WEBVTT - Bobby Bones: “Tenacity is a talent.” 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.320 You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.639 Tenacity is a talent because I never felt like I 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.720 was super talented at anything, because I never had one 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.560 skill that I can lean on. I couldn't sing, didn't 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.639 have a great voice, wasn't super funny. I started to 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.760 realize that being tenacious and not stopping being tenacious, that's 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:29.720 a real talent. 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.760 I am Bob Pittman, and welcome to this episode of 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.320 Math and Magic. Today we're exploring the power of audio 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.920 and the power of those hosts on the radio and 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.720 podcasts who hundreds of millions of Americans call their friends. 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.239 Our guest today is Bobby Bones, known the millions and 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.160 millions for his morning show on country radio, and also 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.000 for his stints as a mentor on American Idol, host 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.160 of Breaking Bobby Bones on the National Geographic Channel, and 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.480 a past winner of Dancing with the Stars. He's also 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.760 authored two New York Times bestsellers, and it has the 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:07.640 wildly successful podcast Bobby Cast and the Nashville Podcast Network. 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:12.320 Bobby was born and raised in small town Arkansas, Mountain Pine, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.160 in what he has described as extreme poverty. He literally 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.040 had no bed for himself until he finally got to college. 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.880 He has had a life of driving to make his 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.160 life a success. He's going to share some of those 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:26.839 stories and insights and more. 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.480 Bobby, welcome, Thank you for having me, Bob. This is awesome. 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.120 Listen before we get into the meaty stuff, I want 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:35.000 to do you in sixty seconds. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.960 You ready this? There? Do you prefer cats or dogs? Dogs? 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.360 Early Riser night Out? I'm an Early Riser, but I 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:42.759 hate it. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.120 Nashville or la oh, Nashville by far, City or Country. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:48.960 I'm going to surprise you and go city on this 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.120 Coker PEPSI. I'm going to go coke, rock and roll 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.400 er country. What's the difference? You know, they're basically the same. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.280 But I'll go Country, Coffee or tea. I'll go tea. 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:00.200 As long as it's. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:05.120 Podcast or streaming TV out podcast by far, call her, text, 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.880 don't call me, just text. All time favorite musical artist 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.880 Counting Crows. First job doing maintenance on a golf course. 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:18.520 Favorite TV show of all time, The Office, childhood hero 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:23.800 David Letterman. Favored sport to watch college football, Arkansas Razorbacks. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.360 Most important piece of advice you ever got, just keep 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:32.919 pushing regardless. Favorite city Oh you'll give me in trouble here. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:34.240 I'm gonna go Fabel. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.040 Arkansas Final one secret talent. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.760 I can juggle really well. I can do turns and 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:40.040 throws and it's awesome. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.519 Okay, let's jump in. Country music is on a real 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.680 up swing in America, comes up and down sometimes. It is, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.040 by the way, the biggest music format on the radio. 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:52.640 What's going on? Why? 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:58.440 I think because one the music sonically has opened itself 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.079 up a bit. And the one thing about country music 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.720 is it's always progressing. And the other thing is there's 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.240 always a group going that's not country. And so as 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.799 long as country music has existed, you've had people saying, well, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.200 that's not real country. I think you've had a couple 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.400 transcendent artists as well. So it doesn't hurt when you 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.680 have big stars. And so guys like Morgan Waller and 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.360 Luke Combs and Zach Bryan and then the guys like 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:27.519 Chesney and Garth the Stadio Max are really ruling country music. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:29.440 And the fact that some of them are so young 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:30.520 makes it cool. 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.040 You know, you're talking about people saying that's not country. 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:39.600 But the history of country music, country radio especially is 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.480 the oldies always seem to be from rock in the seventies. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.720 The oldies were not Hank Williams. The old ones were 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.720 Elvis Presley, the Eagles or whatever. Why does over the 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.400 years country music attract the former rock and roll audience? 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:57.880 What makes them switch and how does that work? 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:03.560 I think the format itself is very traditional in nature. However, 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.640 I think the format also at times will attempt to 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.480 hold itself back, if not for real pioneer type artists. 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.560 I mean, when you look at country music just in general, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.719 from the beginning of the format itself, at the genre 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.479 you're talking about, the music was created by slaves coming 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.080 over on the slave ship and Europeans coming over, and 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.200 that's where you get the banjo on the fiddle. And 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.279 the fact to where they live geographically is the roots. 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:29.760 Of country music. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.680 And so when people will hear a song and go, well, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.520 that's not country, you know, my response often is, well, 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.560 nothing is unless you go back to the very beginning. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:38.160 You can look at any of the artists like Bob 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.720 Wills and the Texas Playboys. The first time they amp 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.480 to steal guitar, it was like Dylan going electric, Like 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.839 people flipped out, and that has happened over and over again. 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.840 Garth Brooks doing concerts, touring like a rock star. You 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.320 have people put in eight to eights in songs now, 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.840 and I think what's happening is when you're young, you 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.240 like the edgy music, and then what happens is that 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.800 edgy type music isn't so edgy anymore, and what was 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.320 the rock back in the time really has settled into 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.200 what is now country music ten fifteen, twenty years later. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.360 So let's talk a little bit about the country music community. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.320 You touched on it, about who these people are, how 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.359 are they different from other audiences. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.359 They are far more loyal to the artist than any 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:26.160 other format. 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:27.080 Country music. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.680 From before I got in it until today, there were 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.680 artists that I love and it did not matter what 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:33.279 they put out. 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:33.920 I loved it. 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.200 When I worked in pop, you could have a song 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.200 and go away forever. That almost never happens in country 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.760 music even today. So once you establish who you are 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:45.680 and you build a fan base, they don't go anywhere. 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.440 And I think that's really like a lot of people 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.480 in this country like, if you can actually prove your 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.560 worth and there's a reason to like you, and you're 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.719 not going to really change fundamentally who you are, like, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:55.400 we're gonna. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:55.640 Roll with you. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.040 We're real loyalists to folks, and I think that's what 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.000 this format is really known for, and I think it's 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:01.679 why it thrives. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.280 You know, you started in top forty pop hits and 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:06.719 you moved the country radio. 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:07.600 Why. 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.120 I think I wanted to talk to the most people. 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:15.560 That's the selfish answer. But when it comes to where 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.280 did I even fit, Like how I sound, I mean, 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.480 I talk like a guy from and I want to 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.320 say Middle America, probably a little south of Middle America. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.200 Like I talked like a guy from Southeast America. And 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.200 so when I was doing pop, I had Willie Nelson 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.480 on and Derek spentleyon and I had all these country acts. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.800 And what was funny was the word on the street 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.160 then was he's too country for pop. But then once 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.640 I got the country, it was he's too pop for country. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.279 So I kind of never really had a place to 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.200 fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit, 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.800 because nobody really fits anywhere. And the fact that I 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.000 just embraced that, like, yeah, I don't fit into one 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.640 specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:06:59.920 I hope. I hope it still does. 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.479 But that's why I'm here now, because I talk to 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.919 people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:08.479 and have loyalties like me. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.680 So how has Nashville managed to hang on to its 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:13.840 dominance in the country scene. 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.560 And invests a lot of money? I mean, it is 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.840 a industry. It's billions and billions of dollars, and you 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.840 know where it's an art and it's fun and it 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.840 makes you happy and sad. It is also a cutthroat business. 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.760 It just reminds me of sports, right, Like I have 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.440 my favorite teams and I love them. But behind the 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.800 guys playing on the field for nine innings getting dirty, 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.280 that there are people making really difficult decisions, and there 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.760 are people that are paid a lot to judge and 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.160 gauge talent and scout talent. I think Nashville is really 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:50.559 prioritized one investing in technology and also investing in really 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.960 great people to live here and cultivate the music. And 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.440 you often see a lot of the producers from Los Angeles, 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.880 a lot of the songwriters from Los Angeles. They're in 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.000 Nashville a lot because they want to write with Nashville 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.400 songwriters so I think it's really just the investment of 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.960 the people and the technology and both are doing the 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.200 job of letting the strongest survive. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:18.080 So you're also a musician performer on the stage. You've 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.240 got the Ragie Idiots. Tell us about your history as 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.560 a performer and where that fits into what you do. 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.040 The Raging Idiots are a comedy duo. It's how we started, 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.200 and we were just raising money for charity. Honestly, I 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.680 was just looking for ways to tour around, do some 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.080 funny songs and make a little bit of money to 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:38.120 donate to dog shelters and Saint Jude, which. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:38.839 Is a hospital for kids. 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.480 And I was in the hospital a bunch as a kid, 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.040 and I know that if people didn't help me, like 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.280 my church and the community, that I don't think I 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.520 would have been able to actually get the care that 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.200 I got because we didn't have a whole lot of money. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.360 So Saint Jude they don't have people pay that you 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:55.880 show up there. If you have the kind of cancer, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:56.920 they take care of you. 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:58.319 So that was it. That's why we started at. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.520 Me and my buddy Eddie, and we tore our and 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.160 honestly we were just okay. But The great thing is 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:04.760 if you're okay and you work hard enough, you get 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:06.800 to be pretty good. And that's what we did. From 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.000 pretty good, we got to a little better than pretty good, 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:10.840 and our shows got bigger and we were playing theaters. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.120 We've been able to raise millions of dollars for the hospital. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.320 But it really just started off as two guys playing 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.640 in like a barbecue restaurant. So it's a comedy band, 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:20.199 but we've been able to do a lot of really 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:21.080 serious stuff with them. 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.199 You're big on social too. How does that tie together 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.760 all you do? Is it sort of like the listen 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:29.960 line used to be at the radio station? How does 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.760 it keep you tuned into your audience in real time? 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.720 It's where they are, and I want to be where 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.440 the people are. I want to be where the people are. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:40.960 It sounds like. 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.920 I'm a little mermaid or something, but you know, it's 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.440 where the people are. It's where I can talk to 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.720 them twenty four hours a day. The great thing about 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.559 the radio show is like I'm their friend. If they're 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.160 driving in, I'm their companion. Hopefully they trust that I'm 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:58.920 going to give them something compelling to listen to. If 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.800 it's happier set if it's funny or not, that I'm 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.439 their buddy that's going to be with them. 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:05.480 Same with podcasts. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.600 The thing about social media is I can be on 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.560 it constantly, over and over and over again, saying different things, 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.679 but also directing them to the longer form media. 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:14.760 Right it's in the end. 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:19.040 It is a wonderful promotional tool for what I feel 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.439 I do best, which is mid and long form audio. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:24.439 You know, I want to go back in time a 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.960 little bit, get a little context on you, especially for 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.640 people who really know you and you're interested in how 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.439 you got to be Bobby Balenes, you have an amazing, 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:39.120 tough yet inspiring personal story. Teenage mom who had some 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.520 abuse issues for her whole life. Your grandmother's stepped down 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.920 as an important figure in your life, and it seems 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.760 that poverty dominated your early life. Can you share that story. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.040 I was born to a mom who got pregnant at fifteen. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.600 She had me right after her sixteenth birthday. And having 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.160 a mom that got pregnant at fifteen, it was very 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.040 difficult for her because she also didn't come from money. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.040 So she's again in a situation where she didn't have advantage. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.040 And now we're all at a big disadvantage, and so 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.880 my biological dad was seventeen when she was fifteen. He 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.400 left when I was four or five years old. I 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:18.800 was in the hospital for a long time. He kind 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:19.559 of skipped out. Then. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.439 I don't have a relationship with him. I never really 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:21.880 knew him. 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:23.760 I chased him down a few years ago just to 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:25.920 kind of get some closure in my life. But my mom, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.920 being a teenage mom, she wasn't super consistent. She was 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.400 gone a lot. I was adopted by my grandmother. I 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:35.880 was in and out of trailers and apartments, and then 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.880 it was so normal, you know, looking back as an adult, 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.480 you kind of admire the tenacity that little sucker who 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.320 just continued to read books and go to school. You 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.000 mentioned earlier, I didn't have a bed. I never really 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.600 thought about not having a bed. I knew I never 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.880 had a bedroom, but I never had a bed. So 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.040 I slept on the couch every night. My closet was 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.520 underneath the couch and just got by. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:55.920 Now. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:01.040 Luckily, I was pretty good at school, and so from 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.160 a very young age, I knew that I did not 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.200 want to be where I was, which was just a 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.120 place of complete inconsistency. 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.680 If that was food if that was where we were living. 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.040 We moved around a bunch as a kid, But I 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.040 think there was a lot of time struggling with Because 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.960 my mom ended up dying in her forties with addiction issues, 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.240 there was a lot of struggling with, like even me existing, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.600 there was a bunch of guilt that my mom wouldn't 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.959 have had me, that her life would have been a 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.800 whole lot better. So it was just a lot of inconsistency, 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.280 And I think that's probably now why if there's anything 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.599 I'm good at, it is being consistent and it's tenacity. 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.560 I think those are really the skills that I've developed. 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.719 My grandmother was the saving grace. Anytime my mom would leave, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.240 and she would leave for months at a time, a 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.240 couple of years at a time, I would just go 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.560 live with my grandmother and she was that consistency. It 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.559 just sucks she was so old. If Grandma's could be younger, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.439 that'd be way cooler. But yeah, like my grandma was 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.800 what really gave me the idea that consistency even existed. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.560 What advice do you have for young people who've had 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.839 a background like you and are trying to start their 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:06.600 adult lives. 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:07.400 What do you tell them? 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.720 I will tell them that if you climb out of 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.880 the hole, you're so much stronger when you get out 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.960 of the hole, and once you're back to even you 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.640 are so much farther ahead than anybody who didn't have 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.600 it as hard as you to weaponize whatever background you 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.720 come from and whatever way you can. And that's generally 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.000 the advice. I don't say it's easy. I will say, yeah, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.040 it sucks. I didn't go to a good school. I 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.679 didn't have a good education. You don't either. But that 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.120 doesn't mean we can't use that to our advantage, because again, 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.400 that's sharpening a different iron that we get to use 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.440 that other people don't use unless they have to. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:41.680 Right. 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.559 I think perspective is such a gift that nobody wants 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.600 to get until they have it, because perspective is hard. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.360 You don't get perspective unless you go through something hard 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.880 like that's the gift that when you have it, you're like, man, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.200 this is an awesome gift to have, but it did 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.280 not feel good while getting it. And I think real 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.240 talk like that and that somebody liked this has done 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:02.960 it that often helps as well. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.160 I'm sure there must have been some people along the way, 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.080 in addition to your grandmother who helped you see beyond 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.480 your circumstances and in the future possibilities. You mentioned you 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.600 were a smart student. You read a lot who put 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.920 you on that track. How were those people who influenced you? 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.240 Were there people? Specifically? 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.920 My head football coach in high school's name was Vic Gandolf, 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:28.320 and he was really the first male influence that I 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.960 had that was hard on me, and it was of 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:37.920 extreme value because I knew he cared about me, and 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.240 I knew he wanted to see me be better, and 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.000 his way to do it was to be harder on me. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:44.480 It was the first time I'd experienced that, and I 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:45.840 think a lot of people get that from a parent. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:46.640 I didn't get that. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.560 From a parent, So I think it was people providing 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:54.240 that consistency that gave me the fundamental jump off point 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.320 to even see that I could do more than what 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:58.280 was being done around me. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.240 You've talked a little bit and places I've read that 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.640 you actually one of your regresses that you didn't get 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.520 to go to University of Arkansas, which, by the way, 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.720 they just gave you an honorary degree, So congratulations. Tell 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.560 me about that. Obsession with the razorbacks. 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.960 In Arkansas. We don't have any pro teams in Arkansas. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.120 We don't have much, but we do have something that 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.720 kind of galvanizes the state, and that is the University 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.280 of Arkansas. Like that is pretty much everyone's pride and 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.800 joy I did not get to go to school there, 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:32.800 which was really hard for me because I always wanted 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.800 to go, but I had to work. And I think 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.040 you'll relate to this growing up in a small town 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:39.720 and understanding what it's like growing up in the South 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.800 and having to pay your own bills and insurance and food. 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.080 And I had to work, and I was waiting tables, 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.640 and I was begging for jobs. And I got a 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.520 job at a radio station and the radio was forty 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.000 five minutes away, and they hire me to switch out 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.080 a Rick D's Countdown CD and clean the front office. 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.280 And to me, that was like getting a job in 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.360 Los Angeles. I was like, this is crazy. I cannot 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.000 believe they're paying me to work at radio station. 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.920 Which city was that? In Bobby The radio station. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.720 Was in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but I went to school 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.120 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, so it was about a forty five 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:10.240 minute drive too. 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:10.880 And back. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.960 But before my first shift on the weekend of cleaning 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.240 and flipping a CD, somebody got fired and I was 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:17.760 just there. 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:19.480 So they put me on on the weekends. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.920 And as you know, my real name is not Bobby Bones, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.920 it's Bobby Estell. And they said, Okay, your name is 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:26.840 going to be Bobby Bones or Bobby Z. And I 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.120 was like, man, Bobby Z sounds terrible, so at least 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.240 I'll sound like a pirate that sounds like a real human. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:32.640 And that's how I got the name. 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.800 Working at that really small station in Hot Springs, Arkansas 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.480 while I went to college and so yes, I was 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:40.520 not able to go to the University of Arkansas, but 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:42.840 they did give me an honor, a doctorate, and when 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.480 I want campus, they have to call me doctor. 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:45.280 And that's pretty cool. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:56.160 Moral Math and Magic right after this quick break, welcome 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.200 back to Math and Magic. Let's hear more from my 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.560 conversation with Bobby Bones. Tell us about your starting radio 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.320 So you go, you do the weekend shift. Where did 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.320 you go from there? What point did you begin to 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.000 be the Bobby Bones we sort of know and love 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:12.080 and appreciate today. 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.760 I think that guy came years later, as I was 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.760 trying to figure out what I could and couldn't do right. 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:23.320 I didn't have the traditional cool or deep booming radio voice. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.920 I really tried to have it. I tried in every 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.520 way possible. And so I went from weekends and I 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.800 was doing weekend overnights, and then I would do weekend nights. 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.879 And the key to my success, at least at the beginning, 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.960 has always been to be exactly where I'm told to 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.600 be and where I said i'd be when I was 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.200 supposed to be there. And so I was really consistent 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.600 and if you needed me, I was there. There's a 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.520 lot of value in that. And so I went from 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.840 doing weekend nights too, I got the night shift. I'd 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:51.439 been at the station for about a year. I was 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.960 nineteen years old, and I had some offers pretty quickly 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.560 to move to like the tri cities like Johnson City, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.359 Tennessee had stations that were interested in me coming to 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.600 do night shows and other markets. But no one in 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.399 my family had graduated high school, much less college, and 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.639 so my goal was to go and finish college. So 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.560 I stayed my entire run at KLAZ in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.560 I did nights. Looking back, it was awesome. I built 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:22.560 a really big, cool, fun night show, especially for that area. 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:24.600 From there, I went to Little Rock and I was 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.160 there like six months. From Little Rock, went to Austin, 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:28.680 Texas and never been to Austin in my life, and 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.760 that's where I started to kind of find who I 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:35.000 was and that I didn't have what was traditional. But again, 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.600 my weakness ended up being my biggest strength because I 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.200 didn't chase that anymore. I knew what I had was 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:44.119 the ability to talk to people, not at people, and 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.880 although I didn't sound like what was traditional, I did 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:51.960 sound like people that were traditionally in the lives of 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.680 the people that listened to my show, so it kind 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.639 of sounded like a friend and that worked. I did 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.080 nights in Austin, and they were going to flip the 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.640 format of the station in Austin and I just got 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.680 an offer to move to Seattle and do nights, and 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:07.920