#115 - "The Trouble Tapes" - The Billboards

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live flock, I use LifeLock. It's fantastic. I've used it for years, way before they were a partner on the podcast or the show. And yeah, here we go, this is a new, a new deal. We've come up with a bunch of ideas. Through the history of of this whole project, the Bobby Bones Show, there's been a few really really close calls where I was really really almost

fired hard. In this episode, we'll talk about one of the biggest scandals sort of and I say sort of because nobody knew about it when it was happening as far as that I was involved in it. And we're not gonna be in the same room because what happens when we talk about stuff we have different opinions and we start fighting about it, especially when it's the controversial.

So all these interviews are done separately and so over the first time you hear my story than Amy's and Lunchbox and Eddie's, and you'll get their version without us arguing over each other, and maybe a clearer take from everyone. So I'm not sure what I was gonna say, because I don't remember when everyone found out. Before I get into my side of the story, let me set the

stage for you. It wasn't until May until the Washington Post did a story that revealed I had paid for those billboards to be put up myself, and they saw the story because it was in my book, Bare Bones, and they had a copy of the book to review it before anyone else did. So I'll start with my side of the story and then you'll hear everyone share what they remember from the story as well. So this is the trouble tapes, the billboards, they go away, Bobby

Bones billboards. I think one of the other biggest scandals is that time about billboards in town. Now, you have to understand our when it came to town, and still to this day, was really a counterculture of what was happening in mainstream country radio. It really hadn't been anyone do a lot of new when we came. And for me, you know, I was feeling it big time because the

listeners weren't really getting the show. Yet the people inside the industry hated the show, because you have to remember, if something new comes in and it works, everyone who's still doing the old starts to go, oh no, does that mean what I'm doing is not working? And that's really not what it meant. But it did mean that there was something new that wanted to be heard, and that was our listeners, and that was our type of listeners, someone who loves country music but also loves other things.

And it was absolutely acceptable to say that you liked other kinds of music too. So we came into the show. We had this whole message of we're normal humans, we're

not really one genre only. And I really wasn't resonating at first, and our shows never a show that you hear the first time ago I love it, but we're a show this kind of the slow burn and then you're with us, And so the slow burn was happening, but really nobody was with us, and we were just getting crushed and in the press, ratings weren't that good, and most places ratings weren't that good. We were still

a new show. So what I decided to do was to come up with they scheme to get people talking about us, to get people feeling sorry for the show instead of hating it, to get people acknowledging that we were even here, that we were So I thought about it for a long time and I finally came to where I was gonna do like a reverse pr like uh pseudo publicity stunt where I wanted to do negative publicity about the show. And I didn't know what I was gonna do it. First about a by doing a

fake Facebook page. I thought about doing a fake blog and somehow highlighting that. And I was watching a thirty for thirty on Brian Bosworth and they were talking about Brian Bosworth, who played linebacker in Oklahoma. He also played for the Seattle Seahawks and a crazy haircut. He was really good in college, wasn't really great as a pro. But what he would do because he was so hated, is that he would go and he would make clothing like a merchandise and he would sell you know, Brian

Bosworth sucks T shirts out on the street. Now he wouldn't, but you'd have people do it, and so they were. He played for the Seattle Seahawks, so they would go to play the raiders, right. They go to Los Angeles the time, and there'd be people on the side of the road selling Brian Bosworth sucks t shirts. Literally they know Brian Bosworth was the one selling the shirts. I thought, Wow, what an interesting idea that you can actually use people's

hatred or distaste for you to your advantage. You know. That's where the blog I came in. That's where the fake Facebook page came in. And I had all these ideas of how to manipulated, and I thought, why not just go for it, and I'll just buy some billboards. And at the time, I didn't know I was gonna write on them. I don't if I was gonna put a picture in my face with a circle through it. I didn't know how obvious this should be too. Actually, you know, put something up there that maybe had a

logo on it. There was self deprecating, but you knew it was me putting it up. Like I had all these thoughts, I didn't quite know what I wanted to do, and so when I decided to put up the generic message white back with black letters, they just said go away, Bobby Bones. I didn't think it was too distasteful. I thought it would leave room for people to go I wonder if that is Bobby. I thought people would go, Bobby Bones, who's that? Or Bobby owns? Go away? Upon

was I agree with that or I don't agree with that? Like, I just felt like it was going to give people all these different feelings. And so Imember the morning they went up, and I told no one, And so the billboards go up and people start calling about them. People start calling when they're putting them up. You know, he see the little guy up on the bill we're rolling the letters. People start calling, going, hey, they're putting there's

the billboard going up. I was like what, And so these billboards go up in lunchboxes out reporting about him. He didn't know, at least not not at first. I started to get a little foggy about when people knew, because I had on such lockdown that my company didn't know at first, and they started investigating, trying to figure out who it was. The local news was doing stories, my company was trying to figure out who would put

them up, and I was completely on lockdown. What I had done is I created a company that paid another company that I created that paid the billboard company. So there was no way to actually track it back to me through companies. Read a book, learn how to do that, and so the next thing you know, all the billboards are up. I think they're up for three four weeks, right in the middle of Nashville, big old billboards too,

and people couldn't figure out. And the only time they ever got revealed it was in my book two years later. So luckily nobody found out. Nobody had a big mouth. That's why I wonder who on the show even new because I think I might have had to clue them in at some point, but nobody ever said anything. I'm Amy from the Bobby Bones Show, and what I remember about the billboards is being really disappointed in someone that

put him up. Like I remember thinking, who would be so rude to put up a billboard like that and spend their money just to say, um that Bobby Bones needed to go away? And I mean we were new to town, like it was nerve racking coming to a new city, a new format and like starting over, and I was like, hey, well that's one way to send

a message. And I just remember driving past the billboards end of being awkward, because there's one I would pass like a lot, and I was like, huh, And it really didn't bother Bobby that much, so I was like, okay, well, I'm not gonna let it bother me. And then I didn't find out that it was actually Bobby until he put out his book, which I wasn't totally annoyed by that because he's really good at keeping things like that to himself. Um, and you know, it was genius marketing

move on his end. Quite the investment though, and so I mean, I understand him keeping it on the lowdown, but sometimes he will tell me things, so part of me was kind of like, oh, well, thanks, you didn't tell me about that one. But I found out when when the book came out. I was I was like, okay,

totally makes sense. I felt kind of dumb for falling for it because I thought someone else had done it, and when people would even say to me that what if Bobby's behind it, I was like, no, don't be ridiculous. I sort of like stood up for him, and then it really was him. So I mean, I mean, I don't think I ever would have put it past him by any means, because I do know him. But at the same time, I was kind of. I guess, just a little bummed. I didn't have a heads up like

I found out with everybody else. Although yeah, no the full book. I think there was parts of his book I got to read early and then um, and then I read the whole thing when it came out. February four, lunch Box reporting live from the side of the highway. We're on Highway Highways twenty four out here in Nashville. We are going westbound. This Smith Way is westbound, and if you look, we had reports of a billboard going up saying Bobby Bones go away. Well, if you look

over my right shoulder, you are loaded. Here is a billboard and says go away Bobby Bob So funny hats Bobby bonds it up. He spend their hard oard more to put up this billboard. Yea, we have confirmed reports that there is a billboard, and we have seen it with our whole eyes. We have bus So if you are taking the trip and you're trying to or remember put this up. That's very rude. But it says go away, Bobby Bones. And if you're going eastbound, it is also

on the other side. That is right, Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news. It is a double sided billboard and says, go away, Bobby Bone. We brabed the elements we came out here. We didn't want to think it was true. We didn't want to think someone say miss Loan. But guess what someone did. They are rude, they are me

and they want Bobby Bones to go away. I remember that we got a call from a listener saying, hey, I was driving on I don't know the names of the highways twenty four or forty, and they said there's a billboard that says go away, Bobby Bones. And I was like, who in the world would spend their money on billboards? Because they hated Bobby so much. So I

went out there to investigate. I had no idea. I was like, this is crazy, and I thought it had to be another radio station that was a little nervous about the show coming to town and they hated Bobby so they put him up. But then another color calls. The next thing goes there's one on this other highway, so they were on two different highways. I was like, this is crazy. That's all I had was radio station because I didn't think anybody hated Bobby enough for him

to go away. The only person I thought that would hate him is another radio station because he's coming in to steal their listeners. That's it. I didn't think it was like another human, because one other human hates another human. To put up a billboard, it has to be a company paying for it. And when did you find out? I found out whenever Bobby wrote his book. I mean he said I revealed something about something in the book, and then the book it says I paid for the billboards.

And I was like, I hate you because you didn't tell me, Like, why not tell me? Why not tell me? Bobby's a pretty smart dude, so he knows what he's doing. I guess it. Uh what do you call it? Draws up interest? Or people are like, who's that Bobby bones guy? Uh? Smart move, Bobby, Like, props to you. You tricked everybody for years, for years, no one had any idea. And if anybody knew, they didn't tell me. If you told Amy before me, not cool. If you told any before me,

not cool. I don't know who all knew, but I didn't have any idea. Oh. I tried to ask everybody. I was like, all right, tell me, really, who did the billboards? So I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. So bill Boards that was a good one. I remember Bones came up to me and said like, oh man, but about to do something crazy, like something really crazy. It's gonna be big. I think it's gonna

be really big. And then he didn't tell me what he was doing, though I found out later what he was doing when they actually came up, and I started thinking, like, dude, this guy one. I thought, we're people gonna believe it, like where people are really gonna think that somebody's gonna pay this much money to like trash talk, some new radio DJ that came into town. I knew as soon as it came up. Somebody had tweeted it, I think, and we saw a picture. Somebody had a listener tweeted

like wow, look what I saw on the road. And I say, as I saw the picture him like Okay, this is what he was talking about, Like this is the big thing Bone said he was gonna do. Honestly, I didn't I didn't know if he was ever going to reveal it, Like, I didn't know if he was ever going to talk about it or if this is just gonna be a thing that he knew that he had to do to get people's attention about the show

and all that. But I didn't know that he was going to come out later and talk all about it, which is refreshing because when he did, I was like, oh yeah, yah, yeah, yeah, the billboards. Yeah, we all knew about it. So any would get brought up in conversations like people ask you, what would you say? It was the worst, man, it was the worst. I had to look at them and be like, it's crazy, right, Like I don't know, Like I mean, who would hate

us that much? Like I would start talking about that and then just let them kind of go because I didn't want to give too much information. I would just be like, I know, right, and then they would go off. Anyone I would talk to on the streets or whatever or play events or whatever, they would be like, dude, this is like who would do something like that? Do you guys, do you have any idea? Do you think

it's an artist? Do you think it'd be? Like? Oh't know? Okay, So this has been first episode in the series we call the Trouble Tapes. Yeah, so I got lucky on that one. Probably could have been fired or it could have worked out terribly, but in this instance it didn't. By the way, I would like to say that I do not think Eddie knew, because Eddie never said anything to me, and I know Eddie said there, oh, I said something big was gonna happen. I say that all

the time. I don't think any new. He would never once said anything to me, and I would think that would at least be a side conversation over the years and years. Honestly, after hearing Amy, I didn't know that she didn't know. So man, I'm able to lock up a secret pretty good. And that's the Bobby Cast, Episode one the Trouble Tapes. There are more of these to come, because well I've been in trouble a whole lot of my career. Thank you very much, and we will see

you on the next episode of the Bobby Cast. Goodbye, everyone,