The Josh Innes Show - How Are So Many Sports Radio Shows So Bad?

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

I was listening to Detroit sports radio yesterday and was truly floored/appalled by how terrible most of it is. This got me thinking...if I'm no longer on sports radio, am I actually worse than these guys? It's a humbling thought. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Tulsa King We want to take out the competition The Substance This balance is not working And the naked gun that was awesome now that's a mountain of entertainment all right everybody welcome in all up in this podcast thank you for listening appreciate you guys you're beautiful i love you thank you make sure you tell your friends about it maybe we'll get some more listeners maybe we won't i don't know it'd be

nice if we would i'd appreciate it if you'd tell anybody you can let them know to listen tell their friends and they'll tell their friends and so on and so on and so on and so on. And who knows? We'll build this thing. But anyway, good morning. Hello. It's 426 in the morning here in Detroit. It is crazy that I get up as early as I do. But I try to knock these podcasts out early so you guys have something to listen to in the morning when you're on your way to work. Because I listen to some of these sports radio shows. And look, I'm not telling you what I'm doing is the most incredible stuff ever. And I'm not telling you it's the best stuff I've ever done. That would be a lie. You know, I mean, it's not bad. It's not horrible. It's not total shit. You know, it's fine. Some days it's better than others.

Look, I know that that would be a shitty promo for this. Like, hey, it's the All Up in us podcast. It's pretty good. It's better than the alternative. Not the best shit Josh has ever done, but it's not bad. Check it out. So I'm well aware that that wasn't a glowing promo for myself. But, man, I listen to some of this shit, and I'm like, man, let me take a, let me play a couple of commercials here and then we'll get into that.

I was going to go in a different direction with this, but I'll start here. There's a lot of bad sports radio, right? And I'm listening to this one in Detroit. Now, the one guy that I find annoying is in the afternoon here, but he's actually a talented guy. But it's just, I think, a lazy show a lot of the time. The rest of the people here are just not even good. They're just bad hosts that are uninteresting and have nothing to say. They have no point of view.

They hem-haw around the whole time. But if you're going to be bad and not have a point of view, at least be funny or have a fun show. They have none of it. And the fact that these people are employed in sports radio is shocking to me. It bothers me that people like this are employed in sports radio because they are so bad. Now, you might say, well, Josh, you're just a bitter asshole who's not on sports radio anymore. Ha, you have a shitty podcast. Oh, look at you.

Go play another Stevie Nicks record and get your shine box. you shithead. And if that's your point of view, that's your point of view and that's fine. I would argue that if you're listening to this podcast, it's probably not your point of view because you like what I do. So fuck those people who feel that way. But still, as I sit here and I listen to some of these, like I'll be on my way home and I'll flip on a midday sports radio show. And it's just so bad and lazy and tired and slow and meandering. And it goes nowhere. and there's no true opinion on anything. It's just yokel shit.

And what you learn is no matter where you go, no matter how big the city may be, whether you're down in Memphis. Actually, Memphis is unfair because Memphis has some goods. That's the shocking part. You want to know the shocking part? Is the smaller the town? The better the local sports talk, generally speaking. Now, if you're down like in Alabama somewhere, probably not.

But, like, there are places like Memphis, and Memphis has a very good sports radio station that's got a handful of really good host. And they got a guy named Chris Vernon who has a podcast through the Grizzlies. He works for the Grizzlies now, but he used to be a radio guy there. Their show is very funny, very engaging, very interesting. They're informed, but it's fucking hysterical. It's very good. And I listen to it a lot mostly during basketball season, but it's very good.

Whereas you get to some of these bigger cities, and it's just shit. Like, no offense to Houston, there's a lot of bad fucking sports. radio there because I'll listen to it during the season because I like to stay connected with Houston know what people are talking about in Houston. I still follow the teams in Houston. I still love the city very much. So I'll listen to a lot of it. And I'm just like, it's blah. You know, it doesn't go anywhere. The ratings are terrible for it. The passion. Like, it's just kind of a middle of the road. The problem I have with Houston is it's middle of the road because it's not a super passionate place. Thus, the sports talk is not super passionate. But it's also not

super funny or super engaging and it's just kind of there and I'm like, okay. And I'll listen to it in other places and it's just, I don't, it's so different than it was. And I've been doing this in major markets now since 2009, since November of 2009. So we're coming up on 16 years, which is crazy to think about, but it's been 16 years almost that I got into major market radio, right? I'd been in Baton Rouge and I'd been on the air in a full-time or part-time capacity there for, I guess, since 2005, August of 2005. So I'd been doing that for almost four years and then I moved up to the big time of working in Houston, right? It was a big deal. I'm working in Houston. Life is good. I've made it. Looks like I've made it, Dad. And in that 16 years,

it has changed so much. And I think a big part of that is because social media has changed the way people do things. And blogs, and blogs is a dated term, of course, but podcasts, most importantly, podcasts, social media have changed the game and they've changed how people get their shows and how changed who can become the authorities in a city. Like, you'll go to a lot of cities and the guy that's making, you know, 80, 90, $100,000 a year to be the, you know, the authority in town, he's been usurped by the guy that's got the big podcast. Now, admittedly, I don't know who has the big podcast in Houston. I don't know if Houston has a big podcast.

I don't know if Houston's a city where there's, you know, a guy that people flock to when they want to hear about the Texans that isn't a guy that's on the radio. Like, I don't know if that's the case. But I also don't think that there is an authority in Houston that people turn to on the radio and go, all right, this is the guy whose opinion I have to hear after every Texans game. And maybe that's just the way it is in the world now. Maybe those people don't exist anymore. Maybe that's an antiquated way of thinking.

Maybe my thinking is the antiquated thinking, which is very possible. But in my day, if you're in a city, there's that one guy, maybe two guys, who you have to hear from after the football team plays on Sunday and loses a game or wins a game on Sunday, you have to tune in on Monday to hear what they have to say. They are the authority. They are the person whose voice must be heard about this. And I don't think Houston has one of those. And maybe they never did. I don't know if Rich and I were that show at one point. I know that we were a very successful show, and I think people tuned into it a lot.

And I kind of missed the way the world was then, because I didn't know how big or how small the show was, because nobody would give me any information on it. All I would be told is we were doing very well, and occasionally I'd get to look at numbers, and they were very good relative, certainly to what they are now, which are all in the fucking toilet. I was looking at Houston ratings the other day, because I can look at all of them. my boss here will show me certain things because he's got access to all the markets. And I'm like, well, show me what's going on in Houston. And like, all the big shows are like in 20th place. And I'm like, Jesus Christ, when we were at 610, you know, we had climbed. Now, obviously, when I got to 790, that wasn't the case.

We were buried there. But I don't know. Just you listen to this. And I guess, and I think to myself, did I just suck? because when I was on the beach, after I got whacked at 790, I never got another opportunity to be on sports radio. Never. I never really had anything close. I never had an interview with anybody.

I don't think. I mean, I probably talked with a couple of people, but nothing ever came really close. Every time there was some sort of sports opening, I'd get passed over for it. I'd get ignored. Or in the case of 975 in Philadelphia, I'd be told that I was going to do an afternoon shift that might lead to something else and then get by. but fucked like the week of and never get to do it. I never had an opportunity to get back into sports radio once I got out of it, other than doing the stuff during COVID with 975 in Houston, but the door never opened

again for me to do it. And there's a part of me, and I sit there and I listen to how bad this shit is. And there's two ways you can listen to that, right? If you're in a good mood because you've been listening to Coach Prime, tell you that you've got to believe in yourself, you listen to that and you go, boy, that's their fucking loss. It's just a lousy format and fuck them because obviously I was too interesting for that. But on the days that you're not jacked up and you're not feeling good and Coach Prime's message isn't resonating, you listen to that and you go, I must have been the worst fucking sports radio host to ever walk the face of the earth if those guys have full-time employment and are making money and probably making pretty good money to do this.

And I'm playing Pat Benatar. You know, like that's the, like it just depends. my vibe changes by the day by the day and I think that's everybody right like everybody like nobody walks around 100% confident all the time nobody walks around thinking they're the biggest shit in the world all the time nobody it feels like shit all the time like I think some days you're up some days you're down you know so you know some days you go to extremes call me a joker call me a fool uh god in this moment I'm totally cool clear as a crystal sharp as a knife I feel like I'm in the prime of my life sometimes it feels like I'm moving too fast I don't know how long this

feeling will last sometimes it feels like it will darling i don't know why i go to extremes billy joel nineteen eighty nine but anyway from the stormfront album which is an underrated album it's good shit but like i'll listen to that and it just depends like there will be days like i try to listen to this coach dion this coach prime book which i haven't actually finished yet i almost have but i'll go back and listen to some of the other parts of it just because i need like a fucking And like, I need a kick in the ass. I need just, like, you know, it sounds probably dumb to some people that I listen to some of these books. But, like, I don't have the same kind of coaching that I used to.

And by that, I worked with great people here at Iheart. But, like, it was different when I was at Houston the first time and then Philly because I had management that, like, the world revolved around us winning. So I would get pep talks and I would just get constant motivation all the time because we were at war in these situations and we had to win. like now it would be nice to win but it's not like it's not the life and death that it felt like particularly in philadelphia where like i got bosses like you need to read art of war by sun sue i'm like there was just constant like motivation and constant driving to be successful you know and it's just not the same it's not the way the world is and when you're someone who's driven by that type of stuff and then you get into a world where it's not really like that anymore it does it it makes you wonder why do you do it you know what i'm

saying. So I like to listen to Coach Prime. I like to listen to the book kind of over and find different sections of it to listen to again and dig it, you know. But some days, the message will hit home with me and I'm like, let's fucking go and I'm feeling great. Other days, I'm like, it just doesn't resonate. I've been listening to the book, one of the books by the guy that created the Savannah Bananas, who I consider to be a fucking genius, right? Because you're talking about taking a sport like baseball. They owned a baseball team, a boring ass minor league baseball team that no one gave a shit about. And now he's created something that puts in 50 or 60,000 people on a tour.

Think about that. And this guy, you talk about someone that deals with haters? I don't know if there's a bigger group of duches than people that hate the Savannah Bananas. Like, it's okay if you don't want to watch it. It's okay if you don't, it doesn't interest you. Real talk, I've watched like five minutes of it. Like, there are, by the way, there are some rules for the Savannah bananas that I'd go, shit, I'd incorporate that into baseball today.

Can you imagine if baseball turned a walk into? like a play like like I basically I think that the way it works on a walk is if you take a walk everybody on the field has to touch the ball before you can try to get somebody out after a walk and I get it that it's gimmicky and hokey it make baseball a lot more fucking interesting I dig it but like that was the whole point the whole point is we own a baseball team baseball is boring no one's going to the games how do we survive if I had to mortgage my house or sell my house I have no money what can I do and out of that was born the savannah been which changed the fucking game and now these people are millionaires and 50,000 people will fill up a ballpark three nights in a row to watch this wacky hijinks bullshit and like you've got to admire that like but you want to talk about the biggest toolboxes on the planet are the people that comment on the savanna bananas angrily like this is just gimmick shit no shit it's fun it's a good fucking time that's coming from me who bitches about everything the fucking savanna bananas fucking rule good for them people enjoy

it. Oh, guess what? Your kids want to go see the Savannah bananas. Your kids don't want to go see the fucking A's. Sorry. Life goes on. But I listen to his book sometimes. He's got a couple of them. But I'm fascinated by people who have taken something to become successful. That kind of stuff interests me. It should interest all of us. How do people become successful? What do these people do to become successful? So I'll listen to that. I'm looking for like a motivation. The line from Lloyd Dobler in say anything. I'm looking for a dare to be great situation. There's a lot of days I still feel like I just go through the motions, you know, and one thing is going to happen, and something's going to pop, and it will all change. But as of right now, as I sit here today, like there are a lot of

days. I come in, I do a decent radio show, and I sit here, and I'm like, no one's calling, no one's texting. Like, what is it all for? How do we make this successful? What can I do? And there are days And I'm just, it drags me down a little bit. I get down over it. I get down over it because like, when you're someone who thrives on reaction and thrives on interaction, when there's no reaction and no interaction from people, it is tough. And this is the toughest situation I've ever been in. And there's a huge part of that that is fun because it's like, let's fucking go.

We have a chance with this blank canvas to do something awesome. But then you kind of see and you don't think that anybody else cares about it. I mean, my bosses do. But, like, do the people that sell the station give a shit that we're trying to do something awesome? I don't know. They may. They may not. Do the listeners give a shit?

The people that are here? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they just want to hear Nirvana. And, like, so there are days you get down over that. So you need to find some sort of extra motivation to do it. And that's why I listen to a lot of these books. Like, first of all, the money is the money. That's what the money's for, Don Draper.

But, like, you know, it's like you sit here. And you want it to be successful and you're putting forth the effort to make it successful. And you're doing good shit. And you wonder if anybody's ever going to find it. And you know the only way to make them find it is to get it out there. But then we're not getting it out there. And so people don't know it exists. I mean, dude, when I turned on the microphone in St. Louis, people blew up the phones telling me I suck.

Nonstop every day the phones never stop ringing. Here, they never start ringing unless you've got a prize. And that is frustrating. But I know I'm kind of all over the place here, but it all kind of started because there are still some days that I just get pissed at life because that's how I'll always be. I don't think I'll ever be dude who's just like, you know, it's a beautiful morning. I don't think I'm ever going to be a guy who wakes up and is like, boy, Lord, what a beautiful day. I'm always going to be just kind of a chip on my shoulder about something. And I listen to these sports radio shows here and they're so fucking bad and they're so fucking boring.

Like, I can tell you if I think somebody sounds good. These people don't. And that's the part that bothers me is they're all probably making exponentially more money than me. And, like, I'm listening to this. And I'm like, how do you exist? I am, in my sleep, I am better at that job than you are. Yet here you are, comfortably employed, probably never going to lose your job because your ratings are gigantic because you're the only sports radio station in town. And people are listening to this shit.

And I'm like, holy shit, it's so fucking bad. And I'm over here killing myself up at 3.5. 45 in the morning to record five episodes of a podcast to do a four-hour radio show by myself that no one knows exists and it gets fucking frustrating some days if we are being totally if we're being buck as cam ward would say if we're being totally buck that's ass the feeling of that is certainly ass I mean we're keeping a book right now we ask that's ass and eventually it's all going to pay off and it's all going to work out and and you know something will happen and this thing will become successful but as we sit here right now it's just like

You know, it's a pain in the balls. Like, it's a, it sucks some days because you're like, you know, and it's hard to get yourself out of that mindset. You've got to avoid it. That's why you got to listen to Coach Prime and shit because you can't let yourself get dragged down to the bowels of this feeling. Because once you get there, it's hard to get out. That's what happened to me in St. Louis. Once I decided that I was done in St. Louis and that like these people hated me and it was, like, I couldn't get out of that. And that's the hard part.

Once you allow yourself to get into negativity and wallow in it, it is difficult to get out. You are locked in a cellar at that point. And it is almost impossible to climb out of that. So you have to avoid it. But some days when you're doing good shit and you're asking questions and you're expecting interaction and you know that interaction would make the show better and then there's no fucking interaction and you're like, Jesus Christ, it is tough some days, man. I'm just letting you know.

I'm very fortunate to have the job I have because I was out of it for a year plus. So like I'm glad to have the job and I feel fortunate to live here and work here and I'm glad I work for the people I work for. But some days you just go, what the fuck do I have to do? That's all. Anyway, all right, more to come.