Many sports radio shows are centered around a radio host and a former athlete. On 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge, however, Off The Bench features a pair of former LSU Tigers in the morning, with former offensive lineman T-Bob Hebert joining former running back Jacob Hester. And while Hebert was adamant he now loves his job, the medium wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to do after his playing career.
After being cut by the Rams on the final day of training camp in 2012, Hebert needed to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“All of the sudden I’m like ‘Oh my god, dude. I’m engaged. I have a life to live and I gotta figure out what I wanna do’,” Hebert said. “I kind of looked up and was like ‘I don’t know anything but football’. Which is kinda comes with the territory with the demands that are places on modern major power five athletes. Not for everybody, but for me, I committed to football. I got a general studies degree from LSU. I did not take advantage of the academic opportunity. So I’m just sitting there thinking ‘this is all I know. I’ve been pretty good at doing interviews and they send me to SEC Media Days. Maybe I should do that’.
“I didn’t think I wanted to. My dad did radio, and when I was on the playing side of it I’d get annoyed by the media. So I never wanted to do it. And like so many other athletes, I came to that point where that single activity you’ve engaged in your entire life is gone and you have to find a different way to engage with it.”
Hebert’s father, Bobby, was a Pro Bowl quarterback before eventually embarking on a media career of his own. And now the younger Hebert realizes that his father working in the medium played a role in his own radio career.
“It was integral to me getting into radio. Because I remember going with him — and nobody knows this — but before he was doing Saints radio for 870 (WWL-AM) in New Orleans, he was doing radio for the Falcons pregame and postgames in Atlanta when he got done playing there. I remember going to the shows or going into the studio and thinking they were fun. Then he goes to the Saints and I remember going up in the WWL studios. It was a lot of that.”
Bobby Hebert being a media member wasn’t the only reason T-Bob was drawn to radio. He pointed out Atlanta radio hosts like Steve McCoy, Fred Toucher, Jimmy Baron, Leslie Fram, and Doug and Ryan Stewart as influences on why he wanted to embark on a radio career. But being able to still work his creative muscles while also talking about sports is one of the biggest draws for Hebert.
“I love it. I love the creativity of reading and writing and basically offering commentary on things and just a kind of town crier aspect of it. Talking to people every morning through the radio or on YouTube or whatever. I really like it.”
His father currently hosts the afternoon show on WWL, and that influence led to T-Bob getting his first break in the industry.
“I’m a big beneficiary of nepotism,” Hebert admitted. “The first real job that I ever got in radio was hosting a show that I really didn’t deserve at all in New Orleans. And really the only reason I got the opportunity was because my dad had been on the radio at WWL forever and it was like one of their sister stations that was trying something new. So I tried to make the most of that opportunity, and I got a chance that I did not deserve that many people don’t get.”
If you’ve ever listened to Off The Bench — or watched on the station’s YouTube stream — you’ll immediately see Hebert is comfortable with who he is. He pointed to his football playing career as one of the biggest reasons for his comfort.
“This is gonna sound really dumb – I’ve always had very nerdy interests. Things that I’m just naturally attracted to and enjoy very much fall into the silo of nerdy. Lord of the Rings, anything fantasy/sci-fi, I love it. Oddly enough, the simple fact that I was just bigger than a lot of people, I never got picked on growing up about any of this stuff. I never got picked on in general, so I think it just kind of allowed me in a lot of ways to be myself and not have to worry about any of the repercussions of having to be myself.”
While admitting that he still sometimes deals with “Imposter Syndrome” and self-doubt, Hebert knows he’s working on mastering the craft.
“I think the reason why most the time I do feel confident and I do feel good is I’ve kinda been doing this for a long time. I’ve hosted a daily, three-hour radio show for just about 10 years now. Again, a lot of that is a direct result of me getting a job at an early age that I did not deserve. But it comes into the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours, right? You do something for 10,000 hours and you’re gonna get really good at it. I’ve done nothing more in my adult life than take information, filter it through my brain, and try to spew it back out in an entertaining way.”
In addition to his role at 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge, Hebert launched SNAPS, a college football podcast for The Volume, co-hosting alongside former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, which he says the only difference between his radio show and podcast is the amount of commercials.
“It’s got more of a relaxed vibe. I actually enjoy not having to go to commercials,” Hebert said with a chuckle. “That is something I always feel for my radio listeners. Our station is good with it. I’ve been at stations in the past where it’s like 28 minutes of content and 32 minutes of commercials and stuff per hour. It can be brutal as a listener and I feel for them, but that’s how the content gets out there for free. Then you go to a podcast and it’s just an hour straight and that’s a nice difference. It’s all just taking and talking, though. It’s all the same, really.”
Earlier this fall, SNAPS recorded a live episode at the popular Walk-Ons restaurant and bar in Baton Rouge. While noting the SEC Championship Game — which featured Murray and Hebert’s alma mater’s pitted against one another — would have been a great opportunity to do another live event, there was a good reason it didn’t come together. Bobby Joseph Hebert IV was born Friday, December 2nd.
“When this football season started, my wife was like ‘This baby is due the day before the SEC Championship Game’, and I was like ‘Babe, do not worry. If there is ever a year not to worry. There is no freaking way LSU is making the SEC Championship. We’re completely fine.’ And now, me and Aaron, both of our teams facing off. Year one of SNAPS. A little bit of irony there.”
As a 33-year-old, Hebert could be viewed as still a “young broadcaster” with aspirations for making it to “the big time”. However, he dismissed any notion that he’s driven by being anything other than a good dad.
“I don’t know that I have an ultimate goal beyond like – I enjoy this job. I have had one day in my professional career where I truly did not want to be there. One day where I just hated everything. Not that I don’t have bad days or things I don’t enjoy, but just one day where you’re looking at yourself and you’re like ‘What am I doing?’
“So if I’ve only had one of those days, then I really love my job. My ultimate goal is to be able to do a job that I can enjoy with enough return that I can provide for my kids and retire. That sounds crazy but that’s it. Whatever avenue that takes, national shows, local shows, podcasts, it doesn’t matter. I would do any of it if I could just hit those very basic goals.”
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
