Bobby Bones (born Bobby Estell, April 2, 1980) is an American on-air radio personality and entertainer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated weekday radio program The Bobby Bones Show, originating out of WSIX-FM in Nashville, Tennessee.

Early life

Bobby Estell (aka Bobby Bones) was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Pamela Hurt. His mother became pregnant at age 15 and his father was 17. 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, KSWH-FM 91.1. He graduated with a B.A. in Radio/Television from Henderson in 2002.

Career

Early professional career

While still in college, Bones went to work as a station hand at KLAZ 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. Bones"?s first full-time radio contract paid him $17,000. In 2002, Bones was hired by Q100/KQAR in Little Rock, Arkansas. While there, he broke into another radio station (KLAL), which led to his next job in Austin, Texas, to begin hosting The Bobby Bones Show on KHFI-FM.

Austin

Bones was originally hired for the evening shift on KHFI-FM and moved to the morning drive shortly after. While in Austin, he met two of his future co-hosts, Lunchbox (in a bar) and Amy (in a radio co-host contest after Jill left). He first hired Sarah who was familiar with the industry, then decided Amy would be a better fit. Bones believed in Amy and put her on the air immediately. 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 with its Top 40 format to Nashville, 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, Morgan, Mike D, and Morgan #2. 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."

In 2016, Bones admitted spending $13,000 on Nashville billboards in 2013 which stated "GO AWAY BOBBY BONES" as a PR campaign to garner sympathy.

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 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 1-4 p.m. Eastern Time on nearly 300 radio stations.

Bones is also the host of the podcast "The Bobbycast"? where he interviews singers/songwriters of all genres. He has also launched his own podcast network, the Nashville Podcast Network.

On May 17, 2016, he released his first book entitled Bare Bones, I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book. The book became a New York Times Best Seller.

On June 19, 2018, he released his second book entitled Fail Until You Don"?t: Fight. Grind. Repeat. Bobby was a mentor in the first season of ABC"?s American Idol.

In September 2018, Bones was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on the 27th season of Dancing with the Stars, being paired with the professional dancer Sharna Burgess.

Public profile

According to the Washington Post, Bones is different from typical radio DJs, as he doesn't have the "classic, booming radio DJ voice".

On September 28, 2013 Bones' and his crew were part of a team that set the Guinness World Record "Most hunger relief meals packaged in one hour (team)".

Accidental trigger of Emergency Alert System

In October 2014, Bones accidentally triggered the Emergency Alert System during an on-air rant about an erroneous EAS test interrupting coverage locally of the 2014 World Series on Fox affiliate WZTV by playing EAS tones. The EAS issuance, exacerbating an accidental local trigger that would have only happened in Nashville by the show being in syndication and cascading through the show's nationwide affiliates, caused AT&T U-verse boxes nationwide to lock up with the erroneous test. In May 2015, Bones"?s employer iHeartMedia paid a $1 millon FCC fine due to the incident and removed all EAS sound effects from their nationwide sound library to prevent a recurrence.

Politics

On January 3, 2017, Bones announced he was considering a run for governor of Arkansas in the 2018 election. On March 14, 2017, Bones decided not to run, although he stated he may run in the future.

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. Bones was inducted into the National Radio Hall Of Fame during a ceremony on November 2, 2017, at the Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago

Bones and The Bobby Bones Show won National On-Air Personality for the ACM Awards in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

The Bobby Bones Show also took home a CMA award in 2017 for National Personality.

November 2, 2017 will forever be implanted in Bobby Bones"?s head as the day he got inducted into The National Radio Hall of Fame. He is the youngest radio personality ever to be inducted with such huge honors.

Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				Sales
		US Country	US	US Comedy	US Indie
The Critics Give It 5 Stars	Release date: March 18, 2016 Label: Black River Entertainment	4	41	1	3	US: 12,700

Extended plays

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US	US Kid	US Indie
The Raging Kidiots	Release date: November 2, 2015 Label: Black River Entertainment	64	3	2
The Next Episode EP	Release date: 2017

Other charted songs

Year	Single	Peak positions		Album
		US Country Airplay	US Comedy Digital
2016	"We Can't Stand Each Other"	"?	8	The Critics Give It 5 Stars
	"Every Day Is a Good Day"	"?	10
	"Starbucks!"	"?	14
	"Fishin' with My Dad"	60	20
2017	Namaste		1	The Next Episode EP
2017	Chick-Fil-a (... But It"?s Sunday)		3	The Next Episode EP
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2016	"If I Was Your Boyfriend"	Robert Chavers

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