:08:29.520 And there was one rating book and you had never been beaten and you're never going to admit it.

00:08:34.440 I beat you.

00:08:35.640 And you did win one demographic, like 65 and older.

00:08:39.360 And so Sluggo in his genius and, and other people that we work with at the time decided to send you a gift package of like, you know, denture cream and depends and say, congratulations.

00:08:52.620 You won the 65 plus demo.

00:08:54.780 Actually, I think that was Nancy's idea.

00:08:56.780 Probably I wasn't Nancy or you're a Sluggo. 1.00

00:08:59.720 No, it was probably Nancy's.

00:09:01.420 Okay.

00:09:01.800 Well, we'll put it off.

00:09:02.840 I'm poor Nancy's in tech. 1.00

00:09:04.040 Now this may sound inside baseball, but there's a lot of lessons to be learned here.

00:09:08.740 Sluggo, did I even tell you about the first day that I was listening to Neil at 615 with Scott Slade?

00:09:15.980 And I heard them and I, it put panic in my heart at how prepared he was.

00:09:21.640 And I realized I got to work harder, man.

00:09:23.980 Who was the attorney you, uh, based him on who was going to be coming into his show from the, uh, from the, uh, no, that they, well, that's, well, it was right after the OJ Simpson case.

00:09:34.360 And Bob Shapiro, who's to, who to this day is still a dear friend of mine.

00:09:38.880 Um, I, I heard Neil telegraph that morning at 615 that he had Bob Shapiro on and Neil rarely had guests on.

00:09:46.440 So I, I looked at Eric Stenger who still works with me.

00:09:50.420 And I said, what the hell?

00:09:52.080 Why, why does he have Neil, uh, Bob Shapiro?

00:09:54.260 Why didn't we book him?

00:09:55.300 And anyway, he said, you know what?

00:09:57.220 I think he's on 99 next.

00:09:58.680 Let me call over.

00:09:59.740 He called over.

00:10:00.980 He was free at nine o'clock.

00:10:02.780 We got him before Neil did.

00:10:04.220 And then when the hour was ending and he was supposed to go over to Neil's show, I said, would you mind staying a little bit longer?

00:10:10.240 You know what happened from there when he finally got over to your place around 11?

00:10:13.940 I wouldn't believe I wouldn't put him on.

00:10:15.500 I mean, we all became close and we all remain close.

00:10:18.560 Although Bortz, you never know where this guy is.

00:10:21.000 He's got this big bus that he travels around in.

00:10:23.460 Um, I've tried to convince you numerous times to go back on the air full time.

00:10:28.020 You won't listen to me.

00:10:29.140 How many years were you on talk radio?

00:10:31.360 How many years did you do talk radio?

00:10:33.240 Uh, 47.

00:10:34.540 Yeah.

00:10:35.280 Unbelievable.

00:10:36.020 Well, wait a minute.

00:10:36.960 47.

00:10:37.820 It was 37, 37 years.

00:10:40.220 Okay.

00:10:41.020 Now I think it would be better told by Sluggo.

00:10:43.780 Um, Sluggo, do you want to tell the world how cold hearted?

00:10:48.560 Neil is and how he got his first radio job at ring radio.

00:10:53.040 I'm not going to go into that.

00:10:54.360 That's Neil's story to tell.

00:10:55.780 But, um, but I, I will tell you that I've always felt Neil had some of the best radio

00:11:01.540 instincts of anybody I've ever worked.

00:11:03.700 That's why you, you paid him a lot more money than you paid me.

00:11:06.400 You got me for like dirt cheap when you paid me and you hired me.

00:11:09.700 Uh, you were the diamond in the rough, you know, look, much, much, much like Moses.

00:11:16.220 And we plucked you out of the water and we gave you life.

00:11:19.220 Okay.

00:11:19.700 I really can't complain.

00:11:21.220 All right, Neil, tell everybody how you started in talk radio, because this is the coldest hearted

00:11:26.960 story of all time, but it's actually brilliant on the other hand.

00:11:30.640 Well, it may be cold hearted, but somebody had to do it.

00:11:33.380 Uh, I was a big fan of a talk show host on what they called at that time, ring radio.

00:11:40.620 And I, I would go whenever he made a speech, I was there.

00:11:44.660 We would go to lunch together.

00:11:46.360 Then one time I'm sitting at home on Sunday and I hear on the news that evening that this

00:11:52.260 particular talk show host, his name was Herb Elfman, that he committed suicide.

00:11:57.960 He shot himself dead right there.

00:12:00.180 And, uh, so I said, well, I wonder who's going to do the show in tomorrow.

00:12:05.520 So, uh, I, I got a lawn chair and a thermos of coffee and I went and sat on the sidewalk

00:12:10.720 outside the radio station, waited until everybody got there.

00:12:13.540 The station was only on the air during the daytime.

00:12:15.820 And they said, what are you doing here?

00:12:17.220 And I said, Oh, you haven't heard Herb is not going to come in today.

00:12:21.140 And so you basically jumped on the guy's grave and you got hired.

00:12:26.320 And 37 years later, you know, you were still a top rated host and one of the most well-known

00:12:32.220 personalities in Atlanta radio history.

00:12:35.120 And then you became nationally syndicated as well.

00:12:38.100 Yeah.

00:12:38.260 I didn't jump on the grave.

00:12:39.300 I dug him up and jumped on him.

00:12:41.420 Yeah.

00:12:41.740 He did.

00:12:42.580 Come on, Sluggo.

00:12:43.660 That is cold.

00:12:44.520 That is cold, cold, cold.

00:12:46.760 It is, it is Neil's story to tell, not mine, but it is cold.

00:12:51.480 Oh man.

00:12:52.460 Also.

00:12:52.740 So that's natural for me.

00:12:55.080 You know, we did other things to mess with you too.

00:12:58.020 Did you know we used to feed you purposely stories so that you would talk about the same

00:13:04.100 topics every day?

00:13:05.040 If there was a gun topic, a plane topic, what else, what other stories did we always want

00:13:10.740 Neil to talk about?

00:13:11.620 Because the research showed that people got bored when he talked about it, Sluggo.

00:13:15.120 There were a couple of other, we found ways to get that information to you or we'd, we'd

00:13:20.540 have somebody call in and set you off and then you'd, you'd go right down the, the, the

00:13:25.380 predictable path.

00:13:26.500 Do you know we did that?

00:13:27.300 You also took some recordings of some uncomplimentary things I said about the owners of my new radio

00:13:34.680 station.

00:13:36.620 And you sent them.

00:13:37.740 You can blame Sluggo for that.

00:13:39.600 I had no role in that.

00:13:41.000 You keep trying to absolve yourself of responsibility for those.

00:13:45.880 I did not have any role in that part.

00:13:48.280 Sluggo, you have to defend me here.

00:13:50.540 Well, I remember some of the acronyms for WSB that he developed. 0.97

00:13:55.460 Like we suck and blither and all that. 0.53

00:13:57.680 By the way, I'm still on the station. 0.97

00:13:58.940 So I got to be nice here, but I think they'll find it amusing.

00:14:02.580 So boring.

00:14:03.780 That, that was, but at the time they were until you got there and then Greg Mosheri,

00:14:09.040 I'll tell you what, we'll pick it up a couple more minutes on the other side.

00:14:11.440 If you guys have nothing to do, you're both retired.

00:14:13.500 So I assume you have nothing to do.

00:14:15.220 Um, and I mean that complimentary more with Neil Bortz, more of their excited

00:14:20.220 Del Sluggo, uh, on the other side, a little bit more of the radio war.

00:14:23.860 Then we'll hit the phones.

00:14:24.900 800-941-SHAWN is our number as we roll along.

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00:14:58.560 So we're doing old radio war stories.

00:15:01.360 And when I'd only been a professional radio host for two years, I had started in,

00:15:05.760 what, 87.

00:15:07.520 And I guess I, my first job was in 1990 in Huntsville, Alabama.

00:15:12.240 Then I'm Eric Seidel, who's with us, Sluggo, we call him, hired me in Atlanta.

00:15:17.140 And I went up against this, this unbelievable giant in the market, Neil Bortz.

00:15:23.780 And, and I realized that if I didn't work hard,

00:15:26.700 Neil Bortz was going to do to me what he did to so many others before me.

00:15:30.540 And that's run them the hell out of town.

00:15:32.020 And I was not going to let that happen, or at least fight my hardest to do so.

00:15:37.120 After about the first year in Sluggo, this is a story for you to tell.

00:15:41.060 And it, it taught me something about research and you did a, you brought me in your office

00:15:47.280 one day and you sat me down.

00:15:49.020 Do you remember what you told me?

00:15:50.740 Cause I remember what I told you.

00:15:52.800 Well, okay.

00:15:53.180 First of all, let me give this some perspective.

00:15:56.320 Neil worked for a company that was doing research every five seconds in the market.

00:16:00.780 They were constantly aware of what was going on in the market.

00:16:04.000 I, you and I were working for a company that didn't have that, those pockets as deep.

00:16:09.140 And we, when we did our first major research, uh, about a year after you came to the radio

00:16:14.900 station and, um, before that research came in, we had been telling you, Sean, this is

00:16:22.840 not New York.

00:16:23.620 You need to ease back on the callers.

00:16:26.220 We're in the deep South and you weren't listening.

00:16:29.280 And by that, just to give perspective, I grew up listening to the likes of Bob Grant, you

00:16:33.740 know, one of the great pioneers of talk radio, but also geniuses like Barry Farber and Barry

00:16:38.400 Gray, but Hey, uh, get off my phone. 0.98

00:16:41.320 You some bag, you low life, you dirt bag, get off my phone. 0.98

00:16:47.360 You know, that was not Farber's technique, but it certainly was Bob. 0.97

00:16:50.120 That was, that was Bob Grant's for sure.

00:16:51.840 Bob Grant, you know, eventually got fired in part because he was so controversial.

00:16:55.880 But anyway, so, uh, you came in and I'm, are you talking about after the research came

00:17:00.820 in or, uh, before the research came in, you didn't let me know you did research.

00:17:05.340 I figured out you did research, but you sat me down in your office.

00:17:09.440 Nancy Zentac was in the room and you leaned into me about this very issue that, you know,

00:17:15.780 you grew up, you grew up with one type of talk radio that you listened to.

00:17:19.880 And you now live in the South and the bottom line was people love my conservative positions.

00:17:27.620 It was the beginning of the rise of Newt Gingrich, but they didn't like stylistically

00:17:32.400 that I was harsh on callers.

00:17:34.820 And that, you know, that you were perfect politically, you were perfect for our demographic,

00:17:38.940 for our target.

00:17:39.680 Um, but you still had that edge of a New Yorker in you.

00:17:43.600 And I think I told, and you said you've lost confidence in me.

00:17:47.020 And I said, no, that's what I said.

00:17:48.740 Boy, you do remember.

00:17:49.640 I did say that.

00:17:50.400 I said in that meeting, I looked at you and I said, you lost confidence in me.

00:17:53.640 No.

00:17:54.060 And the fact is we had not, um, and if anything, we just wanted to help improve you, develop

00:18:02.400 you more.

00:18:03.460 And, uh, so the research, which you really weren't supposed to see until you stole it

00:18:08.520 from somebody's office.

00:18:10.240 And I was curious.

00:18:12.000 I didn't steal it.

00:18:13.100 I borrowed it.

00:18:14.020 There's a difference.

00:18:14.800 I returned it.

00:18:16.080 Yeah.

00:18:17.480 Okay.

00:18:18.120 Okay.

00:18:19.880 Um, that's not stealing.

00:18:21.600 It's borrowing.

00:18:22.580 I didn't even say, as a matter of fact, it never left Arnie Kutinsky's room because

00:18:28.360 I read it, you know, one night overnight and I didn't stop reading it till I read till

00:18:33.620 the very last page.

00:18:35.100 And it was very, it was a thick book.

00:18:37.060 Yeah.

00:18:37.420 What?

00:18:37.720 Did you sit in his office and read it?

00:18:39.680 Yes, I did.

00:18:40.460 My God, you were squatting too.

00:18:41.980 Um, so you're bad.

00:18:46.080 Anyway, um, you had seen the, one of the things that I, that struck me really wrong

00:18:52.820 was that the guy who analyzed the research said, you should think about replacing Sean.

00:18:57.360 There was no way.

00:18:58.000 The words were, you may want to rethink Sean Hannity at some point.

00:19:02.660 Okay.

00:19:03.200 Okay.

00:19:03.720 Well, either way, you and I both are.

00:19:05.420 I remember.

00:19:06.660 Okay.

00:19:07.480 And you, um, but you read the transcripts of what people said to them, the verbatims.

00:19:14.040 The verbatims.

00:19:15.160 Said to them in the research.

00:19:16.500 And that, that rang a bell for you.

00:19:19.140 You finally, you know, that woke me up.

00:19:21.660 Yeah.

00:19:22.140 That's, that's, that's what changed me on a dime.

00:19:24.100 I changed from that day moving forward.

00:19:26.020 Now, what I learned is they're called perceptual studies in radio.

00:19:29.720 Neil, you've read a ton of research over the years, or at least they've told you about it.

00:19:33.720 I'm sure you could care less.

00:19:34.920 You were going to do what you were going to do.

00:19:36.960 You were a legend.

00:19:37.880 And I was not in that market.

00:19:39.480 So I had to work harder.

00:19:40.880 Um, and it, what I learned is the audience was dead on honest and the audience was right.

00:19:48.240 And I needed to read it in black and white and let it absorb it and let it hit me in the face hard.

00:19:56.640 Sean, you're apologating what we have been saying to you.

00:19:59.420 It did, but you didn't, we weren't saying it in a way that just screamed at me.

00:20:03.440 It screamed off the page.

00:20:05.660 Love is politics.

00:20:06.700 He needs to stop hanging up on people and telling them to shut up.

00:20:10.420 Right, right.

00:20:11.180 But I, you know, it was the same thing.

00:20:13.040 We were just telling you maybe a little more graphically, but, but the fact is it was, it, uh, it affirmed and validated what we had been saying to you.

00:20:23.180 And you had to see that third party validation to really wake up.

00:20:28.440 It was the audience that woke me up.

00:20:30.740 Neil, did you ever read research?

00:20:32.220 A lot of hosts can't handle it.

00:20:34.480 Uh, well, a couple of.

00:20:36.700 Sean, first of all, you, you listened to Bob Grant and the others.

00:20:40.220 I never listened to anybody else on talk radio.

00:20:44.940 Uh, I didn't listen to you when we were head to head competing.

00:20:48.120 Other than that, I was never a Limbaugh listener.

00:20:51.200 Uh, you know, I didn't want them to affect the way I did my job.

00:20:56.600 So I didn't listen to him.

00:20:58.240 I, I put that as a feather in my cap.

00:21:00.740 If, if I, if I was in your head that much, that's a good thing.

00:21:04.700 You're the only one.

00:21:05.620 But then you remember you and I would go to news breaks at the same time.

00:21:09.440 We'd get on the phone and talk.

00:21:11.260 Yeah, we did.

00:21:12.820 And, um, you know, sometimes I would just wait for you to break before I take my break.

00:21:17.260 And I, I've had my, I've had Eric Stanger monitoring when you went to a break.

00:21:21.780 I wouldn't listen.

00:21:22.600 We were having a great time, but now what you haven't told, and I, and I want you to

00:21:26.540 tell this story too, is that when I moved full time down to Florida, I had the best

00:21:31.660 radio studio.

00:21:32.780 You did your show there.

00:21:34.180 You, it was a great radio studio.

00:21:36.660 Oh, it was phenomenal.

00:21:38.460 And here's the beauty of it all.

00:21:39.840 Neil and I became best friends in the, while we were still competitors, I had deep respect

00:21:46.020 for Neil Sluggo and I have remained friends ever since I had to go to his house and say,

00:21:51.340 um, is it okay if I take this opportunity and work at Fox news at that point, nobody knew

00:21:56.840 what national cable news really was, but for CNN and Eric was very supportive and said,

00:22:04.640 if this is what you want to do, I support you.

00:22:06.660 You were great.

00:22:07.560 Not everybody was great, but you were great. 1.00

00:22:09.520 Well, I was jealous, but then I know you are, you, but you're full of crap. 0.98

00:22:13.040 Cause you went on the air and said, I drove, I drove Hannity out of town. 0.99

00:22:16.620 Oh, well, I mean, look at the ratings at that point, you know, ratings at that point were

00:22:20.540 fine. 0.96

00:22:20.980 I was still kicking ass until you guys got the Braves back. 1.00

00:22:23.620 Then, then it started to hurt Earl white ass. 1.00

00:22:26.160 No, you weren't. 0.99

00:22:29.460 I was still doing well in the marketplaces.

00:22:31.780 No doubt.

00:22:32.340 Um, I will tell you, I'm, I'm very grateful to both of you for very different.

00:22:36.660 Different reasons is, and the fact that we've all been able to stay friends all these years

00:22:41.220 is one of the little part of the story.

00:22:42.860 Did you know that Greg Mosheri was sending out tapes of my show to stations around the

00:22:48.180 country to get me job offers, to get me away from you?

00:22:51.260 That's standard procedure.

00:22:53.600 Yeah.

00:22:54.100 Yeah.

00:22:54.920 It was standard procedure.

00:22:56.920 Let me, Sean, let me tell you a little story.

00:22:59.020 The first time I ran into that technique, that tactic, I was working in Philadelphia at a

00:23:03.920 CBS radio station, owned radio station in news.

00:23:07.480 And I got a call from a competing news director on another station who I've never met.

00:23:12.800 I've never met.

00:23:13.560 And he said, I've given your name to a former boss of mine in Atlanta.

00:23:18.240 He's looking for a news director.

00:23:19.880 And I said, Paul, we've never met.

00:23:21.380 Why would you do that?

00:23:22.140 And he said, and this caught me by surprise. 1.00

00:23:24.120 He said, I want your ass out of this market. 1.00

00:23:27.380 Wow. 1.00

00:23:28.060 That's pretty blunt.

00:23:29.340 I was shocked when, when Mosheri told me that I was absolutely shocked.

00:23:34.040 I want to say one last thing.

00:23:35.340 Now, this is the most interesting part about Neil to me and Slogo, tell me if I'm right

00:23:40.100 or wrong here.

00:23:41.420 Neil is so dynamic on air.

00:23:44.100 And by the way, when you had Belinda and Royal, God rest his soul.

00:23:47.940 He was such a nice guy.

00:23:49.900 And I, I don't think there was a better chemistry, although Linda's close.

00:23:55.380 He's, he's, he's crushing it for us.

00:23:57.100 And when you had that team around you and your ability to use that team to enhance the

00:24:06.360 show and create a family atmosphere that everybody wanted to be a part of, it was, it was very

00:24:11.480 special for radio in my mind.

00:24:13.940 Well, it just came natural to all of us.

00:24:16.080 It really did.

00:24:17.280 Belinda and I are still very close.

00:24:19.160 I can tell you that her dog had an ACL surgery this morning.

00:24:22.820 That's how close we are.

00:24:24.520 Oh my gosh.

00:24:27.100 That was, so I asked her, how many ACLs does a dog have?

00:24:31.840 And she didn't know.

00:24:33.520 She, I don't know either.

00:24:35.280 Sluggo, you want to give it a shot?

00:24:36.700 You love dogs.

00:24:37.820 Oh, I do.

00:24:38.580 I do.

00:24:38.920 We've been, uh, since 1999, we've been rescuing golden retrievers and they're incredible.

00:24:44.740 Just incredible.

00:24:45.860 Well, I just want to say to both of you, I'm very grateful to both of you.

00:24:50.200 Um, a sluggo, you took a chance on me.

00:24:53.440 You were patient with me.

00:24:55.480 I didn't know what I didn't know at the time.

00:24:59.800 Um, I got a big, big wake up call.

00:25:02.120 And ever since that day, I will periodically make sure that I read the audience comments

00:25:08.600 about me.

00:25:09.160 Not, not online because online is not a real world.

00:25:12.940 You, you, you have people naked in their parents' basement, uh, anonymous keyboard warriors.

00:25:18.500 They don't concern me, but research projects look for real listeners.

00:25:21.880 They give you real honest feedback.

00:25:24.020 And if you listen to it, it will make you better at what you do.

00:25:29.100 When you go up against somebody as talented and gifted as Neil.

00:25:33.520 And I think in the history of talk radio, one of the best talk show hosts ever, um, it's

00:25:38.100 either you get better or you're done.

00:25:40.260 It's that simple.

00:25:41.880 You will not survive.

00:25:43.440 Well, Sean, I just thank God every day that I didn't have to make a living being a lawyer.

00:25:48.680 You remember what you said to me after nine 11?

00:25:51.420 What?

00:25:52.140 Remember a conversation we had and you said, you had always said, um, I'm, I'm on the

00:25:58.060 air for kicks and giggles.

00:25:59.040 I'm, I'm, I'm not, I don't take myself seriously.

00:26:02.660 None of this is serious.

00:26:03.780 And you said, Hannity, you, you believe all this and you, you're more serious than I am.

00:26:08.060 And I said, you're right.

00:26:08.940 And then after nine 11, do you, you don't remember what you said to me?

00:26:11.760 I don't.

00:26:12.640 You said to me, um, you were right.

00:26:15.480 I was wrong.

00:26:16.380 And you weren't saying it in a way that was negative at all.

00:26:19.400 You were saying, this is real.

00:26:22.160 This is serious.

00:26:23.900 And I am, I am looking at my job entirely differently now.

00:26:28.080 Well, I mean, that woke up a lot of people.

00:26:30.820 Uh, I've always thought that a talk show host is first and foremost, an entertainer, and

00:26:36.680 we're not there to change the world.

00:26:38.500 But then, uh, later on after nine 11, uh, and the various ethnic invasions we've had of 0.95

00:26:45.940 this country, Minnesota, uh, it occurs to me that there's just a lot more to it than,

00:26:52.240 than fun and games.

00:26:53.500 There's very important information to be, to be sent to the public out there.

00:27:00.440 Just try to do it in an entertaining way to keep them listening and hopefully make a

00:27:05.320 difference along the line.

00:27:06.760 You know, now the difference I want to make is a water level in the hot tub when I'm sitting

00:27:11.280 in it in the evening.

00:27:12.160 Oh my gosh.

00:27:13.560 I will tell you this.

00:27:14.540 I'm going to, I'm going to end with this.

00:27:16.100 If it wasn't for the, for talk radio.

00:27:18.940 And then of course, Rush took it to a whole new level and we're all grateful to him for

00:27:23.440 that.

00:27:23.680 And we all miss him dearly.

00:27:25.260 Um, if it wasn't for talk radio, we wouldn't have had an alternative point of view in this

00:27:29.760 country.

00:27:30.100 If it wasn't for Fox news, we wouldn't have an alternative point of view in this country.

00:27:35.620 The fact that I've been blessed to do both in my life and career and have people like

00:27:41.760 you make me better in different ways.

00:27:44.240 I'm just grateful to both of you.

00:27:46.100 You're both very good men, dear friends.

00:27:48.500 Bill Donovan and in Alabama also gave me a shot.

00:27:51.840 They hired me over the phone there and I had no experience doing radio full time.

00:27:56.700 I got lucky.

00:27:57.280 He hired me.

00:27:58.020 Uh, so I just want to say thanks to both of you.

00:28:00.660 And it's, it's kind of fun to rehash some crazy radio days, man.

00:28:04.500 They were crazy.

00:28:05.460 Yeah.

00:28:05.960 Sean.

00:28:06.640 They were fun days too.

00:28:08.500 The world were off because you fell off that roof.

00:28:11.560 Yeah.

00:28:12.140 I fell off the roof.

00:28:13.240 Neil hit the ground and woke up a conservative.

00:28:15.640 It was all good.

00:28:16.460 Yeah.

00:28:16.860 I know it.

00:28:17.760 All right.

00:28:18.180 God bless you both.

00:28:19.100 You're both, uh, amazing people and dear friends.

00:28:21.840 Uh, Neil Bortz, Eric's logo Seidel.

00:28:24.960 Thank you both.

00:28:26.540 I just want to wrap things up for today.

00:28:28.440 Let not your heart be troubled.

00:28:29.600 Hannity tonight, nine Eastern on the Fox news channel part two.

00:28:33.580 It's really interesting.

00:28:34.540 My interview with JD Vance, the vice president also while in DC, I spend time with RFK junior

00:28:40.280 and Dr.

00:28:41.280 Mehmet Oz.

00:28:42.140 We'll get that in.

00:28:43.680 Uh, we have a lot on the nuttiness and insanity of the radical left.

00:28:48.160 They are cracking up and it's getting worse by the day and the news you'll never get from

00:28:53.000 the mainstream media mob nine Eastern tonight, Hannity Fox.

00:28:56.140 We'll see you then back here tomorrow.

00:28:57.340 Thank you for making this show possible.

00:28:59.600 This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human.

00:29:16.500 Um,

00:29:19.740 gee,

00:29:20.360 we'll see you then.

00:29:20.860 Thank you.

00:29:20.960 Thank you.

00:29:21.220 Thank you.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 15, 2025

Bonus： The Sean Hannity Show - Neil Boortz and Sean Hannity Remember When

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