Bobby Bones - Almost America's Number One Radio DJ

If you have read Charlamagne's book "Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It"; then you came across the name "Bobby Bones." We had to investigate this Bobby Bones, one of Charlamagne's best friends in the industry. Well it turns out Bones is the most popular radio DJ/On-Air personality for iHeartRadio except for Ryan Seacrest. Yes, he's more popular than syndicated personalities Elvis Duran, Steve Harvey and even Charlamagne tha God himself on The Breakfast Club.

Bobby Bones is a country radio DJ. Perhaps it's the reason he's not a household name across the US like Seacrest. But Bones is extremely popular and is the most recognizable on air personality in the country music radio format. (Bones doesn't have a national TV presence yet.) He is a stand-up comedian and a best selling author. Despite his popularity in Country music radio often times he finds himself at odds with many Country music artists.

• He has been known to play Top 40 Pop and Hip Hop on his Friday "dance party" show. Wonder how that goes over with the good ole' boys?

• Bones discovered the slogan 'Make America Great Again' hadn't been trademarked, so he did it himself. He eventually sold it back to the Trump campaign for a charitable donation to St. Jude's Hospital. It's in the interview he did with The Breakfast Club [below] from May 2016 at 9:00 mark.  

Bobby Bones originates his show from Nashville at Big 98 FM. His back story is an interesting read.

From The Ringer

Looking to get in touch with a country star? There’s a good chance Bobby Bones has the number — not that he’d ever call them, or want them to contact him either. "I don’t want these people texting me," the radio DJ says. "I don’t want to be that guy who is at all the things, mingling with all the people. That’s the worst."

A socially awkward and painfully honest 37-year-old with a top-rated country radio program that is heard on more than 100 stations nationwide, reaches more than 3 million daily listeners, and often feels more like a confessional than a music show, Bobby Bones is the most widely heard DJ in the format. In theory, country music is the focus of The Bobby Bones Show, but in truth it’s all about Bobby, including his familiar relationships with his longtime cohosts, Amy Brown and Dan "Lunchbox" Chappell; the middle finger he regularly gives to Nashville’s power brokers; and the way his palpable insecurity and desire for acceptance often hang over the proceedings.

It’s easy to write off his loose lips and tendency to overshare as a deliberate radio persona, but Bones simply refuses to play by the rules. He routinely defies country radio. He almost never goes to industry parties. Every Friday he turns his show into a "dance party," during which he plays pop, hip-hop, and whatever else interests him. He asks personal, sometimes intrusive questions to artists during interviews and calls them out if they slight him.

But he is still an employee of iHeartMedia, the largest radio conglomerate in the country, where his own popularity is trumped only by that of Ryan Seacrest. One might assume that Bones is a disruptive presence for iHeart. After all, the FCC once fined the company $1 million after a fake emergency alert played during a 2014 broadcast of his show.

But he’ll tell you, "My company knows what I do." Bones says iHeart has long been his most ardent champion and defender. It’s why he felt so bad about that FCC fine. "That was the hardest part for me," he says. "People really stuck their neck out and said, ‘This is our guy. Let’s invest in him.’ And I really screwed up."

Yet for all his polarizing behavior, his ratings have more than tripled since his early days in Nashville. In the past seven months, his show has been picked up by 12 new stations, bringing him to 108. Last year he released a memoir that topped the New York Times best-seller list, and in November he’ll be the youngest inductee into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Bones has taken over country radio in spite of himself. This article "Bobby Bones vs. Country Music" continues at The Ringer [...]





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