Transcript
Tristan Redman (0:00)
This is an iHeart podcast.
Asma Khalid (0:04)
America is changing and so is the world.
Tristan Redman (0:08)
But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
Asma Khalid (0:16)
I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. i'm.
Tristan Redman (0:19)
Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story.
Asma Khalid (0:23)
Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet.
Tristan Redman (0:28)
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jacob Goldstein (0:34)
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Bobby Bones (1:07)
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Bobby Bones (1:43)
Hey everybody. Just driving in back to my house and there's like this white BMW that was right next to me driving on the road, but it was going like 45 miles an hour. It wasn't like a highway or anything. And these four kids started to wave. And if I'm in a car and someone starts to wave at me, there are a few things that can be Number one, it can be that I have a flat tire. That's happened before. Number two, it can be that my gas cap is hanging out because it is on like a little plastic thread that keeps it attached to the car. That's happened before. It could be that they're fans of the show now, being that they're 17 to 19 years old, I probably don't think they're fans of the show if that happens. Probably a little too young at this point. But they're waving, they're waving. I'm waving back. And also I have a pretty cool car and so sometimes it's that. And so I Roll my window down and slow down a little bit because I don't want to hit the kids. I don't want them to hit me either. And the kid in the backseat goes, hey, big fan. I was like, oh, cool. It is one of those times. And he was like, you're Johnny Knoxville, right? No, I was like, I'm not Johnny Knoxville, but thank you. So I wonder if one time in his life, because Johnny Knoxville is actually famous, but I wonder if one time in his life Johnny Knoxville has been approached and someone has said, like, hey, you, Bobby Bones. Just once. But, yeah, that happened on the way here to do this. I've been the last couple days, I don't want to say dealing with, because it's not really anything significant, but. And this has happened a lot through the last 10, 11 years of my career where I will get DMs or texts from artists, and it will always be kind of like a warm up, A warm up before they ask. And the thing is, I really can't do much for them, meaning I don't really program music, which is why when people are like, you're what's wrong with country music? I don't really have anything to do with country music as far as putting it out there. There was a time in my career five or six years ago where I was playing a bit more music, but I don't program music. I literally program two things. One, the national countdown on the weekend, but not the actual countdown that's determined by spins and radio stations all across the country. I play one song, I pick the spotlight artist of the week, like, I do that. And that's a significant spin, I guess, because pretty much every city in the country plays that. But it's only one time, one time on the weekend. The other thing that I do, because I put it in my contract, is the Women of I Heart Country Show. So the quick story of that is six, seven years ago in my contract, when I had a bit of leverage, I said, hey, I want one hour every weekend to just play female songs on every one of our stations, which is like 200 plus stations. And at the time, I think everybody thought that was a little weird because they're like, you're not even a woman. And, you know, candidly speaking, that's true, I'm not a woman. But it was very much the beginning of, hey, why aren't there as many women being played on the radio? And so I wanted to be out in the front of that. I already was. But because I'm a dude you kind of don't get the credit. Wasn't really looking for the credit, but like, when I would tour, I had all, for the most part, female openers. I was constantly having female guests on the show that weren't. So I was already doing my part, but I really wasn't doing anything national programming wise that was consistent. And so I said, hey, give me this hour. Because I wanted to give female artists a bit of a. I don't know if I should share this, like a bit of a spike on the chart because it was a pretty heavy play on that show. Like, I'd play a couple songs from new artists, they'd get a big spike. Program directors would see they got a whole bunch of spins and they'd go, oh, maybe this song is good. Give it a listen. And it really didn't change, like the total outcome of a record. But maybe it gave some of those artists a chance earlier. So that was the whole idea behind it. So I have an hour and I program that. And you're gonna see my point here. And if I want to, like, they call it spike a song in, I can do that, which is just on my show. If I decide I want to play a song, I'll play a song. But I really don't want to be the song guy because with that comes everybody wanting you to play their songs, and that's just not me. And again, there was a time when I was breaking songs like crazy. If it was Buy Me a Boat or Girl Crush or I Love this Life Low Cash, there's six or seven of those songs that I played a whole lot when nobody else was playing, which really moved them up the chart and then gave them really strong ammunition to go other places and go like, look, it's getting a lot of play. I stopped doing that because, one, I don't want to base my career on music I don't make. So it's been something that I occasionally do, but I don't really put any significant time, thought, effort into it. That doesn't mean that people don't hit me up thinking either. A, I have more power than I actually do, which is not a whole lot. I guess I have a little sway with the president of iHeart Country. I mean, I've worked with them for 13 years. I know him very well. But, you know, anyway, I get the warm up from these artists and it'll just be a reach out, out of nowhere to be like, what's up? How's it going? How you been? And I can tell immediately when the warmup is happening because I know the warm up is going to be possibly a day, a day and a half of, hey, cool, we should hang out sometime, whatever else. And then bam, there'll be a file in my text message. And, hey, if you don't mind, would you check this song out and tell me what you think of it? And when an artist asks you what do you think of a song, they really don't want your opinion unless it's good. They really just want you to go, oh, it's excellent. I'd love to play it. And if you don't say that, then they're gonna ask, hey, is there any way you can play it? So I've been getting the warm up from a couple artists, one through text, one through dm, around the same time, ironically. And I know them, but I'm not friends with them. Now at the same time, there's another artist that hit me up a couple of weeks ago who I don't know either. I don't know how they got my cell phone number. I mean, I don't really care, but they just were like, hey, this is so. And so I got this new song out. Would you listen to it? And if you like it, maybe you'll consider it. I respect that so much more. And I don't think I ever played it, but I don't, like, have a bad taste in my mouth just because it was right to the point, like, it was honest, where the other people are like, let me give you a little massage. Let me tickle you around the waist. Okay, that'd be $500. It's kind of, I guess it's not really the same, but that's what I've been dealing with. And I just know when it's coming. And so I guess I can be a little cold when I see it coming because I don't respond. And one of them, they were DMing me. And I knew what it was because it had already been like three messages. And this has probably happened to me before at some point with the same artist. And so I didn't want them to see that I had read their dm, so I just would delete the message. And then like clockwork, the next day, boom. Got a new song. Would love for you to check it out. It also sucks because it makes me not trust anybody. And the thing is, I don't really have the power. I don't have power to, like, shape a career. Like, I can put you on the show or the podcast, and that's more of a macro versus a micro thing. Because if you come on the show or you come on the bobbycast, usually that translates into, like, social media. You know, the podcast does really well now. It's probably the second biggest country music podcast. The bobbycast is behind our show, which is number one. So there is some significance to that, but I. I just don't have the power for the music. But then it has me. Not like the artists who do that, which it isn't fair because I know it's their job to hustle in a way, but I don't like the grossness of it. Like, I did like, the guy who I didn't really know that hit me up and was like, hey, I got the song. Listen to it, and if there's any chance you consider to play, that'd be awesome. And there was no, like, question. There was no, like, what do you think about it? Because if you ever tell an artist what you think about something, a song, and you're like, yeah, I don't really.
