His dominance in the Country format began in 1978 when he took over as host of American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley after four years as the show’s producer for radio’s original syndication companies, Watermark, founded by Tom Rounds. In 2006, he and his wife and business partner Nan Kingsley established Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40, produced by their own KCCS Productions. Kingsley received many of broadcasting’s top honors and was named to the Country Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2016. He is the namesake and was the first recipient of the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award, presented each year since 2014 at the Grand Ole Opry House and benefiting the Opry Trust Fund. With Kingsley at the helm, American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley was named Billboard Magazine’s “Network/Syndicated Country Program of the Year” for 16 years in a row.

They were among the many fruits of a career built on a simple premise. “I love the music and the people who make it,” he once said, “and I want our listeners to have as much insight into both as I can give them, and to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.” Bob’s love for radio and music dated to his childhood, when polio kept him in bed and in near isolation for a year. “I would listen to the radio,” he said, “and certain shows became really important to me. It was complete escapism and entertainment. I didn’t realize the imprint it was making, but it obviously stayed with me.”

At 18, Kingsley joined the Air Force and served in Keflavik, Iceland, where he jumped at a chance to become an announcer on Armed Forces Radio. That experience and his love of Country music would carry him to legendary stations like KFOX, KGBS, KFI, and KLAC in Los Angeles. As the voice of Drake-Chenault’s Great American Country format, used by hundreds of Country radio stations, that platform would give him his first national presence. His role as host of American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley made him a household name. He supplemented the weekly countdown with Christmas specials and album release specials for artists including Alabama, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and the landmark Trio project with Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris. For many years an artist spotlight called America’s Music Makers gave Kingsley a daily presence on Country stations coast-to-coast.

Kingsley received the Academy of Country Music’s Major Market On-Air Personality of the Year Award in 1966 and 1967. Demonstrating his longevity, in 2007 he was awarded the ACM’s first-ever National Broadcast Personality of the Year Award, 40 years after receiving his first major honor from the ACM. He was named the Country Music Association’s National Broadcast Personality of the Year in 2001 and 2003. He was voted National Air Personality of the Year six times by Country Radio Broadcasters and Country Aircheck. He was chosen as the recipient of the 2012 President’s Award by the CRB. In 2017, Bob received the Mae Boren Axton Service Award in recognition of his dedication and service to the ACM, on whose board he served for five decades.

One of his greatest honors, Kingsley served in 2004 and 2005 as Master of Ceremonies at the National Veterans Day Celebration at Arlington National Cemetery. He helped get information on benefits to countless veterans through vehicles like his Veterans Day 2005 radio special, “Bob Kingsley Salutes America’s Veterans.” He was the recipient of the Wounded Warrior Project’s Tony Snow Award for the significant difference he has made in the lives of injured servicemen and women. His many charitable endeavors included work for Disabled American Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Wounded Warrior Project, the Parker Country Health Foundation and the Palliative Unit of Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, among others.

An avid cutting horse enthusiast, he lived and worked with his wife and business partner of 30 years, Nan, on their Bluestem Ranch in Weatherford, Texas.