The Josh Innes Show - Angelo Responds To Spike Part 3

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Now let's listen to Angelo. He was a guest on Dan Sileo's show. I really love this guy. I'm broken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, episode three. A New Hope, or whichever one that was. All right, so now what we get is, we've heard from John Marks now, which, I mean, those things blow up. Now you get Angelo Cotaldi. And the headline says, Angelo Cotaldi fires back after viral WIP rant goes national. All right. So, let's see here. Let's just play some commercials right out of the shoot here.

And let's hear Angela, all the drama. All right. Here we go. So let's, I'm just playing this off of YouTube. So there may be commercials or something. I didn't have time to get the audio for this. So here we go. Storm.

I got to ask you first. And I would like you because you and Howard were talking about the current state of WIP, the radio station in Philadelphia. And here was Spike Eskins retort. This is disappointing and embarrassing for them. Okay. Well, we know. this is the most talented staff WIP has ever had our ratings laughed theirs we all get along

oh boy inside of see i like this now angelo's about to get some fangs out see this is good see now it's gangelo responding to the spikes to talk shit let's go i'm trying to back like his is the only opinion i care about because like everybody else talks all the time and talk shit about radio stuff but angelo like kind of just is just off in the distance so now with angelo involved now i'm curious. ...ab each other like they did. We showed them respect, said they can't...

Instead, they can't enjoy their own lives. Angelo, love to hear you. I get it to say, my little... My little three-year-old grandson just poked his head in. And that's what it's really all about. Not this stuff, Dan. But let me get... Let me research.

Here's that. Now, I, first of all, a lot of that bag-stabbing. stuff that we were doing was designed to create excitement. He doesn't know that. He was the son of Howard Eskid. If he didn't know it, who does, right? The other thing is,

oh my God, stop the presses, Dan. Two old guys got together and started talking about how much better they did their jobs than these young whippersnappers that are working today. Give me a friggin' break. He's so fucking smart, though, man. Like,

I like, I love, like, that's the way you put. play that like like cool like he's deflect he's doing it so well he is like he is he's a he's such a smart dude and i know that a lot of people doubt that because of the fact that you know like this character he plays on the radio the dude like is like i forgot what is he's like a fucking road scholar some shit like he's a smart guy and like there you go that's i mean if this were a political campaign and like the one political party was using the angelo comments against him and like basically

this is his, you know, you know, Reagan saying, you know, like everybody's talking about age in this campaign, well, I don't think that the youth of my opponent should matter, you know, that type of shit. Like, this is like, great job. Spectacular, Angelo.

Well, you please. And I've been communicated with Howard since our conversation. And the conversation was not designed to create any sort of an issue. And I said to him, why don't you tell your son spike and all the other people over there, but they can take a bow for how amazing they are now,

ignoring the fact that they basically built this station on Howard's shoulders and then mine, all right? We'll ignore that. Come back to me in another 30 years and then tell me how great your numbers are or how you're lapping people. First of all, radio today is so different than it was, even five years ago.

Now here's where I would interject. But Angelo also got this start in an era where it was the diaries. And we've talked about that on here before. The diary world was easy to get ratings because you would come in and someone would just write down. I listen to Angelo and that's how the numbers were determined. But on the other hand, this PPM has to gauge and it's all bullshit, but it has to gauge who's listening to you by picking up tones basically on this little pager you have. So for his numbers to be big, it's still a big deal. but if you want to hear music today you aren't going to a radio station you're going to

don't i know it you know iTunes you're going to podcast you're going to other places to get the music so when the percentage you see the percentage oh we got 18% of the audience now yeah because there's no more music stations around of course there's a whole different competitive field now than it was even five years ago. So please don't hand me how great you're doing the ratings because frankly, the only ratings you care about are the ratings that those businesses you represent. Aha, now my man's getting. Now here's where we're going. We're going to get the revenue, baby. And that's something that I still, I need to accept is sometimes you're not going to get, like, you're not going to get the big numbers. But like, like Michael Barry is an example.

The numbers that KTRH in Houston puts up are not astronomical. Like, Rush was putting up huge numbers, you know, when Rush was alive. Michael Barry's numbers weren't Rush's numbers, and part of it is because Michael Barry just did whatever the fuck he wanted. But Michael Barry generates like $10 million for Iheart. That's the only number that matters. That's all that matters. So now what's going to happen is Angelo's going to drop some fucking bombs on them. In the case of WIP, you represent baseball and football.

you represent the Phillies and the Eagles. As long as they're happy, you're happy. And that's a problem. You know what? Points fair. I mean, like, let's put it this way. So here in Detroit, there's a guy by the name of Mike Valenti, who at one point, when the lions were terrible, the lions pulled their games from this guy's station because they hated

the shit he was saying about him. And his station stood by him and said, good, we don't want the fucking lions. They're terrible. And they stood by this guy because he had that level of power. and now the lions are back on there. You know, guys like Angelo, guys like Howard, they would fight these battles with these teams. They're not wrong. That is the current state of sports on sports radio is the teams basically run the joint

and you're trying not to, you know, lose the relationships with them. The Eagles and the Phillies are a far more important entity. Like if Joe Gillio pissed off the Eagles to the point that the Eagles were like, lose us or fire Joe Giulio, they fire Joe Giulio and they put on another Joe Gillio. I think the difference is, and maybe I'm wrong, but at least, and these are two big personalities, Angelo, I think Angelo goes to another station and could have brought an audience with him because he's Angelo. Would he have beaten WIP? I don't know. But could he have gone to another station and brought an audience? I think so. You know who couldn't do it? Cuzz didn't do it. John Marks isn't doing it. But all those guys left 97-5 and went to WIP because WIP is the Starmaker,

you get numbers and now you're great. You know what I'm saying? So if you ask me, like, again, there is not one person. And look, it's the state of the world now. We know this. There is not one person that is on WIP right now that if it came down to it in the Eagles or the Phillies said, fire this guy or we're going to 975, there is not one person on that staff that they would say,

okay, fuck you, then see, Eagles. They wouldn't do that. 15 years ago before the Eagles had won a Super Bowl You don't want to lose the Eagles Eagles are a big deal But Angelo generated so much money There is again

There is a case to be made That there would have been a point in time When if the Phillies came in And we're like yeah fuck you We're leaving if Angelo's not taking off the air They may just say Kick Rocks because Angelo's the franchise There's nobody there

And to be fair There's nobody really on any station right now That's doing that That's why it was so remarkable that that happened about a decade go here in Philadelphia, or in Detroit, rather, with this Valenti. That's not my generation of doing sports talk. My generation was at least rooted in journalism, which is rooted in accountability. And he's not wrong there either.

Now, eventually, you could say it's rooted in journalism. And look, he's a legit journalist. Like these are people, again, we brought up the MacNows and people like that, that are legit journalists that got into this. then they devolve from being journalists to being, you know, you know, guys that just say dumb shit on the radio. At least for me, I've always just been a guy that said dumb shit on the radio. But I also, I'm a big believer in holding people accountable and asking questions and nobody does that anymore.

He's not wrong. Go listen to sports radio in your town. Tell me who's asking questions of anything. They're not. I give you an example of how absurd this situation is right now. Rob Thompson has been the manager. of the Phillies for four seasons. They have underperformed into postseason all four years.

Hold on. Granger. We have a commercial here. But anyway, while we have this commercial, it is important to remind you that this is where you start getting into the kind of shit about Angela. Like, everything's irrational. It's either win a championship or else type. I'm telling you, Dan, the next thing that's written negatively about Rob Thompson will be the first thing that has ever been written or spoken about the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

You know why? He's a nice guy. Come on. He's a good guy. He talks to us. He's sweet. Hey, how's the family doing? Oh, that's what matters.

I do think, again, the difference is that Angelo was the franchise and Angelo mattered. Angelo mattered more than these guys as individuals matter. The teams are a much bigger deal than Angelo. but Angelo, you could argue, when Angelo and Howard were at their apex, they were bigger on the radio than the teams that were on the radio. They were never bigger than the Eagles overall. But to the radio station, you can make that argument that they were. It's also, I mean, look, that's reality. It matters.

Nothing else matters. And if they saw the emails I get three years after retirement, every day from people going, when are they going to criticize somebody? When are they going to hold somebody accountable? And I go, I don't think they are. anymore. I think that era has passed. And you know what? If they're like it's it's no I don't care if they're upset. It never bothered me you're upset. I would ask me an honest question. I gave an honest answer. I've done that my whole life. I'm not going to, I'm going to change it now because I'm

worried that spike gets going to get all skips. Oh no. Oh, no. He's saying mean things. We're better now They couldn't they could see it was called recycling with us yeah that we recycled we wanted the afternoon show to talk about us and we were going to talk about the afternoon show and it kept a lot of it going and it was called recycling yes and if you got if you got a little sensitive over it you were missing what it was and what we were all trying to do do they still talk about each other on these other shows too but it's shit like we're going to play basketball against each other. Do you think they miss that element of radio today that they don't understand? Because they seem awful insecure. And fairness, though, like none of us talk shit about Angela when we were there. And I mean, he and Howard did, but I don't, I never talk shit about Angela. Well, they're insecure because they have a different agenda now.

They're trying to please different people. They're really interested in pleasing the teams they talk about. which is a dumb agenda. It's dumb. Let me tell you right now, you come out, say 10 great things about Bryce Hopper today and 10 great things about Carl Schrober de Mile

and see if they invite you to dinner. It's not going to happen. You're getting played. You understand? And the fact is that maybe you don't have a choice now. Look, I don't know. All I can say is for all the crow and their spike, Eska did about the current state of WIP and radio and all that.

Last time I heard they were like pretty much bankrupt, they're $300 million in the red or something. In fairness, they were also bankrupt when you were there too. You were there two years ago or whatever it was. So they had no money then either. I don't think they just, you know, lost a bunch of cash because you left. And so we were bringing more money. And how's that?

We win. Howard, we won. So wait a minute, let me get this right here. That is such a, that's an I mistake. Yeah, that guy has higher ratings, but guess what? I was number three in the country in billing. Yeah. You want to know who's important in the building?

So you guys, that's not wrong either. I held the money belt. These guys hold the crow belt. Well, again, neither one of you know how much money WIP is generating relative to when, when Angelo was there. but I'm going to guess that it was higher back then because you're right. Odyssey's almost a penny stock now.

So. And on offense, it was heading in that direction when I was there. And some would argue was because of what they were paying me. This guy, he fucking rules. Man,

I'll tell you this, you know what else too? I can guarantee with the money that Angelo and Cataldi was making, you could probably fill that entire station up with the salary that you were making not to sit there and have you. I'm not involved in any number. So when I wrote the book originally, for some dumb reason, I put all my salaries in it,

what I made right to the end. And it was in. It was in the first draft. And I gave my friend Kenny, he got one of the people I just wanted to bounce it off. And he, he contacted me. He went, I know not. If you put these numbers in, it's not going to be good. People are going to go, what?

That's crazy. So I took them out. The best thing I did in that whole book, just take of those numbers out of there. Because that would have caused some problems. Yeah, well, I kind of know because David Fields doesn't have a job now because of Angelo Cantalty. And he was the owner of Odyssey.

He called me for a lone line. week. I'm picking it home. Hey, I do have to bring this one up too. Like, that's the thing I love about this guy. I'm like, I'm a sucker for just old dudes. I know I say that all the time. I'm just a sucker for old guys. I love them. I don't know. I can't get it.

I enjoy them thoroughly. Okay, I've got to stop listening to that. I think I've listened to enough of this. But God, I fucking love that. Anyway, more to come.