The Josh Innes Show - If I Could Change One Thing About My Career...

Episode Date: May 9, 2025

First off, shout out to the guy who DM'ed to let me know he's listened since Philly and actually has over 40 episodes of the 790 show saved on his phone. He told me that the 790 version of the show was the best version and I'd say I agree. That actually got me thinking about what would have happened had that iteration of the show not died. I don't really have a ton of regrets, but I can circle the moment in time that I'd change in my career... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Got a nice message from someone on Twitter That let me know that you know, they're a fan of the show and they listened in Philly but then they they followed to back to Houston and everywhere else and this person has over 4790 episodes saved on his phone. Like I don't have anything. I have very little from 790 and this person feels that the 790 show was the best version of the show ever. You and Jim and Jelly had a special flow. Dude, I would agree with you. I miss that show very much. And what's funny is that was the first time that I had hosted a morning show too, because I had done afternoons. Well, the first time I'd led a morning show because I had done afternoons in Houston. I did afternoons and nights in Philadelphia.

And then I did afternoons when I got back to Houston and then they moved me to mornings. And that show was really good. Like you talk about regrets, right? Who knows what that show like on an AM dial like like it probably was never gonna have a chance to be a giant success in Houston. But Houston isn't a town with giant successful radio shows anyway, really, it's just not the type of city. It's not a Philadelphia where radio shows matter. So it was probably never going to be a huge hit ratings wise. But when like if I can circle one thing and go, you know, Josh, if you

wouldn't have done blank, you could undo one thing and go, you know, Josh, if you wouldn't have done blank, you could undo one thing. You can go back in time and you can undo just one decision career-wise that you made, and it could be taking a job. It could be something that you said. If you could undo this, would you do this? Would you have handled this situation better? All that kind of shit. And I kind of go back and forth between like what I have blown up the situation in Philly

because big picture, if I would have just, if I would have stayed the course there, there's a 0% chance that I wouldn't have been the biggest radio person, at least sports wise in Philadelphia. Like I was on that trajectory. If I would have figured shit out a little earlier and stop fucking with Mike a little bit earlier and if the teams would have been a little bit better so I didn't have to shit on them all the time. There were a bunch of factors in there that like I could be the biggest person

in Philadelphia. I know I would be because I at some point would have been moved to mornings now maybe with my boss getting whacked maybe not but I feel like I would have been. It just was there. The part that sucks about that, when I look back on that, again, if we could play Back to the Future or whatever, you step on a butterfly back in a time machine, you step on a butterfly in prehistoric days, how does that impact the rest of the world? When I look back on that and I go, all right, what could I have done? Like what moment could change everything? Like what would have been different? Hold on. First of all, look, I got to play some commercials here, but we'll do that. All right.

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available everywhere including New York and Ontario. Voidware prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus awarded is non-withdrawable Pick 6 credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. I kind of balance between two of them. I kind of go back and forth between two situations because Philadelphia would have given me the opportunity for the greatest success and stardom in the sports media industry. And who knows what I would have been had I stayed the course there. People were writing stories about me constantly.

I was a hot commodity. Mind you, when I got fired in Philadelphia, five, six, seven people on the phone immediately wanted to hire me. Like I was a commodity back in 2016, you know? So it just depends on what I wanted to be. You know, that would have been on an FM radio station that was going to compete.

We would have crippled 97.5 like they have now. And I think I would have been the biggest thing. There are people that have huge ratings right now in Philadelphia, but how many of those sports radio people are like stars? People that want to meet and be around. I would argue not many of them. The brand is bigger than any of the stars, if that makes sense. I feel like I was going to be fucking gigantic and it was a perfect storm, perfect time because everybody had gotten kind of comfortable. The shows were all stale. I come in, set the world on fire, get a bunch of attention. Maybe looking back

on the what-if factor there. If I could go back in time and say, all right, I want to be a huge sports radio star, but I also want to make sure like that I'd be happy doing what you would have to do in Philadelphia, which I don't know that I would be. And I still don't know that I would be. So that would be one of them. Like, I don't really have a lot of regret about the way it ended at 790 per se. And I don't have a lot of regret about I do have regret about leaving Nashville to come here. But about leaving Nashville to come here but if I had to rank them and say what was that moment that you would say hey what would you have done differently if I like it's hard to pinpoint one particular moment right because it's hard to say in a in a life of 20 something years of doing this that there was one moment that truly changed your life this isn't like a Billy Squire doing the Rock Me Tonight video and then he became a clown and everyone dismissed him. Like sometimes, at least in my world, it is hard to find one or two things

that like you go, if that goes differently, if I would have done that differently, maybe my entire life changes. And I don't believe anything in Philadelphia was like that because, you know, the Jason Kelsey thing happened. I mean, I came back from that and I was on the air a couple days later. You could argue well you shouldn't have posted the picture of Al Jolson which I had done before anyway. Like they were just looking to fire me and at that point I knew it and I knew it wasn't going to last long so like that would not be one that I would look back on and circle and go okay that was a moment that I shouldn't have done that right. There really aren't a lot of those in Philadelphia because I was pretty content. You know maybe I shouldn't have done that, right? There really aren't a lot of those in Philadelphia because I was pretty content.

Maybe I wouldn't have mentioned that somebody had pooped on the floor at the Borgata considering that the Borgata spends a shitload of money with the radio station. I wouldn't have made a mockery of the old people. It was funny shit, but like there would always be old people in rascal scooters riding around the fucking casino at the Borgata at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday and it was fun to kind of make fun of that. I mean there are things but none of them

that I would go okay if I wouldn't have done this life would have been different. At 790 there was one moment, one decision I made and if I wouldn't have done this I truly would like to know what the course would have been and maybe it wouldn't have changed at all. But when I got there, I remember a buddy of mine, a radio buddy, I was like, so I'm replacing this guy, this is the kind of show he did, what do you think I should do? And he says, well, I think you should, like you got to run off the people that are there expecting to hear his kind of show, so just do what you do and just fucking basically shock the system. Right? And I was like, okay, fine. I get on there and I'm being different. But then I start taking shots at the guy who preceded me. And

while I still don't think he was a very good radio host, and we used to make fun of him on the other station when I was on 610, the mistake I made, these are the things that I don't think about. These are the things that I should think about. And I know I've talked about this on here before, but it came to light again because this guy sends me a message, says he has over 40 shows from 790 that sometimes he just goes back and listens to because it was great. He's got them bookmarked with certain times, certain things, shit that I don't remember, but I'd love to hear because I do think that was a really really good fucking Joe. It was the perfect setup. Mornings, Jim is

there, knows how to be the perfect side guy. Jilly's great. Jilly would even be better now because of the knowledge she has and the sports betting. It'd be fucking phenomenal. But anyway, so when I get on the air and I just start ridiculing the guy that just got fired. In my mind it it makes sense. In my mind, it's fine because I'm like, I competed against this guy and I took him down. And doing that put me in a bad way with a lot of people who were in sales. But I didn't think about this at the time.

I didn't think, oh, these people are friends with this guy. It didn't dawn on me. I just didn't think about those type of things. So then that happens, and I've told you this before, the top sales guy that sold like billions of dollars for like Michael Berry and all these big shows would not sell me, refused, outright refused. And I would ask him, I'd say like, man,

like what do I gotta do? Like, I'm sorry, like, you know, I shouldn't have done that. You know, I made a mistake. It was a bad move on my part, but what do I have to do?" He would just fucking flat out tell me, I think your show is terrible and I will never sell anything for your show. Maybe he would have thought the show was terrible anyway. Maybe he would have disliked me had I not shit on the guy or whatever. Maybe. It's very possible. But I certainly put myself up against it and back myself into a corner and really gave myself an uphill climb to try to get out of that and I was never able to dig out

of it. So then you throw in the fact that the show couldn't generate that revenue because the number one guy had no interest in me whatsoever and the fact that I was making a stupid amount of money and the fact that like I was always getting into fights like the Basketball team hated me and like the the fucking people on the station whatever like if I could go back Because I don't know that I mean look WIP. I would have made me the biggest star I'd probably still be there if I truly wanted to be there and I'd be a huge star like I'd be someone That would be like I was getting recognized nonstop in Philadelphia back in 2016 and I was essentially a nobody imagine what it would be with 10

years, you know, so that's fine. But to that guy's point about how good that show was in Houston that show was a great fucking show. It could have some things that could have added to it made it a little bit better, but it was a great fucking show. And what I would have done differently, if you could circle one fucking moment, like this is a red letter date in history, if you change this maybe your course has changed. If I don't shit on this Charlie that just got fired, if I didn't shit on him out of the gate, thus turning off people that were friends of his in the building or whatever the case was, maybe my life would be different. If you're looking for that butterfly effect moment, if you're looking for that step on a butterfly in prehistoric time and how it changes life type of shit, maybe my

life is different. Maybe it's a lot different. Maybe I'm still at that station. Keep in mind the guy who replaced me, Sean Salisbury, is still there and he's been there since 2019 so he's been there now for six years. He's been doing mornings on that station for six years since I got fired. Maybe I would have spent six more years there. And like that's when you talk about things that you kind of wish you could have like it's cool going to new places and it's cool going to new situations and it's cool saying like okay this changed and you know and like this is a new setup here and I get to meet new people and I get to do the shtick for people that have never heard what I do and it's

cool but I possess like there's a jealousy that I have over people like I was listening to the audio of this Preston and Steve show where they were talking about how the gal on the show got whacked by Beasley and she'd been with them for 22 years and they're crying like they're legit crying on the air. And I'm like, I am never going to know what it's like to have the same job for 20 years. I'm never going to know what it's like to have the same job for 10 years. I may not know what it's like. I've never had a job for longer than four years. And part of that is upward mobility. You go from Houston to Philadelphia, but then like, or then like Nashville to St. Louis was an upward mobility. It was a raise and all that. Like, so I get that, but I don't think I'm ever going to know that. And there's a large part of me that thinks that would be cool. But then there's another part of me that's super impatient about everything

and wants something new all the fucking time, you know. But I heard them talking about this gal and they're crying over it. And it's like, we've been with us for 22 years and you're a huge part of this show. And they were legit about it because I truly believe they got just railroaded by this shitty company that, by the way, if they are going out and they're running people off of their top moneymaker, if corporate bean counters are responsible for that, what do you think they're going to pay someone to go work at 975 who owns that station? Beasley owns that as well. What do you think they're paying somebody to go

do a job at 975 for a station that doesn't mean dick? That's the bottom of the pole for these guys. And they're not gonna go out and take chances and hire anybody with a pole, so they're just probably gonna get some retread or somebody in there. That's why I applied for the job, but I have zero anticipation of hearing from anybody, nor do I think I'm going to get a call

or an email or anything. I don't believe it. But again, circle this, and this goes back to this guy, and his name is not in here, but I appreciate him messaging me because he just really dug the show and he sends. So he sends me a note in his phone that has a list in this category just says best of old Josh Ennis like old Josh Ennis was a better Josh Ennis, but like they're just labeled. They got certain

timestamps on some of these like 11-20-18, an hour and a half in, Clinton kiss it. Like I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like it was funny. No one wants to hear about that on a sports radio show. One, 11-28-18, 728 18 37 minutes in I love hot chicks 12 318 take the cheese to his dad z dog Christmas Brittany's gift is gift give it is the gift of giving boners gay Josh enters z dog salute you DD mega doo doo like all these I don't know what half of this shit is, but like I'd love to hear it because like real talk if we're just talking. I'm very happy that my buddy Jim now is making giant money to work for Michael Barry and he's living a great life and

he's got himself a fucking mansion and his kids are graduating college and that dude went out and grinded his whole fucking life wanted to be a radio guy and late in life decided to give it a chance and worked in promotions and worked his way up to doing part time shit. Then he was the producer of Mike show. Then when Casio left our show, Jim moved into ours and he and I became best fucking friends and we would go to Dairy Queen together every day and we'd work out if you

want to call it that every day and we became best fucking friends. So when I came back to 790, I knew I had to have Jim there and I gave him more money than he was making over at 610 to come work with me. And then I fucked the shit up at 790 and he and I have never been able to work together again. And then he had to go through the whole process again of waiting to find jobs. And then Michael Berry came in and said I want you because Michael Berry used to listen to me and Jim all the time and loved our fucking Joe and I'm happy

for him. I am so happy that Jim is making money and Michael Berry is like giving him big bonuses and he's got all this shit going for him. Like I've seen his new house. His house is fucking gorgeous and it's got like an outdoor kitchen and he's out there like in, you know, a Tascasita wherever the fuck he is and he's living a fucking amazing life and he deserves it and I'm happy for him. But I'm also fucking jealous.

I am hardcore jealous. Because I'm sitting here and I'm like, Josh, you stupid fuck, you've had it all multiple times, you've lost it all, and now you're just waiting for the dare to be great situation, as Lloyd Dobler said in Say Anything, that dare to be great fucking situation. And I'm sitting here and I'm like,

Josh, get out of your own way sometimes. Why did I get fired in St. Louis? Well, it was a mistake to come here and I knew I was gonna get fired, but I would tell them every day, like I know you guys are gonna fire me. And maybe it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe it's just like I do that

so it makes it easier when they do fire me. Like I have a hard time diving into all this shit, like with everything, because it's just like I do that so it makes it easier when they do fire me like I have a hard time Diving into all this shit like with everything because it's easier to get fired when you tell yourself You weren't overly invested in it Like I don't want I don't know what the pain is like to get fired from somewhere that I truly loved Because I didn't allow myself to truly love anything until after the fact after the fact I look back on Philadelphia and go oh, that was pretty cool after the fact fact, I go, wow, me, Jim, and Jilly had a fucking phenomenal radio show, and we got to go to the fucking World Series,

and we got on a private plane and went to LA, and we were friends with Mattress Mac, and that was really fucking cool. But in the moment, I'm not thinking that. In the moment, I'm just like, all right, whatever, because I don't allow myself to dive completely into things, and I think I do that because it's easier than to say, hi, I got fired, but I didn't fully commit myself.

Because if you fully commit yourself to something, you open yourself up to feeling pain over something. That's why I've never felt pain over any time I've been fired because I've been able to tell myself that I didn't love it anyway, so who cares? But then after the fact, I realized that I did love these things. How fucked up is that? You know?

That's just, it's fucked up, but it is what it is. I don't know how I got onto this subject here, possibly because, you know, this guy sent me this thing. I hope maybe he's got some shows he can send me because I'd like to hear what some of this shit is, man. But it's also amazing when you talk with people that have been listening to you for like 10 fucking years at multiple stops, you know?

It's fucking crazy. It's just bonkers, dude. But anyway, let's see. We got more to come.