Herman Cain Gets Nationally Syndicated Radio Show

Neal Boortz, a 42-year veteran of talk radio, will retire on Jan. 21 – presidential inauguration day – and be replaced by Herman Cain.

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Cain, who hosted a local show in Atlanta before running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been a regular guest on Boortz’s show, which originates from Atlanta but is syndicated nationally by Cox Radio. The show is represented for advertising and affiliate sales by Dial Global.

By inheriting Boortz’s show, Cain will instantly boast 6 million listeners in 200 markets nationwide. The two are largely on the same page politically, though Boortz, a Libertarian, is pro-choice and supports gay marriage while Cain is pro-life and does not.

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Boortz’s plan – not yet set in stone – is to co-host the show with Cain on Jan. 21, when they'll either celebrate President Barack Obama’s last day in office or lament four more years.

“If it’s Barack Obama, then I’m going to disappear into the mountains and come out after he has destroyed this country. If it’s Mitt Romney, we’ll start drinking as the show begins,” Boortz said on his radio show Monday.

Prior to entering the radio business during the Richard Nixon administration (he showed up at WRNG-AM in Atlanta asking for a shot at talk radio the day after he heard their morning host, Herb Elfman, had committed suicide) Boortz had been writing speeches for Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, a Democrat.

Boortz said his retirement plans includes trips to Alaska and Antarctica with Donna, his wife of 39 years, and that he’ll call in to Cain’s show regularly.

At his website, Boortz, 67, said he had actually wanted to retire earlier.

“This is a dream job. But it’s very restricting … very demanding of time,” he wrote. “I had actually planned to retire at the end of 2009, but after the election of Barack Obama several people, Sean Hannity being paramount, convinced me to stay for three more years. Those three years are up.”

Email: paul.bond@thr.com