The Josh Innes Show - Could I Do General Talk Radio?

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

I'm aware I've asked this question before. But, I was listening to Tony Bruno doing talk radio in Philly and started to really consider whether or not I could do it. Let me discuss my biggest hold up... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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where they have a job opening there for talk radio, right, on WPHT, which is owned by Odyssey, which was owned by CBS when I was there, and that is a conservative talk radio station. and it's fascinating because I just I started listening to it because I was curious because I saw that Tony was going to be filling in on there and I haven't heard Tony in a while and I didn't know what Tony was up to that's Tony Bruno so I was like I'll listen to it you know and look I see Tony on social media and on social media real talk Tony is a fucking lunatic on social media he is the right wing equivalent of of Keith Olberman like the fact that those guys guys were friends and were able to do a show together. Like, one of the great mysteries of the world was that when we were doing that show together in Philadelphia, on Fridays, he would leave for a little bit to go do a hit on the Oberman show.

He'd go to the studio next door to ours, and they'd have a live feed where he'd be live talking with Keith Olberman. And this is, what, 2015? So it's 11 years ago. This is pre-Trump, like Trump's becoming a thing, but Trump hadn't been elected or anything. really he wasn't even campaigning or anything. I think at that point in 2015,

I don't think he had come down the escalator or anything like that. I don't think yet. So like the world was still somewhat normal, although that was starting to get to the Kaepernick era and, you know, where things were really just going off the fucking rails

and things became far more political in sports talk and racial in sports talk. Like, you know, there was the, it was the end of the innocence, as it were. But he'd go next door and do his hit with, with Oberman. and when you see the way those two guys are now on social media and the way they are politically,

the fact that those two human beings were ever friends is truly remarkable. But anyway, I got some more stuff to get into on that, but let me play a couple of commercials and we'll continue. So I decided to turn on WPHT because I was curious about it, you know, because I'm always curious about shit that goes on on the radio anywhere, but particularly in places that I used to work and when there's people I know involved, I'm curious. I gave it a listen. You know, I'm listening to the talk and it's, you know, shit. I mean, some of the shit we talk about on here,

like the Paul Allen thing from yesterday and shit like that. And I find myself fascinated by the idea of doing it, right? Like, could I do that type of talk? I could do any type of radio. I'm a radio guy. Like, I mean, people probably didn't think I would go and be, you know, decent at being a rock disc jockey, but I've done a pretty good job with it.

You know, people would probably, You know, question a lot of shit, but I can figure out ways to do it because at my core, I'm a radio guy. I'm not a sports radio guy. I'm not a rock radio guy. I'm just a radio guy. So if I need to figure it out, I'll figure it out, and I've done that with rock, and I've done that, and I do it with sports. So it's something I can do. But I ask myself if I want to do it. Because there are times that I do the rock shit, and I'm playing music, and I'm talking to nobody. And, you know, I'm like, is this show ever going to be successful? and I ask myself, like, do you think you could go and be and reinvent yourself as talk radio guy, right?

Like, real talk, if I had my druthers and it was like perfect storm for you, what is your perfect scenario for you? Like, where do you think you'd have your best chance at success? And after doing sports for however many years I did that, if you count Baton Rouge, 15 years, how many years it was, 2007 to 2021 was sports off and on. Of course, there were sometimes I was doing nothing because I was out of a job. But I was a sports guy for 15 years, and I've been doing rock since early 2021,

till now, so about five years. So five years as rock, morning show, wacky guy, and 15 years as sports radio guy. So all told about 20 years of doing this. If you asked me where I think I would be best served, where I'd be the most successful, what fits my personality the most, where I think I'd enjoy it the most, it's kind of a fun sports show.

Because there are days I want to be, you know, angry about sports shit. There are days I just want to be stupid about sports shit. You know what I'm saying? But like, I think deep down that's probably still where I'm at my best is being a sports talk radio guy that on days that nothing interesting has happened, we do dumb shit. And it's kind of a mixture of that. that kind of stuff. And I think that that's probably where I still excel the most and where I'm the best. I could also be very successful in one of these Preston and Steve type shows too, but like

deep down I want to give opinions on shit. Now, I don't want to be like old man yells at cloud opinion guy, but I am deep, you know, at the end of it, I'm a guy that does desire to give opinions on whatever's going on in the world. And sometimes that's not really what you do in the rock radio world, right? Like you kind of find more fluff and there's not a lot of teeth and you're not really pissing people off. I think that's kind of what it comes to at the core of what I am and who I think I want to be and where I'm at my best. I'm at my best when I'm making people laugh and pissing people off. And not just pissing people off because I exist like I do on rock radio. Like my existence pisses people off because they just want to hear fog hat and go about their day.

But like I'm at my best when I'm making people laugh and pissing people off. And that's not really what you do. You do half of those things in rock, but you don't do the whole thing. So if you said, Josh, gun to your head, pick a lane. What would you probably be your best at? It would be long form talk, probably more heavy sports, probably in a town that gives a shit about sports. You know, that's probably where I'd be at my best.

Or, you know, like a Houston, like me and Jim did where we had a fun show. And, you know, that's probably where I'd excel the most. I could do anything, but that's where I'd probably have the best chance of excelling the most with a podcast as well uh all that but i often think of of the the talk aspect of because i've talked with people about that and i had a buddy reach out and was like hey you know we might have an opening at a station do you think you could do news talk because it was someone that follows me on twitter and it's a it's a guy i know but like it's on they've seen my twitter and they're like your twitter's the kind of vibe we're going for like we kind of want to create a world

where you know because trump's not going to be there forever and we can't count on 80-year-old dudes to listen to AM Talk Radio forever. We have to find a way to reinvent ourselves. I think the kind of shit you do would help reinvent talk radio. What could you do? Like, would you be interested? And the reality is, yes, the truth of the matter is, like, sure, I'd be interested in giving that a try. But it couldn't be the way people do it now.

Like, I can't be Tucker Carlson's not a good example, but I couldn't be Ben Shapiro. Like I'd kill myself if I were Ben Shapiro. It would have to be done. Like to me, I look at a guy, and I don't listen to this all the time by any means, but I see the vibe of like an Adam Carolla. And I go, like Adam Carolla could be Elaine. Like, not even Bill Maher. Like, I think Bill Maher is becoming more of a middle person.

But even the show that Bill Ma does, I couldn't do that. Now, when he's high off his ass and talking to, you know, random celebrities at his house, I could probably do that, but I can't sit there on, like, I'm never going to be well-versed enough in the actual politics of anything, nor do I want to be well-versed enough in the politics and the, what's the word I'm looking for, the policies. Like, I will never be well-versed enough in that stuff to be that guy. I would have to be a guy that has opinion on a lot of stuff that's mostly social shit. Paul Allen type of stuff from yesterday, that type of shit.

I can do. You know, Angel Reese, Caitlin, like that kind of shit. Like that's an emotion. I'm never going to be policy guy because I do not care enough about it. My biggest holdup in that world, though, and this is where, and I told this guy this, I'm like, listen, I have a job anyway, so all of this is moot. But if I ever decided like, hey, you know, I've already done sports, I've already done rock, why not reinvent yourself one more time and try something else?

if I was ever going to do that, my biggest holdup and my biggest fear in doing that is once you've made the move and become political talk guy, it is damn near impossible to go back into any other world. Now, they let you get away with it in left-wing universe. Like you can be Stephen A. Smith and yell about the Cowboys and then go to your podcast and claim you're going to run for president and shit. they accept that, right? Like, they're fine with that.

Like, you're allowed to be dude who is sports guy, but I dabble in left-wing type of shit. Like, it's reality, because that's considered the right side of history, and they will let you get away with that. No one's going to complain. ESPN's a great example of that, the number of people who are super-duper left-wing

politically on television and go all that. I am not right-wing or left-wing. You guys know this. Anybody that listens to me knows this, because I'll give you one thing, one day where you're like, this guy's MAGA. And then I'll give you another thing the other day where I'm, you know, some sort of tree-hugging liberal, whatever.

I'm a freethinker, I think for myself. My fear would be that once you get into this world where you are considered a right-wing media person, you are that forever. And there is no coming back. There is no, well, you know, I dabbled in that. And here was my opinion on this ice shooting. but now I'm going to try to, you know, get back into talking up lover boy records. It's not, because that's the stench that will be on you forever, whether you like it or not.

You will forever have the stench of right-wing political guy, which means you're racist. And the second you make that decision to go, hey, I'm going to become right-wing, quote-unquote, talk show host, no matter what, no matter even if your opinions are centrist or down, the middle and in some cases it could be left, some case it can be right. Once you make that decision, you have no black friends, you are racist, you are hammered into a corner or painted into a corner and you're never coming out of it. And that was what I was telling this guy. Like, I'm fascinated by the idea of getting to talk about a bunch of different shit. I'm fascinated by giving opinions again. I'm fascinated because I want to. I want to get back. Like the, the,

The hardest part I'm having in Detroit right now is there's no reaction to anything. Very few people text. Nobody calls. And it's just like you're talking to the air. You're talking to yourself. And it's rough. I mean, real talk. It is not the most enjoyable of experiences going in every day.

And I'm not ripping the job or the people I work for. It is a tough experience for me. Someone who in Philadelphia was front page news or in Houston people still talk about. I can walk into a bar tomorrow in Houston and somebody will recognize me. Um, it's even in Nashville, we've had this talk before. It's hard for me to go into a place and no one gives a fuck. That's rough. Okay.

But I like the idea of going back and riling people up. My fear, and maybe this will change when we're no longer in the world of Trump, right? When Trump's gone, when Trump is out of sight out of mind, which maybe he never will be because people need a boogeyman. But post-Trump, maybe the world will be different. But my biggest fear for that. Because I've had multiple people approach me about doing just talk. They're like, look, we think you're a great talk show host. You're wasting your talents over here playing records.

Like, people do this. Like, I get this from people. And I'm just like, I don't know that I want to commit myself to then being that guy. Because people don't think for themselves. So even you can have some of the best friends in the world and they'll turn on you the second you get into this world because they're afraid of everybody else in the reaction. everybody else has about you. I don't know that I want to do that. Like I don't like I'd love to talk about shit. Like I think I could do Adam Carolla stuff. I think I could do that type of stuff. And I

enjoy it. He's not super deep into policies. He's still funny. He's still doing comic. Like I think that's a good blueprint for what you could do. But I don't know that I want to fully commit myself to be in a guy who very well could end up being super hated and not just hated because you have opinions people dislike, like, oh, I don't think the Eagles are going to win, therefore people hate you. But not only do they hate you, but they want to disassociate with you. They, you may die, you know, like, I mean, it's possible. Like, it is a giant risk. And you will never be allowed back into the non-political universe.

You will be blackballed from that world. That would be my biggest concern with that. I'm fascinated by it. I would enjoy free form talk. I would enjoy all that. But I don't know. It's a concern. I thought about all that yesterday when I was listening to Tony and Tony sounded fine.

Tony still sounds great. Got great pipes. Sounds good. But I'm listening to that and I'm like, like no matter what you do in that format, you will always be old man yells at cloud. I think the reason I miss sports radio is that you still felt like you were young and in shit. Like you do classic rock.

radio, you're old. You do conservative talk. You're old. Back when you were doing sports, it was like you're in what's happening now and people give a shit what you have to say because they care about what happens in the game. That's where I find my biggest holdup, if you would like to know, but maybe you don't. But that's my fear. Like what happens when you decide, you know what? I'm out of this. I'm now in the world of political talk and now I'm considered a maga right wing zealot and then then when you become that that's when people start to try to dig shit up on you and try to ruin you and it's like do i want that like do i want that drama do i want to go after politicians and have politicians use their power to tear me down i don't

know that i want to deal with that that seems like a headache i don't know man anyway more to come