Bobby Jones (born September 18, 1938) is an American Gospel music singer television host, and radio broadcaster from Nashville, Tennessee and the host and executive producer of several cable television gospel music programs including the former Bobby Jones Gospel.
Jones is referred to as the Ed Sullivan of gospel music.[1] He has given numerous gospel stars a platform to showcase their talents and has many trophies racked up at his Nashville home for his contributions to music.[2]Bobby Jones Gospel was canceled and went off the air in 2015.[3]
On radio, he is the host of The Bobby Jones Radio Show, a daily one-hour music program distributed by American Urban Radio Networks.[4] Previously, he hosted the weekly Bobby Jones Gospel Countdown which ran for more than a decade via AURN.
Jones began his television career in 1976, when Nashville station WSM-TV (now WSMV) gave him a slot on the Sunday morning schedule with Nashville Gospel. That show continued for some 25 years, with a number of hosts. Jones launched his variety program, Bobby Jones Gospel, on BET in 1980.[6] His shows figure prominently in the channel's Sunday lineup, consistently ranking in the Top 5 of overall BET weekly programming. In addition to his work for BET, Jones produced and hosted a similar half-hour program for WDCN-TV (now WNPT), Nashville's public television outlet, during the early 1980s. The show was seen early Saturday evenings.[7]
Jones also hosts shows for other television networks including Bobby Jones' Next Generation on the Gospel Music Channel and Bobby Jones Presents for The Word Network. On radio, he hosts The Bobby Jones Radio Show, a daily one-hour music program distributed by American Urban Radio Networks. Jones previously hosted the weekly The Bobby Jones Gospel Countdown which ran for more than a decade on AURN. Jones also oversees the Nashville Super Choir.[5]
Books
Jones has authored two books. In 2000, his memoir, Make A Joyful Noise (St. Martins Press) included chapters about his tiff with the Winans family and his personal conversations with the Rev. James Cleveland. Both topics were controversial and caused some friction with Gospel's first family and Cleveland's music organization, the Gospel Music Workshop of America. In 1999, Jones released Touched By God (Simon & Schuster), a collection of stories by Gospel artists about how God has changed their lives.[8]