Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Bob Goen graduated with a degree in telecommunications and film at San Diego State University in 1976. The following year, he later used his college radio experience to land a part-time job at KFOX radio in Long Beach, which led to his first full-time job as a disc jockey/producer for KPRO in Riverside, where he was promoted to become a program director. In the early 1980s, he segued to television, becoming a sports anchor at KESQ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Palm Springs.

Around that time, Bob also served as ESPN's desert-area correspondent. After four-and-a-half years in that role, he came to Hollywood, where he hosted game shows such as Perfect Match (1986) and Home Shopping Game (1987), both for syndication, in addition to hosting "Blackout" (1988)_ on the CBS Television Network. He also hosted the daytime version of Wheel of Fortune (1975) from 1989 to 1991, along with CBS's primetime, _"Hollywood Game, The" (1992)_ and Lifetime's, "Born Lucky" (1992). From 1993 to 1996, he served as emcee for the worldwide telecasts of "Miss Universe", "Miss USA" and "Miss Teen USA" Pageants, all for CBS.

Just before he became the permanent host of Entertainment Tonight (1981) in May 1996, he was a substitute anchor for the series. He came to ET on April 11, 1993, as a correspondent and a weekend anchor. When he enjoyed his first day on ET, his news savvy and expertise had given him the privilege to interview mostly of popular actors/actresses and musicians, including Nicole Kidman and Sir Elton John. During his sixth season with ET, he made memorable visits to the sets of 2 different movies.

In his spare time, he does charity work for his annual golfing tournament which is called the "Bob Goen's Lexus Invitational", which benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation.