Rick and Bubba
Encyclopedia
Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey (born March 27, 1964 in Jacksonville, Alabama
) are cohosts of The Rick & Bubba Show—a syndicated comedic
radio
program based in Birmingham, Alabama
. and author
s of several books.
. As of March 2009 The Rick and Bubba Show can be heard on XM Radio channel 158. The show can also be heard during afternoon drive in various radio markets around the United States, including WZZK's sister station WZNN 97-3 the Zone. The show also airs on weekends on select Stations.
Rick and Bubba call themselves "The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive." Their jokes about their weight problems were also evidenced in their annual "Big Fat Lotto" cash giveaway contests sponsored by WYSF. They often refer to their Christian
faith and beliefs on air and have been regarded as a family-safe
alternative to "shock jock
s" often associated with morning radio.
On Monday February 11, 2008, the broadcast location of the show moved to the Rick and Bubba Broadcast Plaza and Teleport in Vestavia Hills
, which houses the studio as well as management offices for the show. The new location allows fans to witness the show from the sidewalk inside Vestavia Hills City Center, as well as the Golden Ticket Seats inside The Red Velvet Lounge.
and TV 47 WOIL
.
This program also airs Saturday afternoons at 12:00 on CBS 42
.
It also airs weeknights at 7:00 on CBS 42.2.
It premiered on April 6, 2010.
Both Rick and Bubba grew up in Alabama and were active in athletics at their respective high school
s. It was at high school sporting events that they knew of each other. At Jacksonville State University
, they became friends by working together at WLJS-FM
, the college's radio station.
After college, Bill got a job as engineer
for WQEN
, a radio station in Gadsden, Alabama
, and recommended Rick for the station's morning show personality. In the late 1980s, Bill was a co-owner of an AM radio station in Jacksonville, Alabama. Rick had been working at WHMA-AM radio in Anniston as a DJ. In 1989, Rick was also the host of a Friday night program called "Pigskin Roundup" that recapped high school football games and took live calls from listeners. In 1991 Rick started doing mornings at
97.9FM WVOK Oxford, Alabama. This was the first time for Rick doing mornings...It was called "The Morning Extra-
vaganza" (Monday-Friday from 5A-9A). This is where Rick
started doing many of the things now done on the Rick and Bubba Show. In 1993 Rick moved "The Morning Extrava-
ganza" to Q104 WQEN Gadsden, Alabama.
Once Rick and Bubba formed a partnership at WQEN, they hosted their own version of this show on Friday nights during football season. The two began to work together to come up with ideas for the show. One of the ideas was to have Bill read Shakespeare
in his deep Southern accent. Rick proclaimed that Bill sounded like his Uncle Bubba.
The characterization became the basis for one of their first contests called "Good Old Boy Theatre". Other contests currently featured on the show include "Drive Through Password", "Know the Good Book" (Bible trivia), "The Giant Game of Knowledge", and "It's a Country Song, or it Ain't". The "Bubba" nickname stuck for Bill. Bubba worked more and more with Rick and eventually became a regular part of Rick's show.
In 1998, the show was renamed "The Rick & Bubba Show," and moved to Birmingham when WQEN began targeting the Birmingham market to attract a wider audience.
The show moved to WYSF in early 1999. Two hours of their four-hour program were televised live on the Turner South
network until April 28, 2006, which ended when Turner South was sold to Fox Sports
in February 2006.
WYSF
in Birmingham served as their flagship station until December 2006.
On January 3, 2007, they became the morning hosts on crosstown station WZZK.
Rick's son, Blake Burgess, is a scholarship athlete that plays for the Auburn University
football program.
and Books-A-Million
as well as making the New York Times best seller list at the number 7 spot in the Miscellaneous category.
television commercials for Jack's
, a Birmingham-area fast food
chain. In the ads, they were tormented by "Jumping Jack Chicken", a Mick Jagger
-styled rooster
.
In the 1999 film Southern Heart, they were heard (but not seen) portraying radio personalities.
Their screen debut was in the 2001 film Rustin where they played bartenders Red #1 and Red #2.
The duo provided play-by-play commentary for the radio network of the Birmingham Thunderbolts
of the XFL
in 2001,
They owned a short-lived (8 months) fast food
restaurant in Pelham, Alabama
in 2002.
In 2005, they were cast in a Max Lucado
kids' DVD, "A Fruitcake Christmas" (part of the Hermie and Friends
series) as the voices and images of two food-hoarding cockroaches, Iggy and Ziggy, where they starred along with Tim Conway
and Don Knotts
(Hermie and Wormie respectively). Rick and Bubba repeated the roles of Iggy and Ziggy in the 2006 DVD "To Share or Nut to Share" and the 2008 DVD "Hermie and the High Seas" (In these DVDs Rick is Ziggy and Bubba is Iggy).
In 2007, Rick and Bubba were cast in an episode of the Christian video series Bibleman: PowerSource called "Crushing the Conspiracy of the Cheater." They played the roles of the evil Whiner Brothers.
In 2011, Rick and Bubba launched a line of beef jerky.
Jacksonville, Alabama
Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. which is a 49% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area...
) are cohosts of The Rick & Bubba Show—a syndicated comedic
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program based in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
s of several books.
The Rick & Bubba radio show
The Rick and Bubba Show is heard each weekday morning on their flagship station WZZK and on over 50 radio stations in 15 states - mostly in the Southern United StatesSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. As of March 2009 The Rick and Bubba Show can be heard on XM Radio channel 158. The show can also be heard during afternoon drive in various radio markets around the United States, including WZZK's sister station WZNN 97-3 the Zone. The show also airs on weekends on select Stations.
Rick and Bubba call themselves "The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive." Their jokes about their weight problems were also evidenced in their annual "Big Fat Lotto" cash giveaway contests sponsored by WYSF. They often refer to their Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
faith and beliefs on air and have been regarded as a family-safe
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
alternative to "shock jock
Shock jock
Shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of any radio broadcaster who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms,...
s" often associated with morning radio.
On Monday February 11, 2008, the broadcast location of the show moved to the Rick and Bubba Broadcast Plaza and Teleport in Vestavia Hills
Vestavia Hills, Alabama
Vestavia Hills is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a suburb of the city of Birmingham.-History:Vestavia Hills is named for the estate of former Birmingham mayor George B. Ward. It was situated on the crest of Shades Mountain in what is now the northern...
, which houses the studio as well as management offices for the show. The new location allows fans to witness the show from the sidewalk inside Vestavia Hills City Center, as well as the Golden Ticket Seats inside The Red Velvet Lounge.
The Rick & Bubba TV show
The best of the Rick and Bubba show from the day's morning radio show airs every weeknight from 10:00 to 11:00 on TV 24 WJXSWJXS-CA
WJXS-CA TV 24 is a Class-A low-power television station in the Birmingham TV market with a tower location in Oxford, Alabama, with station facilities in Jacksonville, Alabama, broadcasting local and FamilyNet programming on channel 24....
and TV 47 WOIL
.
This program also airs Saturday afternoons at 12:00 on CBS 42
WIAT
WIAT, virtual channel 42, is the CBS-affiliated television station in the Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Anniston/Gadsden, Alabama television market. Licensed to Birmingham, it broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 30, although through the use of PSIP, the station's virtual channel number is...
.
It also airs weeknights at 7:00 on CBS 42.2.
It premiered on April 6, 2010.
History of Rick and Bubba
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s. It was at high school sporting events that they knew of each other. At Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University is a regional public coeducational university located in Jacksonville, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in four academic units leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist degrees, in addition to continuing and...
, they became friends by working together at WLJS-FM
WLJS-FM
WLJS-FM is the student-run non-commercial educational college radio station of Jacksonville State University. The station was established for the purpose of giving students an environment in which they could learn to be radio broadcasters...
, the college's radio station.
After college, Bill got a job as engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
for WQEN
WQEN
WQEN is a radio station licensed to serve Trussville, Alabama, USA. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications...
, a radio station in Gadsden, Alabama
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
, and recommended Rick for the station's morning show personality. In the late 1980s, Bill was a co-owner of an AM radio station in Jacksonville, Alabama. Rick had been working at WHMA-AM radio in Anniston as a DJ. In 1989, Rick was also the host of a Friday night program called "Pigskin Roundup" that recapped high school football games and took live calls from listeners. In 1991 Rick started doing mornings at
97.9FM WVOK Oxford, Alabama. This was the first time for Rick doing mornings...It was called "The Morning Extra-
vaganza" (Monday-Friday from 5A-9A). This is where Rick
started doing many of the things now done on the Rick and Bubba Show. In 1993 Rick moved "The Morning Extrava-
ganza" to Q104 WQEN Gadsden, Alabama.
Once Rick and Bubba formed a partnership at WQEN, they hosted their own version of this show on Friday nights during football season. The two began to work together to come up with ideas for the show. One of the ideas was to have Bill read Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
in his deep Southern accent. Rick proclaimed that Bill sounded like his Uncle Bubba.
The characterization became the basis for one of their first contests called "Good Old Boy Theatre". Other contests currently featured on the show include "Drive Through Password", "Know the Good Book" (Bible trivia), "The Giant Game of Knowledge", and "It's a Country Song, or it Ain't". The "Bubba" nickname stuck for Bill. Bubba worked more and more with Rick and eventually became a regular part of Rick's show.
In 1998, the show was renamed "The Rick & Bubba Show," and moved to Birmingham when WQEN began targeting the Birmingham market to attract a wider audience.
The show moved to WYSF in early 1999. Two hours of their four-hour program were televised live on the Turner South
Turner South
Turner South was an American cable television network launched on October 1, 1999 by Turner Broadcasting System as the first regional entertainment network developed especially for viewers in the southern United States...
network until April 28, 2006, which ended when Turner South was sold to Fox Sports
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
in February 2006.
WYSF
WJOX
WJOX WJOX WJOX (690 AM, "Jox 94.5" (simulcasting WJOX-FM) is an all-sports radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, with daytime licensed power of 50,000 Watts and 500 Watts at night. WJOX is the Birmingham affiliate of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide Sports Network (football only),...
in Birmingham served as their flagship station until December 2006.
On January 3, 2007, they became the morning hosts on crosstown station WZZK.
Rick's son, Blake Burgess, is a scholarship athlete that plays for the Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
football program.
Books
Their first book, Rick & Bubba's Expert Guide to God, Country, Family & Anything Else We Can Think Of, (ISBN 0-8499-0992-9), was published in March 2006, and quickly became a best-seller at Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
and Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a company that owns the second largest U.S. bookstore chain and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company operates over 200 stores in the South, Midwest, Northeast...
as well as making the New York Times best seller list at the number 7 spot in the Miscellaneous category.
- Rick & Bubba's Expert Guide to God, Country, Family & Anything Else We Can Think Of, (ISBN 0-8499-0992-9), March 2006
- The Rick and Bubba Code: The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive Unlock the Mysteries of the Universe, (ISBN 0-8499-1877-4, June 2007
- Rick and Bubba for President: The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive Take on Washington (ISBN 0-8499-1878-2, June 2008.
- Rick and Bubba's Big Honkin' Book of Huntin,(ISBN 1-4016-0401-3), September 2008
- Rick and Bubba's Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage, (ISBN 1-4016-0399-8), June 2009.
- Rick and Bubba's Big Honkin' Book of Grub,(ISBN 1-4016-0402-1), March 2010
- We Be Big: The Mostly True Story of How We Became Rick and Bubba, (ISBN 1-4016-0400-5) March 2011
Audio Recordings
Rick and Bubba have released "best of" CDs every year since 1998. The 2006 release Radio Gold, Volume 1, reached the number 9 spot on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart.- The Smell Of Success (1998)
- Stay In It! Volume 1 (1999)
- Stay In It! Volume 2 (1999)
- Hey Buddy... Ya Broadcasting (2000)
- A Radio Oddity (2001)
- She Commenced To Shaving (2002)
- Got It Like We Like It! (2003)
- How 'bout That! (2004)
- Pull Our Finger! (2005)
- Radio Gold (2006)
- ... and Cake (2007)
- 14 Years and Still No Awards (2008)
- Radio Revolution (2009)
- I Don't Think We Got the Tools to Pull This Off (2010)
- Good Night Look at That! (2011)
Other ventures
They lent their likenesses and voices to a 1990s series of animatedAnimation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
television commercials for Jack's
Jack's
Jack's , originally known as Jack's Hamburgers, also known as Jack's Family Restaurants, is a fast food restaurant chain with locations in several southeastern states...
, a Birmingham-area fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
chain. In the ads, they were tormented by "Jumping Jack Chicken", a Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
-styled rooster
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
.
In the 1999 film Southern Heart, they were heard (but not seen) portraying radio personalities.
Their screen debut was in the 2001 film Rustin where they played bartenders Red #1 and Red #2.
The duo provided play-by-play commentary for the radio network of the Birmingham Thunderbolts
Birmingham Thunderbolts
The Birmingham Thunderbolts were a short-lived springtime American football team based in Birmingham, Alabama. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States.-The only season:The Thunderbolts...
of the XFL
XFL
The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE...
in 2001,
They owned a short-lived (8 months) fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurant in Pelham, Alabama
Pelham, Alabama
Pelham is a city and suburb of Birmingham in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,369, but has grown to 21,352 recorded by the 2010 census. It was named for famed Confederate American Civil War officer John Pelham...
in 2002.
In 2005, they were cast in a Max Lucado
Max Lucado
Max Lucado is a best-selling author and writer and preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas...
kids' DVD, "A Fruitcake Christmas" (part of the Hermie and Friends
Hermie and Friends
Hermie and Friends is a Christian video series for children. The show is 3-D animated and stars two caterpillars named Hermie and Wormie.The show started with a 40-minute Max Lucado video special called "Hermie: A Common Caterpillar" based on his book with the same name. The show was turned into a...
series) as the voices and images of two food-hoarding cockroaches, Iggy and Ziggy, where they starred along with Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
and Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
(Hermie and Wormie respectively). Rick and Bubba repeated the roles of Iggy and Ziggy in the 2006 DVD "To Share or Nut to Share" and the 2008 DVD "Hermie and the High Seas" (In these DVDs Rick is Ziggy and Bubba is Iggy).
In 2007, Rick and Bubba were cast in an episode of the Christian video series Bibleman: PowerSource called "Crushing the Conspiracy of the Cheater." They played the roles of the evil Whiner Brothers.
In 2011, Rick and Bubba launched a line of beef jerky.