"Donald Trump Is On Line Two"

Call me crazy, but I say Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey of the syndicated "Rick & Bubba" program just earned a fast-pass into the National Radio Hall Of Fame, Country Radio Hall Of Fame, NAB Broadcasting Hall Of Fame, the Alabama Radio Hall Of Fame, and even the Hall Of Fame Hall Of Fame – if there is such a thing.

Based on what, you ask? Well, in addition to years of success together as a show, Rick & Bubba have managed to score President Donald Trump for his first radio interview as President, correct the Commander in Chief while on the air, AND snag a liner from the leader of the free world. That's what I call a solid resume, an amazing year, fantastic week – or one miraculous show.

But, no. Rick & Bubba checked off all three of those bucket list moments in one, 15-minute segment during their Monday, September 25th broadcast. So, what did YOU accomplish that day? (Cue Jeopardy theme)

Aaaand, We're back!

The very mention of Donald Trump sparks passionate response from all sides of the political spectrum, so I want to emphatically say: this week's 'Ville is not going there, thank you very much. Nope, I listened to this segment strictly from a radio programmer's perspective, curious as to how it happened in the first place, and how the talent planned and executed such an amazing coup. Quick aside on that last point: I don’t know about you, but if I was on the air, and the President of the United States called for a live phoner ("Leader Of The Free World, line two"), things would probably start with me peeing my pants, and descend rapidly downhill from there.

#NoShame

"This all came out of the special election that was going on in Alabama," explained Bubba. Earlier this year, Luther Strange was appointed Junior Senator in Alabama, replacing Jeff Sessions, who had become US Attorney General in the Trump administration. Strange was facing Roy Moore in a special election, which took place last Tuesday (9/26). "Luther Strange is a friend of mine, and I had endorsed him," continued Bubba. "He was holding a rally in Huntsville, AL [last Friday, 9/22] – which is now very much well known – and asked me to emcee that event. In the process, I met the President and got a quick picture with him. After meeting him, [the President] kind of calmed his nerves about us – that we would be friendly to him in an interview, that we were good guys, and like to have fun." Emails started flowing Sunday (9/24) afternoon from Hope Hicks, Interim Dir./Communications for the White House. Rick and Bubba's staff was scattered for the weekend, so Rick jumped in after Hicks asked about specific times for Trump to call. "I told her the times that seemed to indicate the largest audience, and she told us when he’d be calling," recalled Rick. "That’s when it dawned on me, ‘This is really going to happen!’"

I asked the pair to describe how their show works, and whether it usually got political. "We like to joke and say we discuss politics, but we’re not a political show," said Rick. "We discuss sports, but we’re not a sports show; we discuss religious issues, but we’re not what you would call a classical Christian show, per say, even though we’re both Christians. We kind of cover a little bit of everything." Added Bubba, "We say that where 'Seinfeld' was a show about nothing, ours is a show about anything. For the people that actually give it a chance and actually listen, it has great appeal. We literally do the show the way we see the flow going every day."

While Bubba had endorsed Strange during the run-off, both said doing so is very rare for them. "We honestly don’t like being in that situation very often, but if it’s someone that we know, and we think we can vouch for them from a personal standpoint, we’ve done it – maybe three times. But, most of the time, you end up staying out of it … I’ve seen so many people get burned by that. Protecting the integrity [of the show] is much more important than a politician getting elected. And, you found out that people may like the President, they may like the show, but when it came down to the run-off, they voted for who they thought they wanted their Senator to be." Moore went on to defeat Strange in Tuesday's special election.

Although Trump has enjoyed a lot of support from the state of Alabama, every personality outside of talk radio understands it can still be very divisive to have a political figure on the air, so I wondered if the guys got any blow-back on that. "I don’t think Alabamans are mindless robots," replied Bubba. "They’re independent. We had a lot of people who emailed and said, 'Hey I’m a Roy Moore supporter, but I wanted to see the President [at the rally].’ So, I think they separate that pretty well."

Rick expanded on that, saying that while he personally hadn't always agreed with former President Barack Obama, he took a fundamental radio approach to a rare, golden opportunity. "If President Obama wanted to come on the show to interview, then, by golly, he would’ve been on. Any radio show that has the opportunity to interview a sitting President and doesn’t do so, they’re just not thinking."

The Luther Strange/Roy Moore run-off got Rick and Bubba the interview, but, says Rick, "To the audience, it was not the focus of the interview. We did talk about healthcare, tax reform, establishment Republicans. Yes, the run-off got us the interview, so that’s great, but as Bubba pointed out, I think most people in our business should understand that people think for themselves."

Speaking of people thinking for themselves, we know Trump does that all the time, and the actual call to Rick and Bubba was no different. This led to a fun back story. "We had given him the hotline number, and the staff called it," said Bubba. "Then, we had a call on our regular listener line, and the intern who was answering the phone said, 'Donald Trump is on line two.'” Confusion and angst immediately set in, said Rick. "We thought somebody had tried to dupe us with an impression. Our producer, Speedy, said, 'Rick, will you talk to him before we go on the air and see if we agree that this is the President?' That literally happened," said Rick, laughing, and still somewhat incredulous. "After he started talking, I said, 'No, I really think that’s him.' I looked up to see if the area codes matched; he just preferred to call-in straight. We thought that was funny, because you’d expect a handler to call and set it up. But, no, he was just at the Oval Office, at the desk, picked up the phone and dialed 1-866-WE-BE-BIG."

During the chat, The President twice incorrectly identified Moore as "Ray" instead of Roy, creating a potentially awkward moment, which Rick handled with great finesse. "I looked at Bubba, he looked at me, Speedy looked at me," recalled Rick. "We’re all communicating with our eyes, and when he said [the wrong name] a second time, I kind of did my hand in a circle, and they said, 'Rick, you gotta fix that.' Everybody agreed it needed to be done, but they looked to me to do it. So, I said, ‘Okay, looks like I’m going in!’ The President rolled out of it with a little humor, saying, 'Well, there you go.'”

Part of Trump rolling with that moment is his experience in media – he's been on TV for years and guested on various radio shows hundreds of times, so he understands it well. "I think that’s what makes this medium still so intriguing," said Bubba. "Nothing is as personal as radio – it just isn’t. It’s a much more intimate, personal conversation, and I think that’s why you heard him in a much more laid-back situation – so laid back that we didn’t know it was him at first. You have to remind yourself that this is the President, but when you’re speaking to him on your radio show, it brings a calm in the room, because he doesn’t come across as anything besides some guy you’re talking to."

Another thing Trump obviously gets about our medium is the power of celebrity liners for radio shows, and he enthusiastically, capably provided one for Rick & Bubba, doing so in one take. "We got a lot of feedback due to the fact that we asked him for a liner," says Bubba. "Out of respect – and Rick handled it very carefully – he asked if he should request one, and I told him ‘yes.’" Said Rick, "It was one of those moments where I really, honestly thought, 'Would I rather face the wrath of our President, or the wrath of our audience?' I knew the rest of my day would have emails wondering why I didn’t ask for one, so I just went for it. If that doesn’t get us into the Radio Hall Of Fame, then I don’t know what will (laughing)."

So, after having the leader of the free world on their show, how the hell do Rick and Bubba top that? Did they even bother with more guests that day? "We did, actually," said Rick, laughing. "We had a guy who’s going around the world in 80 days, checking different countries, to get a bail-out plan; if America really is still the leader of the world." That happened two segments later, added Bubba. "Larry Taunton is his name. It was really funny, like, 'Hey, follow that, Larry!’ He did a very positive spin on it by saying, 'Can’t ask for a better lead in!' I don’t know what could top [the President]. We did an interview one time with the astronauts on the space station live on NASA-TV. I thought that would be hard to beat, but here you go."