On the Inside with Bobby Bones
Q&A: BOBBY BONES, SYNDICATED MORNING MAN
Ģż
Bobby Bones was 17 when he first cracked the mic at Henderson State Universityās ā91.1 The Switchā WKSH. Nearly 15 years later, heās come a long way from those Arkansas roots. As the host of ĄĒÓŃŹÓʵā syndicated āThe Bobby Bones Show,ā the morning drive host originates from WSIX Nashville and airs on nearly 100 iHeartMedia country stations.
Ģż
Add to that his May 2016 New York Times bestselling memoir āBare Bones: Iām Not Lonely If Youāre Reading This Book,ā and a top 5 Billboard Country/No. 1 comedy album āThe Critics Give It 5 Starsāāfeaturing the likes of Kelsea Ballerini, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwoodāand Bonesā massive mainstream popularity becomes clear.
Ģż
The industry has an affinity for the approachable personality as well.In 2014 and 2016, his show was honored with ACM awards in the āNational On-Air Personality of the Yearā category, while Nashvilleās The Tennessean named Bones āBest Radio DJā in 2013, 2014 and 2015. And if that werenāt enough, the 36-year-old Bones made Nashville Lifestylesā ā25 Most Beautiful Peopleā list in 2013. He also hosts the weekly āCountry Top 30 with Bobby Bonesā on 130 affiliates and has appeared in movies and on TV, including frequent guest spots on āLive With Kelly,ā where he was rumored as a possible replacement for Michael Strahan. Here, Bones talks to Inside Radio about why he wrote his memoir, the secret to his on-air persona, and how one of the ā25 Most Beautiful Peopleā rates himself on a scale of 1-10.Ģż
Ģż
Youāre a known, established, award-winning syndicated country radio personality. Then you decide to write a memoir, which propelled you from the airwaves to The New York Times bestseller list. Why a book and why now?
I havenāt been to the moon or won a gold medal, so what have I done in my 30s to write a memoir about? I approached my publisher about writing a kidās book after we released a No. 1 kidās album. My goal was always to inspire kids and show them positivity.
Ģż
The publisher said, yeah weād love for you to write a book, but we want it to be a memoir. I wasnāt comfortable with that, thinking, youāre in your 30s, donāt be a douche, who cares. But I agreed to try writing a part of itāand realized this is not the story of what I have accomplished, itās the first chapter of my lifeāand there is a point. It doesnāt matter where you come from, if you work hard enough and align yourself with the right people, anythingās possible. I would have never put myself where I am right now. Itās really been nuts. So it was never supposed to be this book.
Ģż
In the book, āBare Bones,ā you talk about how long it took for Nashville to accept you, coming from being a syndicated top 40 personality, then being drafted by iHeart to go country.
Nashville has only recently started to feel like home. The format doesnāt like outsiders. But then again Iāve never been in a format where Iāve been the insider: When I worked on pop stations I was also playing country acts, Dierks Bentley and Willie Nelsonā¦and getting in trouble from the top 40 PDs. When I was on sports radio, I played music. So I guess I never really had a place where I fit.
Ģż
The turning point with country came because I was the guy who took chances and broke songs and artists. When you have 3 million listeners, youāre supposed to play only artists that test really well. āYouāre going to kill your ratings,ā I was told.
Ģż
So I was playing [Little Big Townās] āGirl Crushā and [Chris Jansonās] āBuy Me a Boatā and Kelsea Ballerini as an independent artist before she had a hitā¦as an advocate for new artists and music. That was a turning point for me. People thought I was here to make troubleāand then they started to realize that maybe Iām not a total idiot. We have 5 million listeners now, and I donāt care if you have a record deal or not, if itās a great song, Iām going to play it. The community finally warmed up to me because of that.
Ģż
You grew up in Arkansas. How has that impacted your success behind the micāand/or influenced your on-air persona?
Being authentic is the only thing I do well. Iām not joking when I say Iām not the best at anythingā¦.There are guys that are so much funnier than I am, that have better voices, that speak better. But for meā¦I have to be honest all the time. My grandmother raised me for a long time and that was the rule.
Ģż
It may get me in trouble on the radio, because it may be the unpopular opinionāwhich has happened many timesābut as long as Iām honestā¦they may not like meā¦but they trust me and they know Iām staying true to who I am. Growing up in Arkansas, I learned that you donāt lieāwithout getting a whooping with the belt or a flyswatter.
Ģż
Letās talk radio. Why does it continue to be the No. 1 media choice for the masses, for 93% of all Americans, as has been widely reported?
You can get a song in 74 places. Appleās got it, Spotifyās got it, but radio is your friend. The only place youāre going to get Howard Sternāor me, for some weird reasonāis on the radio. We are here to inform you, hopefully make you laugh and help you discover new music, too. Radio is the one destination that is breaking songs and breaking artists. You can have 7 million plays on Spotify and then 10 people come to your show. Nobody knows who you are. With radio you get a hit and everybody knows you. So radio, only radio, is able to connect the A to the B.
Ģż
āBobby Bonesā has its own podcast via iHeartāwhich goes beyond a simple replay of your show. You are available on-demand without music. Are you competing with yourself on-air?
With the iHeartRadio app, you can listen to our show with no music and move your finger wherever you want to go. Thatās crazy. Weāre always one of the top 1 or 2 shows in any format. So thereās a place for everything. If you want to take a show and peel off the music and find a way to monetize it, of course you should do that. Taking our big talent and finding a way to listen to the whole show whenever you want to with rewind and fast-forwardā¦yes, thereās a niche for it.
Ģż
Sometimes weāll do an extra show with another half-hour that is available only on the podcast. If youāre not giving the audience what they want all the time, theyāre going to go somewhere else. We have to constantly try to fulfill the needs of the consumer.
Ģż
Among all of your awards, weāre going with this one: Nashville Lifestylesā 2013 ā25 Most Beautiful Peopleā list.
Iām no David Beckham. Okay, so maybe Iām, like, a 6.8 out of 10. Iāll be honest, Iām probably better than a 5, Iām slightly better than average, I exercise, so Iām up in the 6ās, though I wouldnāt give myself a full 7. But come on, this city is full of really beautiful people. I think they just wanted me to talk about the issue so theyād sell more magazines.
Ģż
So, how does this sound: āLive With Kelly and Bobbyā
It sounds like a really fun idea. If I could have done a morning show at 9am Iād be lying if I said this was not addressed. Iāve hosted the show with Kelly [Ripa] before and there were conversations, but as awesome as she has been to me, it just canāt be that show. Iām still on the air at 9āand my radio show is absolutely the most important thing to me. I want to do that for the rest of my life.
Ģż
Ģż