Bobby Bones (broadcaster)

Early life

Bobby Estell (aka Bobby Bones) was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Pamela Hurt, a single mother who became pregnant at age 15. He was raised in the small community of Mountain Pine, Arkansas, by his mother and maternal grandmother. His biological father was with him until the age of 5, but then disappeared. Bobby began dreaming of a radio career around the age of 5 or 6. Bones grew up poor in a trailer park, and often viewed radio as a ticket out of poverty. Bones began his radio career at age 17 at the campus station of Henderson State University, KSH-FM 91.1. He graduated with a B.A. in Radio/Television from Henderson in 2002.

Early professional career

While still in college, Bones went to work as a station hand at KLAZ 105.9 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but was put on the air within a few days of being hired. A manager there gave him the choice of going on the air as Bobby Z or Bobby Bones. In 2002, Bones was hired by Q100/KQAR in Little Rock, Arkansas. While there, he broke into another radio station (ALICE 107.7), which led to his next job in Austin, Texas, to begin hosting The Bobby Bones Show on 96.7 KISS FM.

Bones’s first full-time radio contract paid him $17,000

Austin

Bones was originally hired for the evening shift on KHFI (96.7 KISS FM) and moved to the morning drive shortly thereafter. While in Austin, he met two of his future co-hosts, Lunchbox (in a bar) and Amy (in a restaurant). Neither had radio experience when Bones put them on the air. His executive producer, Alayna, was previously an intern on the show.

Over ten years, the show built its audience into the top-rated morning show in Austin and was syndicated in a few regional markets. At the height of his popularity, Bones was offered a job outside of radio but ultimately chose to remain with Clear Channel.

Nashville

In the fall of 2012, Clear Channel moved Bones and his show from Austin and its Top 40 format to Nashville and a country music format while taking The Bobby Bones Show nationwide. Bones took over the slot hosted by longtime DJ Gerry House, who retired in 2010. Bones now broadcasts from WSIX-FM in Nashville on weekday mornings from 5 to 10am (CT). His co-hosts are Lunchbox and Amy, and features Ray, Eddie, Nada and Alayna. Michael Bryan is the program director.

The Bobby Bones Show has become a regular interview stop for top country music stars, including Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, and The Band Perry.

On air, Bones and his co-hosts break the country radio mold with a mix of pop-culture news and information. As Bones noted in one interview, "I'm not a cowboy. I don't wear a belt buckle, or I don't have those traditional old school country music radio elements about me. But from where I grew up and how I grew up, country music has always been the fabric of the music that I've listened to."

Syndication

In February 2013, The Bobby Bones Show went into national syndication with Premiere Networks (owned by Clear Channel) and was made available via iHeartRadio.com and the iHeartRadio mobile app. The show launched with 35 stations and is currently carried by 68 FM radio stations in the U.S. It is regarded as central to Clear Channel’s partnership with Country Music Television in what’s been termed a “country music media arms race.” According to Clear Channel Radio, which owns WSIX-FM, the show is the number one-rated morning show in Austin, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; and Lubbock, Texas.

Nationally, The Bobby Bones Show is the biggest country music morning show in the country, with an estimated audience of nearly 3 million listeners. The show’s largest market is Washington, D.C., where WMZQ airs it weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m.

Bones also hosts the weekly Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones carried on over 100 radio stations.

As part of the Clear Channel organization, Bones was tapped to host the inaugural iHeartRadio Country Music Festival held in Austin, Texas, in 2014. He presented the award for Country Song of the Year at the first iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Other media

Bones appeared in the 2009 feature film, Bandslam, with Vanessa Hudgens. He has also appeared on the ABC drama Nashville (2012 TV series) and has been a guest host with Kelly Ripa on Live! with Regis and Kelly.

Since 2012, Bones has been part of the FOX Sports Radio lineup, hosting the weekend sports talk program Roddick and Bones with tennis star Andy Roddick, airing Saturdays from 1p.m. to 4p.m. ET on nearly 300 radio stations across the U.S.

Public profile, controversies and acclaim

Bones is regarded as a different sort of radio DJ. “Without that classic, booming radio DJ voice,” as the Washington Post led in a profile. “He wishes he had it - he tried to fake it - but it never quite worked out.” Bones is known for conducting unscripted interviews, and his willingness to discuss any aspect of his life and work on the air.

Bones, along with his on-air crew, is active with multiple charities. In partnership with TEEMHaiti, Numana, he and co-host Amy created 30 Abes, a Haitian hunger-relief organization. On September 28, 2013, volunteers broke a Guinness World Record with 530,064 meals packed in 45 minutes. Bones was inspired mainly to do hunger-relief as one of his philanthropic activities, because he grew up in a family that was eligible for food stamps.

Bones has also come under fire for 'not being country enough,' but makes a point of reading scathing posts and tweets to his audience and argues for the rights of his detractors to criticize him.

Bones then became under fire once again, when he accidentally triggered the Emergency Alert System's national alert to thousands of AT&T U-verse customers.

In May 2015, Bones' employer iHeartMedia was fined $1 Million by the Federal Communications Commission for transmitting fake emergency alerts during "The Bobby Bones Show."

Personal life

Bones makes a point of declaring his devotion as a dog lover and Pit Bull advocate and owner of a Pit Bull named Dusty. He had a year long relationship with Rachel Reinert from the country music group Gloriana. Bones has been working in on-air radio since age 17 and now hosts a nationally syndicated weekday radio program

Awards and honors

For four years running, from 2004 to 2008, Bones was named Best Radio Personality by the Austin Music Awards, presented by The Austin Chronicle and SXSW. The Bobby Bones Show also won Best Radio Program 2007-2008. On April 6, 2014, Bones, Amy and Lunchbox won their first Academy of Country Music Award for National On-Air Personality of the Year, just nine months into Bones’s first year in country music.