The Josh Innes Show - 97.5 The Fanatic In Philly Has An Opening..Should I Apply?

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Well, 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly has posted a job opening. I asked listeners if I should apply and it's a resounding "yes". I'm going to read you the job posting and ask if you think I'm qualified for this job. I'm not telling you I should get this job. I'm not telling you I want this job. I'm telling you I should be considered for any sports radio gig that's open in Philly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, friends, what's going on? It's Josh. Hello. I've been trying to find ways to create energy for myself. I don't really drink energy drinks or coffee or anything, but I feel like I've been dragging a lot lately. You know what I'm saying? I feel like I just don't have that spunk. A lot of it is because I don't have my damn Manjaro. Now that I can't afford the Manjaro because I don't have a job and I don't have insurance the uh like life was a lot better when i was taking manjaro not just because i was thinner which was nice i just felt like i wanted to do more shit and now all i want to do is sit around and eat and i know that you're probably sitting there saying well josh get off your fat ass and do something look i take my dog for a walk we go 20,000 steps a day baby we're

out three four times a day it's just I can't stop eating I'm like fat bastard I eat because I'm unhappy I'm unhappy because I eat I can't fucking stop so like I'll talk to my buddy some like I was talking to my dad the other day and he takes a manjar right I'm like dad I can't afford the manjaro anymore you know and I just can't stop eating like that's what they say once you stop taking this shit you just get fat in like a day it's like a sherman clump thing it's like you drink a potion and you go from being like buddy love to sherman clump right so I'm like I can't stop eating he goes well maybe you should just stop eating I'm like dad I fucking can't he's over here taking manjaro and shit looking svelte on his little autograph tours and shit that he's doing and I'm over here taking manjaro and shit looking svelte on his little autograph tours

and shit that he's doing and i'm over here just getting fatter by the damn day looking for a damn job trying to find energy so now i'm gonna try this celsius this is not an advertisement by the way it'd be nice if it were if celsius wants to endorse i'll tell you it's the greatest shit ever but or if they want to advertise, I can endorse for them. But I've got Celsius. Like, I hate taking energy drinks. Or I'd say taking, but drinking energy drinks. I hate drinking coffee.

I hate the way this shit makes me feel. But, like, I wonder if this will supply me with some energy. Celsius. Live fit. Zero sugar. Gluten free. It's kosher. So, just so you know. Celsius, live fit, zero sugar, gluten-free. It's kosher, just so you know, and non-GMO. No high fructose corn syrup, no aspartame, and no artificial colors.

It's got seven official vitamins proven in six published university studies. In 2005, vitamin industry entrepreneurs created Celsius. How does Celsius work? Ross, do you need to know how Celsius works? Celsius is proprietary meta plus formula including green tea with EG, CG, ginger and guarana seed turns on thermogenesis, a process that boosts your body's metabolic rate. Okay.

Now, that does have a star next to it. Is that a star? To, like, say, go down and look below where we're actually in the fine print. We tell you we're full of shit. Drinking Celsius prior to fitness activities helps energize, accelerate metabolism, burn body fat and calories. Celsius provides essential energy to live fit. Essential energy accelerates metabolism, burns body fat. Well, all right then.

Now, I'm not doing any sort of physical activity right now. All I'm doing right now is doing the podcast, but I guess it would be helpful if that provided me energy to do this podcast. Would it not? So I guess I'll start drinking Celsius. This is sparkling wild berry Celsius. I mean, it's not bad. It tastes like an energy drink, though. Whether it's naturally flavored or what, it still tastes like an energy drink. You know the taste of an energy drink. You can tell when you're drinking.

It tastes like a giant five-hour energy. But anyway, maybe I'll try five-hour energy next. I don't know. All right, let me play a couple commercials. We'll get into some stuff. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you've got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks.

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restrictions vary by jurisdiction pick six not available everywhere including new york and ontario void where prohibited one per new customer award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. All right. So I posted on Twitter yesterday that 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia has a job opening. As you know, they just whacked the kid Tyrone that was doing afternoons there because 97.5 whacks everybody, and he is out of a gig. So I screenshotted that, and I posted it on Twitter, and I said, hey, should I apply?

And I got like 200 replies, and it had like 600 likes. Not that any of that is a true barometer of what people want or what would be successful. That's a very small amount of people. But 600 people, most of whom were Philadelphia people. The majority of the people commenting were Philadelphia people. And look, I'm not telling you that I know everything there is to know about radio, or I'm not telling you that they should hire me at 97.5.

I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to apply. I'll read you the full job posting here in a second. You can tell me if you think that sounds like me. But if you're somebody running the radio station and you see someone that's been in the market, someone that had a big impact in the market, someone who 10 years later still has 600 people liking a post of, hey, should I apply for this job? And hundreds of people commenting, someone who is still referenced. Anytime there's a radio story written about something, somehow my name tends to come up

in those radio stories. People have not forgotten about it. You can say, oh, you failed. Oh, it was a flop. Oh, it was all this drama. All of that can be true. But what's also true is no one's fucking forgotten about it I still have like 40,000 followers on social media many of them are from Philadelphia

and many of them still reach out and many of them still listen to the podcast those are facts right I'm not telling you that I'd be right for that job but I'm telling you that just based on the fact that it is a sports talk opening in Philadelphia, where when I was killing it, I was killing it. Eventually my head wasn't screwed on right. I fucked up some shit. Boss gets fired. There's a lot of factors that go into that, right? Like I'm not telling you that everything was sunshine and rainbows. It was a fucked up situation a lot of the time. Some of it was my fault. Some of it was the fault of others, but ultimately I ran myself out of there. Nobody else ran me out of Philadelphia.

Contrary to popular belief, a lot of people like to sit there and say, we ran you out of here. Nobody ran me out but me. In my mind, the places I've been fired, I have ran myself out of those places, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally. And I have been fired three times. Well, the one in St. Louis is a firing, but it was kind of a layoff because they made way too much money. But look, they didn't want to have me around anymore. I cost way too much money for what I was providing. So whatever. They didn't need me. They didn't want me. See you later. Peace out. Fine. But every time I've been fired from a radio station, and I look at the two big ones being the 790 one and the WIP one

both of those times I ran myself out of those jobs the one in St. Louis I essentially did because I would tell them every day like I don't understand why you have me here you're like I don't think people want what I'm doing they want someone to get on the radio and talk for 10 seconds and then play Joan Jett which by the way they have now hired someone to do that. Someone that comes on for 10 seconds and then just tells you what's coming up and then tells you what's on the website. And that's what these people want. And that is totally fine.

I made a mistake coming to St. Louis. But I don't look at St. Louis and go, oh, Josh, you blew yourself up in St. Louis. I just had the sense to realize that I was making way too much money. And the job I was doing was one that they didn't want to have done there and that they were doing a disservice to their audience by having me do the job. So maybe I was just too honest on that one. If you want to consider that blowing yourself up, that's blowing yourself up. And look, I just made too much money here for what I was providing. The thing flopped, the idea they want to do a morning show in the afternoon, didn't work out, whatever. It is what it is. But the 791 and the WIP one, those are situations where I blew myself up. Now, people helped me out in that and the situations weren't

really great, right? People had, they won't take any blame for these situations. Nobody else will. So I will take all the blame for it. But in both spots, each situation itself had other factors that aided in me wanting to blow myself up or me blowing myself up. That said, I did not get run out of Philadelphia by anyone. I just ran my fucking self out of Philadelphia, right? Like, that's just kind of how it went. I was miserable there towards the end of it, and it was just a bad situation, and I'm out of there. I had was just a bad situation. And I'm out of there.

I had a job waiting for me. That was also part of what helped me make that decision to just be like, fuck it. But anyway, we've told that story a million times. None of that matters. So you've got this opening here. I did get some messages from people. Are you just going to get fired there again anyway? Okay, maybe.

But one thing I do know is this, that when I was locked in and I was committed to doing it and my show hadn't been butchered three different times by someone leaving, adding someone else, someone leaving. And you know, by the way, people don't talk about this, but let me ask you this. In the 30 some odd years that Angelo was doing mornings on WIP, like how many times did they have major cast shakeups on the show how many i don't have the answer not many the core of the show was angela rio angelo ria al morganti wechter the producer and then you know you'd also have guys uh like conklin doing the voices and shit and then they would alternate different athletes that would come in and out. The core of that show was the core of that show for a billion years. You want to know

how long the core of my show in the afternoons was in WIP? I started doing afternoons in March, February, February of 2015. I was done doing afternoons in August of 2016. So how many months is that? 18 months? Was I doing 18 months of afternoon drive in Philadelphia, give or take, right? 18 months. You want to know how many times the show, how many months? Basically, I had three different iterations of that show in 18 months. The most successful was with Tony. It continued into the next one with Spike and Tank, and then it became Farzetta and Tank after Spike took over as the program director. No knock on anybody that was involved, but when you change a show that many times over the course of 18 months, that's not

good for the show. That's just reality, right? Again, is that why I'm not there? No, but that's a part of it. Now, all that to tell you this. There is an opening at 97.5. I know the person who is the program director at 97.5. I have spoken with him many times. He's a guy that used to work at ESPN, like big ESPN. When I was talking with him, he was the program director of a talk station in Baltimore. It was a radio station that I knew I had no business being on, kind of a liberal-leaning talk station, local shit. Obviously, it was not a station that I was going to be successful on. But he talked with me because we were buddies and we would email back and forth and we had phone conversations.

There was an opening at that station, and he talked with me. There was no way I was going to get the job. At the time, I think, is I was uh whacked at 790 so I guess this would have been 2019 I guess that I was talking with him 2019 something like that and that was that but like we would talk back and forth and email and he'd check in and whatever here's the thing I've learned about people. They all want to hire you when you're either employed by someone else or they don't think they can get you. Like everybody wants to hire you and they run a radio station where they can say, you're just not a fit here, but I'd love to have you'd be great. I'd love it. If some point we would find a place that you would make sense, like, okay, cool.

Then they get hired at places where if they hired you it would make a lot of sense and then you never hear from them and that's this situation like more than likely I will tell you this I have sent an email a couple days ago I just sent an email say hey what do you guys got going on over there and then I called my guy yesterday and left a voicemail. I am going to give you, if I were a betting man, I'd say that me getting a phone call back is like plus 10,000. It is a long shot. We're going like 100 to 1 odds here that I get a call back. So if you bet on me to not get a call

back, you ain't making any money. Now, you could get rich if somehow they call. I'll even throw an email. If I get an email back or a call back, I will consider you a victor if you took the plus 10,000. It shouldn't even be bigger than that. But plus 10,000 are the odds of me getting a call or an email back. because here's what i've learned people just don't call you back anymore and they don't email you back anymore whatever it is what it is but i am going to apply i'm going to apply for this job because why the fuck not anybody with a brain knows that i make sense that's why they tried to or were interested in hiring me at 97.5 back in 2019 when a guy named Joe Bell was running the cluster. And I've told you this story before again, but for people who are new to this, it was Thanksgiving 2019.

Jilly and I were at a casino in one of these small towns in Mississippi. We were staying the night there. I get a Facebook message from Joe Bell, who is running Beasley in Philadelphia. And I believe the message just said, I want you on the Fanatic. And I can't look it up because I don't have Facebook anymore, so I don't remember exactly what the message said. But the message was basically, I want you on the Fanatic. Cool. So we start talking.

I want to say, I'm trying to remember if I met him before that or not. I think I did because I had a sit down with him once in a, I'm trying to remember when it was. Because I went to Philadelphia for something. It could have been the draft. It could have been for something else. And I had a sit down with him in the lobby of a hotel there. I don't know if I was employed at the time or not. Like I don't, the timeline on that one's kind of sketchy.

It would make sense that the timeline would have been that I talked with him after that. But I don't know that if I, I don't know that I went to Philadelphia at any point in 2019. But I did go, did the Texans play the Eagles in 2018 in Philly? If so, that would have made sense. Because I know we went to an Eagles-Texans game in 2018. Or whatever year it was. Deshaun was the quarterback. Texans almost rallied to win.

I think it was 2018. Because it wouldn't have been 2019 because that was during, well, I guess it could have been 2019. Maybe it was 2018 because it wouldn't have been 2019 because that was during, well, I guess it could have been 2019. Maybe it was the 2019 season. I'm not positive. Either way, I know that I met him and talked with him in the lobby of one of these hotels in downtown Philly. Then the guy wanted to hire me to work on 97.5. We worked out a thing. Farzetta was the morning guy at the time. I don't know what they were going to do, but we worked out a thing. Farzetta was the morning guy at the time. I don't know what they were going to do, but we worked out a thing where I was just going to do some weekend shit on 97 five via,

I was in Houston. It ha you know, it would have had to have been 2019 because that's when I got the call. So I would have had to have met him in 2019 at the hotel. And then COVID happens. Cause there's must've been right around or right before or after COVID shit starts happening. I'm on the verge of doing some live broadcasts for 97.5 via, I was in Houston, I was going to do weekend shit, whatever. I mean, they were set. They had me talking to the

engineer. I was on the phone with the engineer. We were trying to work it all out. And then you know how you get that vibe that something's off and you're like, I haven't heard anything from these people in a while. I'm supposed to do a weekend shift this weekend. What do I do? And I called, I texted, I'm like, hey, so what's the latest? He goes, well, we need to talk. And I'm like, fuck, this isn't happening.

So I get on the phone with him. He's like, I can't just do it. Basically, it's because, you know, Mike and whatever. And I can't just do it basically it's because you know Mike and whatever and I just went off and then fuck it you know whatever this is bullshit and I don't think I ever talked with those guys again about that but that was real that was going to happen now in my mind and I think this might have been part of the play is eventually they were going to find a spot for me on the station but Mike wouldn't let that happen and that's when I had to send that embarrassing email to Mike and be like hey hey, listen, man, I'd love to join the

station, which it's embarrassing. But if he were smart, he would have been like, oh, that could actually help this fledgling radio station to get some attention on this station. But of course, nobody in Philadelphia thinks that way because everybody's in it for themselves in Philadelphia. So nobody actually thinks, oh, wow, my station's getting pummeled by WIP. Perhaps adding somebody that people might listen to might help the whole station, but nobody thinks that way. Anywho, that gets you up to date. And now I've reached out to them about this job, and I don't even know how much I even want the job. If someone called me with a job anywhere right now, I'd be super interested because I don't have a lot going on and whatever.

So here's the post. Let's see if this is me. Are you passionate about Philadelphia sports? I can be. Can you deliver content that is not just informative but also opinionated and entertaining? I would combat that with can any of the people that are already on in Philadelphia do any of that? Entertaining is a tough word. If so, 97.5 The Fanatic wants to hear from you. Now, this is what I love because then you read the breakdown of what they're looking for and you're like, oh, that's me. And then you never hear back from anybody. We're looking for dynamic on-air hosts who know how to

connect with listeners and drive engagement across all platforms on air online and on social media well hey by the way 600 people liked a post for a guy that hasn't been in philadelphia in 10 fucking years but whatever again 600 is not a giant number but 600 is a pretty solid number if you live and breathe Philly sports and can bring energy, insight, and authenticity to every show, this could be your next big opportunity. Also, Philadelphia does not want authenticity. Philadelphia, I just want you to tell Philadelphia what Philadelphia wants to hear. I was being my authentic self when I was there the first time, and a lot of people fucking hated me. And also a lot of people like me, so maybe I'm wrong.

Here are the qualifications required for this job. Prior on-air experience in a top 25 market. Well, let's see. I was in Philadelphia. That's market, I think, market nine for radio, so check. I was in Houston, which is market six for radio. That's check. I was in St. Louis, which is market 21 for radio.

That's check I was in St. Louis which is market 21 for radio that's check I did mornings in Detroit which is market 13 or 14 so that's a check yeah I was also in Nashville which is market 40 now or it's in the 30s maybe now so check there I. I was on in New Orleans, which is market 50. So I can assure you that if we're market-sized dick-swinging here, there's not a person more than likely that's going to apply for that job that would have my credentials, unless it's someone who's like, oh, I was in New York, okay, cool, good for you. Deep knowledge of Philadelphia sports is a requirement. Well, I mean, look i i think i

know philadelphia sports pretty well strong credibility with audience along with likability and relatability did you see all the events that we would do where tons of people would come out drink beers with me buy uh buy me shots like i went to a wrestling event there once. It was a house show, me and Jilly. I forgot when it was, probably 2015. I go into the building. The second I walk in, somebody wants to buy me a shot. I'm like, okay, cool. We made one lap around Wells Fargo Center, and I probably did six shots in one lap.

Don't remember anything else about the rest of the night. You can say that I have a likability issue sometimes because I'm kind of snarky and kind of an asshole and I would totally get that. But as far as relatability goes, there is not another fucking human that you're going to put on that's there now or will be there that goes out and cohabitates and mingles with the people like I do. Cohabitates is, well, I guess that's not really the right word. I don't live with them. But that goes out and embraces the people like I do. And people like to hang out with me, and I like to hang out with them.

So every qualification that's on here, I meet. Every one of them. And you can say, well, you're not passionate about Philadelphia sports. I didn't know dick about Philadelphia sports when I got there and I got to number one. Who fucking cares? How to apply. Email your resume, cover letter, and supporting materials to Scott Masteller, program director, WPENFM, at scott.masteller at bbgi.com.

That's a very simple thing here. I'm going to have to email it to him. He's not going to respond, but he's already gotten my content before, but I'll send it again. Why not? Like, the thing is, I'm not dying for this job, and I know that I'm not going to get this job,

but then there's another part of me that's like, the fact that these people don't even call me, the fact that they're like, hey, what kind of interest do you have like hey you know do you think you can make it work with this guy to me that's an indicator that they don't truly give a fuck and that might sound arrogant i'm not saying i deserve the job or should be given the job but if the qualifications that you have listed there and the description of what you're looking for to be a radio host there, if that's legit, then I meet every qualification and then some. How about, hey, did you work in market six and have a very successful, highly rated sports show there? Yeah.

Hey, did you work in market number eight and have a very successful sports radio show there? Yeah, I sure did. Hey, did you transition into rock radio and have a very successful sports radio show there yeah I sure did hey did you transition into rock radio and have a number one show in Nashville yes I did did you work at the most legendary rock station in history in St. Louis yeah I did did you did were you syndicated oh yeah sure I was sure all that is true ain't no way in hell I'm even gonna get a response that's a problem with the industry. Not that you're not going to hire me. I want to be very clear.

I want to be very clear. Because this may be a low-paying job anyway. Pays more than nothing. Waka waka. But it's a job that I'm 100% stone cold qualified for. And the person running this search is someone I know and I've had phone conversations with, and I'm not going to get a fucking call back. I'm not looking for pity.

I'm just telling you this as an indictment on the overall industry. It's an indictment on the industry. And even if they call and say, Josh, you're just too much baggage. Oh, Josh, Mike doesn't like you. Oh, Josh, this, this, this, all that. I'd be like, cool. That makes sense. But to just ghost a guy you've talked to for years and years, when there's a job that makes fucking sense for that guy. So now after this, I'm going to hang up or I'm going to hang up. I'm going to hang up with the ends. I'm going to end this podcast. I'm going to email now because I called already.

I'm going to email the program director because this says email your resume, cover letter, and any supporting materials to Scott Masteller. Scott.Masteller at BBGI.com. I'm not saying you guys should email Scott.Masteller at BBGI.com. I'm not saying you guys should email scott.masteller at bbgi.com. I'm not saying that. But his email address that I will be emailing him at is scott.masteller. That's scott with two t's dot masteller at m-a-s-t-e-l-l-e-r at bbgi.com. I'm not advocating that you email him and say hey what about josh ennis or put boobie

in if you want to win coach whatever also i don't know if it's possible for them to win anyway and i don't know if they want to win i like like i think and by that i mean sometimes you just accept who you are in the pecking order now when i got there like Mike was beating uh the the WIP afternoon show I think WIP is so far ahead now and there's such a talent disparity now not that the talent I want to be very clear I don't think that the people that are on WIP are super talented people they're just on WIP but and that's not a knock on them but it's not like it's Angelo or Howard Stern or something like some mega talent like it's not Opie and Anthony it's just McDougal knock on them, but it's not like it's Angelo or Howard Stern or something like some mega talent. Like it's not Opie and Anthony. It's just McDougal's on the radio.

But whatever. It's just fascinating. It's just same thing in Houston. Like I never got a callback or response email for a fucking classic rock morning job in Houston. Mind you, Nashville, St. Louis. Doing classic rock. And by the way, the whole thing in St. Louis you, Nashville, St. Louis doing classic rock. And this whole, and by the way, the whole thing in St. Louis didn't suck the whole time. Like we were up, up, up, up, up for the first handful of months. And then the station just kind of cratered. Now it's back up again. So maybe I sucked, but like, it's fascinating as all. I got people

coming to my defense and coming to bat for me saying you should hire that. Like I had people on the phone calling this dude in Houston saying you should at least talk to this guy. It's great. Never got a response. Emailed that guy I think three times. Don't talk about a fucking loser. I'm over here like, hey, man, just check it in. What's the latest?

Here's my stuff again. Better than anything else you're going to get from anybody, but you're just going to ignore it. Anyway. All right. More to come.