Bobby Bones was 17 when he first cracked the mic at Henderson State University’s “91.1 The Switch” WKSH. Nearly 15 years later, he’s come a long way from those Arkansas roots. As the host of Premiere Networks’ syndicated “The Bobby Bones Show,” the morning drive host originates from WSIX Nashville and airs on nearly 100 iHeartMedia country stations.

 

Add to that his May 2016 New York Times bestselling memoir “Bare Bones: I’m Not Lonely If You’re Reading This Book,” and a top 5 Billboard Country/No. 1 comedy album “The Critics Give It 5 Stars”—featuring the likes of Kelsea Ballerini, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood—and Bones’ massive mainstream popularity becomes clear.

 

The industry has an affinity for the approachable personality as well.In 2014 and 2016, his show was honored with ACM awards in the “National On-Air Personality of the Year” category, while Nashville’s The Tennessean named Bones “Best Radio DJ” in 2013, 2014 and 2015. And if that weren’t enough, the 36-year-old Bones made Nashville Lifestyles’ “25 Most Beautiful People” list in 2013. He also hosts the weekly “Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones” on 130 affiliates and has appeared in movies and on TV, including frequent guest spots on “Live With Kelly,” 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 “25 Most Beautiful People” rates himself on a scale of 1-10. 

 

I haven’t 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 kid’s book after we released a No. 1 kid’s album. My goal was always to inspire kids and show them positivity.

 

The publisher said, yeah we’d love for you to write a book, but we want it to be a memoir. I wasn’t comfortable with that, thinking, you’re in your 30s, don’t be a douche, who cares. But I agreed to try writing a part of it—and realized this is not the story of what I have accomplished, it’s the first chapter of my life—and there is a point. It doesn’t matter where you come from, if you work hard enough and align yourself with the right people, anything’s possible. I would have never put myself where I am right now. It’s really been nuts. So it was never supposed to be this book.

 

Nashville has only recently started to feel like home. The format doesn’t like outsiders. But then again I’ve never been in a format where I’ve been the insider: When I worked on pop stations I was also playing country acts, Dierks Bentley and Willie Nelson…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.

 

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, you’re supposed to play only artists that test really well. ‘You’re going to kill your ratings,’ I was told.

 

So I was playing [Little Big Town’s] “Girl Crush” and [Chris Janson’s] “Buy Me a Boat” and Kelsea Ballerini as an independent artist before she had a hit…as an advocate for new artists and music. That was a turning point for me. People thought I was here to make trouble—and then they started to realize that maybe I’m not a total idiot. We have 5 million listeners now, and I don’t care if you have a record deal or not, if it’s a great song, I’m going to play it. The community finally warmed up to me because of that.

 

Being authentic is the only thing I do well. I’m not joking when I say I’m not the best at anything….There are guys that are so much funnier than I am, that have better voices, that speak better. But for me…I have to be honest all the time. My grandmother raised me for a long time and that was the rule.

 

It may get me in trouble on the radio, because it may be the unpopular opinion—which has happened many times—but as long as I’m honest…they may not like me…but they trust me and they know I’m staying true to who I am. Growing up in Arkansas, I learned that you don’t lie—without getting a whooping with the belt or a flyswatter.

 

You can get a song in 74 places. Apple’s got it, Spotify’s got it, but radio is your friend. The only place you’re going to get Howard Stern—or me, for some weird reason—is 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.

 

With the iHeartRadio app, you can listen to our show with no music and move your finger wherever you want to go. That’s crazy. We’re always one of the top 1 or 2 shows in any format. So there’s 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-forward…yes, there’s a niche for it.

 

Sometimes we’ll do an extra show with another half-hour that is available only on the podcast. If you’re not giving the audience what they want all the time, they’re going to go somewhere else. We have to constantly try to fulfill the needs of the consumer.

 

I’m no David Beckham. Okay, so maybe I’m, like, a 6.8 out of 10. I’ll be honest, I’m probably better than a 5, I’m slightly better than average, I exercise, so I’m up in the 6’s, though I wouldn’t 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 they’d sell more magazines.

 

It sounds like a really fun idea. If I could have done a morning show at 9am I’d be lying if I said this was not addressed. I’ve hosted the show with Kelly [Ripa] before and there were conversations, but as awesome as she has been to me, it just can’t be that show. I’m still on the air at 9—and my radio show is absolutely the most important thing to me. I want to do that for the rest of my life.