Bill Wattenburg is one of the most interesting, if not bizarre, media personalities we have ever researched. Most professional broadcasters would be jealous of the high celebrity Bill Wattenburg has gained on the West Coast. He is a ruggedly handsome and athletic man with a brilliant mind. He has both a voice and a presence on the air that is the envy of many in radio and television. He switches easily between serious intellectual and humorous entertainer as the occasion demands. But he seems to deal with his media role as if it is just a pleasant hobby. An ABC executive in San Francisco told us that he will only do radio and television shows on weekends. This position may be explained by his other activities and accomplishments. He is a well-known scientist of some notoriety in the public eye. He presently holds the title of research scientist at California State University, Chico, where he works during the week.
A news organization may have some difficulty in forcing him to confine himself to reporting the news instead of trying to make the news. He has displayed considerable news-making desires in his very public dealings with government agencies. This should be of concern to a network news organization that must protect confidential relationships with high-level contacts in the government. This observation is supported by his confrontational tactics reported in the section Public Confrontations.
We do believe, however, that he would be a very effective and popular network news commentator or show host. Both his credibility and integrity appear to be very high.
Our contacts in the media have told us that since 1988 he has turned down numerous offers to host major radio and television shows in Los Angeles and New York as well as San Francisco. One LA radio station executive said that he offered Wattenburg three times his KGO Radio salary and he turned it down. Contacts at a major movie studio say he also passed up another movie role that was offered after his appearance in two Clint Eastwood movies in 1988 and 1989, saying that he did not have the time.
Our general impression is that it may be difficult to convince him to expand his media role because of his interests in his scientific work and other activities. From what we were able to observe of his considerable financial resources, it would appear that money will not be a big factor in what he chooses to do in the near future.
For those who do not have time to read this lengthy report in full, we suggest three sections in particular that we believe provide the best analysis of his talents, his personality, and his style in dealing with professional and business associates. These sections are: Talk Radio, A Colleague’s Observations, and the Blue Water project. We suggest careful review of his other projects on the Magnetic Credit Cards and the Gold Mine before any contract negotiations of a legal nature with him.
An astute reviewer of this report who specializes in resolving executive conflicts in major corporations has offered this observation:
“His behavior appears to be iconoclastic in his dealings with other professionals in their own fields if they challenge him in some arrogant or pompous manner. This behavior pattern and an obsessive desire to maintain independence seem to be common elements in all his public exploits. He seems to enjoy his accomplishments in very private ways and is not driven by a desire for career advancement or immediate monetary rewards. However, this may be deceiving. He has obviously achieved great notoriety and professional respect in his own ways. This may have been financially rewarding beyond what most professionals might achieve in a conventional manner. In dealing with him an any business or professional situation, one should be on guard to not unnecessarily challenge his competitive instincts unless there is a major mutual objective to be accomplished.”
We strongly recommend that you see him in action when he is live on the air in the studio before making any appraisal of his media talents. In private interviews, he is very laid back. He responds with vigor only when you aggressively challenge him on some subject. Otherwise, he displays very little of the brilliance and wit that he delivers when he is on the air. We doubt that he will sell himself in an executive interview. In our interviews with him, he didn’t mention any of his many exploits detailed herein until we brought up the subjects and asked him to comment on the press reports and interviews with others. His attitude seems to be that if you don’t already know something about him, why should he tell you. He will try to deflect a conversation toward the interviewer (Who are you? Where are you coming from? What do you like to do?) This is complimentary, but often evasive.
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