The Rick and Bubba Show is an American comedy radio show based in Birmingham, Alabama. Nationally syndicated and produced at WZZK-FM, the show is live every weekday for five hours and is hosted by Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey.
The show will be ending in December 2024.[1]
The radio program began on January 8, 1994.[2] Rick Burgess was hosting the wake-up show on 103.7 WQEN in the Birmingham radio market and asked the station's chief engineer, Bill "Bubba" Bussey, to co-host it with him. The pairing proved successful. It later moved to 94.5 WYSF in Birmingham. And since 2007, it has been the morning show on WZZK-FM, a country music station.
On 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. This location allows fans to see the show from the sidewalk inside Vestavia Hills City Center, as well as from the "Golden Ticket" seats inside the studio.[3]
In March 2009, The Rick and Bubba Show was heard on XM Radio Channel 158, but is no longer available on satellite radio.[4]
A televised version of the show premiered November 1, 2012 on Heartland. It lasted until February 1, 2016. It had also been seen on the Turner South Network.
In January 2022, The Rick and Bubba Show moved to their "No Name Studio" at SummitMedia in Birmingham. SummitMedia owns WZZK-FM and its facilities have studios for several radio stations that broadcast across the area.
On February 1, 2024, after their 7:00 am break, Rick and Bubba announced their co-hosted show would be ending. The pair will continue on the air until their 'Big Year Ender' on December 13, 2024. In January 2025, the program will be rebranded to "The Rick Burgess Show" with the same crew members continuing in their roles.[5] Helmsey will be departing the show at the end of the 2024 as well.
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.
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.
