Rick and Bubba

Infobox Radio Show
show_name=The Rick & Bubba Show


imagesize=
caption=
format = Talk radio
runtime = 4 hours
starring = Rick Burgess
Bill "Bubba" Bussey
country = flagicon|United States USA
home_station = WZZK
first_aired =
last_aired = Present
website = http://www.rickandbubba.cominfobox television
show_name = The Rick & Bubba Show


caption =
format = Video simulcast of live radio show
runtime = 2 hours
creator =
starring = Rick Burgess
Bill 'Bubba' Bussey
Calvin 'Speedy' Wilburn
Greg Burgess
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = USA
network = Turner South
first_aired = September 27, 2002
last_aired = April 28, 2006
num_episodes =
imdb_id = 0361232
tv_com_id =

Rick Burgess (born October 3, 1964 in Oxford, Alabama) and Bill "Bubba" Bussey (born March 27, 1964 in Jacksonville, Alabama) are cohosts of "The Rick and Bubba Show" - a syndicated comedic radio program based in Birmingham, Alabama. and authors of several books.

The Rick and Bubba Radio Show

The Rick and Bubba Show is heard each weekday morning on their flagship station WZZK and on over 60 radio stations - mostly in the Southern United States. [cite web |title=The Award Winning Rick & Bubba® Web Site |url=http://www.rickandbubba.com/index.asp?pg=listen.asp] A repeat of the morning show can be heard during the afternoon drive in Birmingham on WZZK's sister station WNCB New Country 97.3.

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 jocks" 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. [cite news |work=Birmingham News |title=Construction under way on 'Rick and Bubba' show studio |url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/08/construction_under_way_on_rick.html |date=2007-08-24]

History of Rick and Bubba

Both Rick and Bubba grew up in Alabama and were active in athletics at their respective high schools. It was at high school sporting events that they knew of each other. At Jacksonville State University, they became friends by working together at 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. 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.

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), and "The Giant Game of Knowledge". 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.

On January 19, 2008 Rick and his wife Sherry lost their youngest son Bronner (age 2½) in an accident in the family swimming pool. The couple has used this event for Christian evangelism. Rick delivered the eulogy at Bronner's funeral, challenging Christians to spread the Gospel; the eulogy has become a popular YouTube video.

On August 15, 2008 Don Juan DeMarco Williams left the show and was replaced by Rick's brother, Greg Burgess.

Books and Audio Recordings

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.com and Books-A-Million as well as making the New York Times best seller list at the number 7 spot in the Miscellaneous category. A second book, "The Rick and Bubba Code: The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive Unlock the Mysteries of the Universe", (ISBN 0-8499-1877-4) was released in June 2007. It also quickly reached the New York Times best seller list. A third book, "Rick and Bubba for President: The Two Sexiest Men Alive Take on Washington" (ISBN 0-8499-1878-2) was published in June 2008 by Thomas Nelson Publishers [cite web |work=BAMM |date=2008-05-29 |url=http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=4067588876154&pid=0849918782 |title=Rick and Bubba for President] .

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.

Their screen debut was in the 2001 film "Rustin" where they played bartenders Red #1 and Red #2. In the 1999 film "Southern Heart" they were heard (but not seen) portraying radio personalities.Fact|date=June 2008

Other ventures

The duo provided play-by-play commentary for the radio network of the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL in 2001, and owned a short-lived fast food restaurant in Bussey's hometown of Pelham, Alabama in 2002.

They also lent their likenesses and voices to a 1990s series of animated 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 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's "To Share or Nut to Share". (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 called "Crushing the Conspiracy of the Cheater." They played the roles of the evil Whiner Brothers.

External links

* [http://www.rickandbubba.com Official Site]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361232 IMDb Entry]

References