The Josh Innes Show - Anthony Cumia Back on Radio

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Anthony or 'Opie and Anthony" is back on radio and just got a syndication deal. I love old school radio guys. I love talking with them. I love hearing the stories. I grew up admiring O&A so I think it's bad ass that Anthony, the talent of the duo, is back in the game. This leads me to talking about some of my encounters with famous radio people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

spring is here and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with uber eats what do we mean by almost you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered but you can get chicken parmesan delivered sunshine no some wine yes get almost almost anything delivered with uber eats order now alcohol and select markets see after details all righty friends what's happening i uh i was cleaning out jilly's car because the i don't know know which place, Ronald McDonald charities or whatever are coming to pick up the old car because, well, it doesn't run. I mean, it could. I mean, there's a fix that could be made to help it run, but I'm like, I'm not going to spend that.

I'm missing, I'm missing my door dashing. Now that I'm just sitting here, it's hard knowing that like, there's probably a hundred dollars today just sitting out there that I'm not making. And it's really knowing that like there's probably a hundred dollars today just sitting out there that i'm not making and it's really pissing me off but like jilly's like let's not run our new car into the ground and i'm like okay and so i'm just i'm gonna you know i'm gonna do selective door dashing like at night and shit you know but like it's so weird. Like, I know I talk about DoorDash a lot. But, like, it is the easiest way. There's no other way to just walk out of your door and be like, all right, I'm going to make some money today.

Unless you're turning tricks or something. And you still have to count on a John in that point. Or a Jane. But at this point, like, you just walk out and you can make 50 bucks in two hours. At night, you make another $50 or so bucks. Make $100 in a day. And then, boom, before you know it, you made $500 in a week. And it's just extra cash. As I've told you, I've got about $20,000 in loans that I'm still paying off from Wells Fargo.

And I could pay that shit off in a couple of months doing DoorDash and shit. But at the moment, I don't have a rig. But so they're coming today to get the car, and they're going to pick it up and then take it to auction. And then, like, who knows? I guess basically if it's over $500, if the purchase is over $500, we get, like, a tax thing. And if it's under $500, whatever. I don't know. It doesn't matter.

We've had the car since before we were married well before we were married jilly got that the first time we were in houston so i'm out there last night cleaning this thing out i mean there's dude the shit that i was finding in this car like i found a ticket stub from a basketball game that took place in march of 2013 so a ticket stub from a basketball game that took place in March of 2013. So a ticket stub from a basketball game, a Memphis Grizzlies basketball game, like Mark Gasol is on this ticket stub. And it, no, sorry. Actually, I take that back. It was from 2011, I think is when the ticket stub. Either way, we're talking over a decade ago. That ticket has just been sitting in the car.

I found Jilly's old hot 95.7 media badge in the car. I found a WIP keychain. I found, and I'm with the old school WIP logo and everything. I found old school WIP logo and everything. I found like old school WIP pins. I found a, uh, I found like, you know, like when you go into photo booths and take like five pictures with people, with people I've never like with pictures that were from when I was in Philadelphia, these pictures were taken in Philadelphia and they were just buried in this car. It was fascinating. But one of the things I found, obviously,

were slobs when it came to that car. There was just a lot of shit packed into a lot of different areas in this car. Glasses, like old pairs of glasses. But I found a card from my dad and it said, I'm proud of you. KC 95, baby. Now, obviously, that was about two years ago that I got that because we moved here about two years ago. I got that was about two years ago that I got that because we moved here about two years ago I got that job about two years ago and it's just funny what a difference a year makes because uh you know or two years really 15 months made 15 months I went from getting a card from my dad said KC 95 proud of you thought I was going to be here forever to out of work and now we're looking at now uh 24 months or so right

because that's about two years i got that gig and technically got the gig in february didn't start until april um it's funny how things changed though like the first year i was here they had a whole big party at opening day for the cardinal so they had one of these bars that's in the Cardinal Nation or whatever in the ballpark village. And they basically had it not to themselves, but they had an open bar for the entire staff of Hubbard Radio. And we're all up there and we're drinking. I'm meeting all these salespeople and it's fun and whatever.

And like, go get whatever you want. I got like dugout box tickets for opening day and it was cool, whatever and like go get whatever you want and i got like dugout box tickets for opening day and it was cool you know drinking free beer to the next year like nope we're not doing anything for opening day and now this year i'm fired so obviously they're not as healthy as they would like to portray themselves to be but it was just funny looking at that card and going yeah what a difference 15 months makes and I sure as shit never got a card from my dad that said, way to go, proud of you, DoorDash, baby. But somehow I kind of miss the DoorDash

more than I miss working at KC95. Anyway, let's play a couple commercials and we'll get into some other stuff. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you gotta check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings pick six posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on pick six, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition.

Pick six is available in most states, including Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia, and more, and I absolutely love it. Look, every night we're going to be having playoff basketball. Every night. So when you're sitting around and you might not have interest in a particular game, let's say you're a fan of a particular team, they're not playing that night, here's how you make it a little bit more fun for the other games. Build a little lineup there with Pick six it's really great me and my wife do it all the time so make sure you do it and new players get 50 in pick six credits instantly

on just a five dollar entry download the DraftKings pick six app now and use code INNES, that's my name, I-N-N-E-S, for new customers to play. $5, get 50 in Pick 6 credits, better payouts, bigger wins, only with Pick 6 from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut.

Must be 18 plus. Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Voidware prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer.

See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. So I saw this. You guys know that I'm an old school radio dude. I love like the legends of radio. Like even the people that Stern used to make fun of, I love. Like Man Cow, right? My buddy Sludge, who you guys know from Philly. Sludge, who doesn't go by sludge he

goes by his actual name brian hadad now but he hosts a morning show on q101 in chicago which is kind of like a dream job for him to get back to chicago so good for him and now he's married and has a kid and it's a good life for sludge but um he is buddies with man cow because they worked together the first time sludge was in Chicago. So like one night we're hanging out at a bar and I'm like, Hey, could you text man cow and just tell him I said hello. And so he texts him and he goes, my buddy, Josh, his dad is Scott. And, uh, and man goes like, Oh, I know Scott, that old so-and-so blah, blah. So he knows my dad, you know, and, um, because all those old school radio guys all kind of knew each other in that

area. Even the big time guys knew the little guys they'd all go to these you know boot camps together and shit but anyway uh morning show boot camps but like so like guys like man cow i admire and opie and anthony i admire and stern old school stern i admire just old school radio dudes dudes that have stories dudes who lived it back when radio really kicked ass but I am a big fan of Opie and Anthony but more so Anthony not that I don't really listen to any of the shit he does now I'm not really into the compound media right wing shit like that doesn't really interest me all that much nothing against him and it's not like we'd have different like I would agree with him probably on a good number of things he says it just doesn't interest. It doesn't really get me going. But last week,

Anthony, who has been out of radio, I think since 20, when did they dump Opie and Anthony for those tweets? 2013, 14, 15, maybe 15 is when that happened. So he hasn't done radio in like a decade. Then he ends up doing like a Sunday night program on 77 WABC in New York last week, and it gets a great reaction. So I'm reading this story today that Anthony Cumia's show enters national syndication with Red Apple Audio Networks. After just one show, the Anthony Cumia show has been launched into national syndication with Red Apple Audio Networks. The show made its debut on 77 WABC in the 8 to 10 p.m. time slot. And after inquiries from radio stations, Red Apple Networks has added the show to its growing roster of shows

available for syndication. So there you go. I like to hear that. I think Anthony was a super talented guy. And what I find intriguing about people like Anthony is he's not a radio guy by trade. He's not a radio guy by trade. He's not a doofus like me that grew up in it. Dude was like working construction or whatever the hell he was doing with his brother, writes some parody songs, and before you know it, he's on Stern, and then it's Opie and Anthony, and he's arguably the, not arguably, he has the second biggest shock jock show of that era,

and he's the funny one. He's the comedy on the show he's doing the voice there were so many bits these dudes would do my favorite bit i ever heard them do and it's totally random but there is a bit where back when tony danza had a tv show he was hosting a talk show and they sent one of their dudes out with a phone to talk to people in line at the Tony Danza show. And Anthony starts doing a Danza impression. And it's fucking spectacular. And the people buy that it's Tony Danza.

And the conversation gets more and more inappropriate as it goes on. And these people just keep laughing. They're like, oh, Tony. Yeah, you want to see my hog? Yeah, you like Tony's hog. And he never fucking breaks character and he's spectacular. Like, the guy is a mega talent. And guys like that that kind of come from, like, no actual training,

like, just kind of ride the wave and then do this good for him, man. According to metrics from 77WABC, streaming data showed a 236% increase in usage from the same window on the previous Sunday. Now, in fairness, there was probably nothing on there the previous Sunday. You throw a guy that had a major syndicated radio show and has a big internet following now, of course that number is going to go up. Additionally, website traffic rose 82% during the day of the debut,

while the station's app usage rose 96.7% on the same day. So there you go. Good for him, man. I love old school radio dudes. That's why those are the guys I become the best buddies with. The guys that I end up having sort of a bond with. When we were in Philly, I became buddies with Ricky Ricardo. Now, Ricky Ricardo is just this great old school music guy who's best friends with Rick James. So like you start learning these stories, the more you learn about people and you're like, holy shit, you lived a fucking life. Like Ricky Ricardo, who's now the Spanish speaking voice of the Yankees and the Eagles. I think he still is.

And he should have been named the full time English voice of the Yankees. I think he's better than the guy they hired, but whatever. So he's telling me this story one day. And obviously I think I've told, I've had him on and I've, you guys have heard the story about Don Johnson and shit and partner. It looks like you could use some help and all that, but there's another great one where he's, he's best friends with Rick James. Like he's his right-hand man. Like, I don't know how he became that. I got to, I don't know that I ever really asked how he became Rick James right hand man, but he became his best buddy. And like, he's the guy getting him drugs and he's like, he's his right hand man.

So like to give you an example of how awesome this fucking dude was the video for party all the time with Eddie Murphy, where it's Rick James, they're in a studio and you see Rick James, like doing all the mixing of the audio and there's Eddie Murphy, they're singing Party All the Time and there's random people. That video was filmed in Buffalo where Rick James lives. They were snowed in, like they could not get out of Rick James' house.

It was like 10 feet of snow or some shit. Ricky's there for that entire fucking thing, living that out. He was with Rick James when he went to jail for kicking one of the ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Like, this dude lived a life. But those are the kind of guys that I'm drawn to and are sort of drawn to me because I admire old school radio shit. I can get lost in conversations with these guys. Like, when I was in Detroit, I say I was in Detroit, my show was on in Detroit. I went for a market visit when I was doing mornings on WLLZ. I was

out of Nashville, but the show was also on in Detroit and they flew me in. And the guy doing afternoons is a guy that's named Doug Podell, the Doc of Rock. That's his moniker. He's the guy that the Duke of Rock in the Stern movie is loosely based on, right? But the Doc of Rock was a disc jockey, a rock disc jockey in Detroit, and eventually became a program director and was programming a radio station called WNCX in Cleveland. WNCX was an upstart station against the big time legendary station there called WMMS, the buzzard. WNCX is the station that put Howard Stern on. So they put Howard Stern on in Cleveland and that was the station that Doug Podell was running. So Doug Podell as the program director was essentially there in charge of all of that. And then there was the famous Stern funeral in cleveland where wmms cut his line during the broadcast and eventually the guy got arrested for it doug podell lived this whole thing he and andy bloom my former boss like that's the thing like i used to get shit on

a lot by uh by people in philadelphia like the bloggers and shit like oh josh jenis and andy bloom would just sit around all day trying to find ways to copy Howard Stern that was not the case at all I just got my rocks off listening to stories about this shit because it fascinated me so much that Andy lived these wars and now like I would talk to Doug Podell I met him one time when I was there and I now I'd like to go talk to the guy again about this shit like there's so many cool stories that old school radio guys have and i grew up in it that's why like i kind of find myself drawn to these people and i become friends with them like you know just great old school dish jockeys and i taught i told you the story once about how there's a guy that went by george mcfly still does i think he's on the radio now

in knoxville but back in the day this motherfucker was on Chicago San Francisco Denver like the guy was a big deal most known for his time in Chicago on the killer b b96 amazing jock back in the day back when jocks were like you know it was fun you know and he um and one day I'm hanging out with a guy named Greg Thunder who at the time was working in Houston on a country morning show now I think Greg is in Minneapolis that's where he's from Minneapolis but Greg was an old school 80s jock who's fucking amazing if you've ever heard the audio of the guy going www that talk up that's Greg Thunder he's a legend look him up Greg Thunder he's fucking amazing I'm just giving you guys guys to look up look up and then and then message me about how awesome these guys are it may not matter to you because you may not be into like old school

80s disc jockeys like pk and i had a fight over this because he's like these guys fucking suck i'm like yes because you don't care about that art form but i do and they're fucking phenomenal but um look up greg thunder look up george mcfly but have to put George McFly radio. Cause if you look up George McFly, otherwise you'll get a video of Marty's dad watching Jackie Gleason, you know, at the dinner table. But, um, so I become friends with Greg cause we both work at CBS in Houston. And I realized that he's that Greg Thunder, who's a legend. So one day we're at the rodeo cookoff in a tent and he goes you just want to i was like you know george mcfly's like he's my fucking best friend i'm like shit can we

talk to him he's like i'll try to call him and i'm hammered you know he hands me the phone he goes george there's a guy that wants to talk to you he's a buddy of mine that does radio in houston and i go hey fly man what's happening man and like and it's like i'm fucking just it's awesome like talking to these people matters i mean the same way that you might meet like hey fly man what's happening man and like and it's like i'm fucking just it's awesome like talking to these people matters i mean the same way that you might meet like michael jordan and it would be cool you might meet damico ryan's and it might be cool or darius slay and you'd be like holy shit like to me meeting these guys is this thing uh just and that's why it's so fucking cool to me you know and that's when i hear guys like anthony who are back in the fucking game who

should have never been out of the game like that's cool to me those are guys that did it back when it really fucking meant something and i find that to be cool and those are guys that i admire you know i mean those are the guys that i listened to when i was a kid they like dude i used to watch the the the stern e show and be like holy shit this is what i want to do like i want this in my life like i want like i'd watch that religiously and then come to learn like after the fact i'm talking to andy one day and he's like yeah we just called the e-show the worst stuff because they just put the worst shit we did on the e-show i'm like okay cool but it was awesome to me man i'm you know 12 years old watching this going holy shit i want to be throwing baloney on chicks asses this is what i want to do

you know just love and and that's the thing is and i i just feel a bond with these kind of people and going, holy shit, I want to be throwing baloney on chicks' asses. This is what I want to do. Just love. And that's the thing is, and I just feel a bond with these kind of people and they all tend to like me. Most old school radio people, maybe because of the reverence I have for it and have for them, they just like me. But those are the kind of people that I still have great relationships and I love to text and talk with. It's just kind of how my life goes. But who knows? Maybe I'll get back in the game soon. You never know. If Anthony can get back in the game, you never know. But anyway. All right. More to come.