Burbank was raised at Lighthouse Ranch on Table Bluff in Humboldt County, California, where he spent his private time listening to radio shows.

[2] Burbank spent two months as host of NPR's short-lived morning show The Bryant Park Project, an experiment in alternate programming by the network that aired on 13 public radio stations.

[6][8] Burbank left the show in mid-December 2007 in order to spend more time with his daughter in Seattle.

[9] After leaving NPR, Burbank returned to Seattle to host a local show called Too Beautiful to Live.

On October 26, 2010, after one year off the KIRO airwaves, Burbank joined The Dave Ross Show as co-host.

[12] In September 2013, he starred in a Microsoft online video advertisement with his wife Carey Burbank, which made headlines after it was pulled by the company less than 24 hours later following viewer backlash.