The Josh Innes Show - More WIP Drama Part 2

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

As we dig in deeper, let's actually listen to this Howard interview and see what he says that seems legit and what's bs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and move on to part two of this. I didn't expect to go on for 10 minutes about whatever the hell I just went on about. But actually, I was explaining to Greg, who is the morning guy as part of the morning show in Philadelphia. And I think Philadelphia is like the only like northern place that I'd ever be like, yeah, I'll go back there. Because again, radio matters and it will probably matter forever. But watching these people beef with each other over like whether or not radio still matters, it does. I'm not going to sit here and shit on the industry I'm in. Do I think it's as healthy as it was 35 years ago?

No, but times change and you have to evolve. I work for a company that's got the number one fucking app. The I heart radio app is a great app. And I'm not just saying that because I work for the company. I don't get paid extra money to come out and say, hey, the I heart radio app is great. I don't get any of that. But I use it every day because every radio station you could ever imagine is on there, every podcast you could ever imagine. on there. Every podcast you could ever imagine, you could set presets on the app. So, like,

it's one button and you're there. It's not like a buffering situation. It's actually pretty remarkable. It's a great app. So, like, I got, I'm now doing a commercial for the IHeart radio app. I'm officially a shill. But, like, my number one preset is Detroit's Wheels, right? And here you go. I hit the button, Detroit's Wheels now. And instantly, there it is. Oh, wait, I want to hear American Top 40 classic. I know it sounds ridiculous. Here's Yacht Rock. My point is, and I know it sounds ridiculous to say,

oh, you get all the amenities of your car radio, but you do. And it's right there in your pocket. So, like, they've got the right idea about a lot of this shit. Where I disagree with the approach is, if you're going to put people on in the morning, you just got to fucking talk, man. You got to give them a reason. They have to be the reason, or you have to be the reason that the people are tuning in in morning. If you still want to play music on the radio in the middays and the afternoons,

that's fine because I don't think anybody's tuning into your afternoons. I learned this the hard way in St. Louis. Those old folks that listen to the radio would listen to Casey 95 that probably make up a large portion of their super sexy six plus ratings are old people. So they're going to just listen to the radio. But when you're trying to get the younger people in, which is what these radio companies all crave, They all crave that 18 to 49, that 25 to 54 male, female persons, doesn't matter. When they all seek this, what you're going to have to do is do shit in the morning that's interesting and fun of music. I ain't going to do that.

And nowhere does that do that. And I think they're learning that and who knows. But I am not a believer that radio is dead. Because, like, in the traditional sense, it's not, I'm not even going to say it's not doing well. But it's in the traditional sense of, you know, turn on a radio, maybe not. But the shit you're providing on the radio is available in the same way that the Joe Rogan podcast is. It's available. It's just a different outlet to get it there.

But it's available in the same way. Podcast form. YouTube. All that shit. So it's one extra step to get it to the people and you need them to listen to your radio station. But there are far too many radio signals out there for them to die. The industry is not dying. It just evolves.

Look at me, shilling for radio, shilling for the I-heart radio app. Who am I? I'm a monster. Anyway, how do I even look myself in the mirror? Let's play a couple commercials and let's listen to more of this Howard audio. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything.

Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember 988, Canada's Suicide Crisis Hubline. It's good to know. just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 9-88 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. All right, so let's see. Now I just sound like I'm doing seminars. I'm like radio seminar guy. Like, hey, welcome to the John Guinness Radio Seminar, everybody. Welcome in.

All right, let's see here. Let's see what else Howard has to say. The television stations, the local TV stations, that's why they run so much news. they try to generate more revenue, which is the same news every hour. And who knows when AI is going to take over? I'm telling you, there's stations in America that I know this that are experimenting with AI. I also love how definitive Howard is on shit that a lot of people know. Like I like when guys say, I'm telling you, it's like listening to my dad. It's a very old school dad thing to be like, hey, I'm telling you.

like I know you're telling me I mean we all know this already but you're the one telling me thank you again I say this with peace and love because Howard's my guy and I adore him with hosts with AI and host and again I don't know if he talks shit about me when I was there or not but I

loved that guy and I loved having him on and he was fun and he like he knew how to play the character but the character was probably 98% real and the extra 2% he knew how to ham it up but he was great but let's see here anyway yeah and television station

doing the same thing. That's my point. The times have changed. So it's all, and they try to, you know, put a band-aid on it. If you want to tell me that radio is dying, then you can't look at the fact

that media beef stories get this kind of attention and say it's dying. Because obviously there's something there. Like, is the content as good as it used to be? No. Is the talent as good as it used to be? No, because it used to require

talent to get these jobs. It doesn't anymore. You know, it's just, there was a different kind of skill set and talent you needed to possess at that time. And that's not the case anymore. I mean, you give somebody a microphone and they go. Now, sometimes it produces some really talented people. And other times, it just produces slap dicks that glom on to the rating system and the station they're on and they get numbers. Or put some lipstick on it and make it look good. And it's just, yeah, I'm going to spend more time with my family. And I'm good, you know, come on now. Hey. I love Howard.

I love Howard. Look, nobody wants to spend more time with their family. I love Howard. And he's not wrong, but I fucking love him. I love him. I love him. I'm going to tell you this. Anybody that's quoted when they leave somewhere that says they're going to spend more time with their family,

and they might have a great family. And I'm not questioning their family. They supported their family by being at that place. They got fired. Yeah. Look, he's not wrong. He's not wrong. When people leave these situations to spend more time with their family, generally speaking, they couldn't get happy in the situation they were in.

I want to say that what's his name? John Marks left because he wanted a better schedule to be around his family. I'm not debating that that could be true, but he also left for a job that paid him money. Like I would imagine he got paid more money to go to the little upstart Philly sports thing. And obviously now he's back on the radio. money wasn't good enough. I want my family. In your opinion,

and you know what? And I hope they, I hope everybody, you know, spends, has dinner every night of the week together. I mean,

it's just, but that's how it is. I don't know why I find Howard so charming. Like, I know he's, like, he's, his character on the radio

is this kind of sleazy, kind of, not sleazy, but just an asshole, you know, and that was his thing. But I don't know why I love this guy so much.

And he always looks so smooth. his hair is fucking perfect. He's like werewolves of London. Like his hair was perfect. And when did you think WIP was at its height with talent? That's hard because I was there full time for 25 years. We grew and we got better. We kept on the level kept on rising.

But that probably ended 10 to 15 years ago. where it kept on rising. So in that period... I'm going to include myself in there because 10 years ago I was already gone. Once I wish you would have said, once Josh Ennis slept, that was the end of it. From 86 when I did the first show,

and it's not just me, because obviously people there had to be good too. And everybody had to make that station or help that station being successful. But from 86 to like 2010, 2011-ish, I think my last day full time and I did the first I did first year on FM too

I think was 2011 I think was 2011 and then Josh Ennis got there at the end of 2013 and he kicked ass but then after that the rest of those sons of bitches didn't do a damn thing and they were I mean things were really pretty

good in that whole period of time they also to be fair they also had no competition for the most part It was a different world. Ratings were different. So were they super talented guys, or was it, you know, catching somewhat of a break? I think two things can be true. For whatever reason, it wasn't the same, whether they wouldn't pay the host, they wouldn't pay the management, they wouldn't pay people the same kind of money.

And money never, and they're not the only company. Now, and to be fair, Howard left the air because he wasn't getting numbers anymore. Like, I mean, he leaves that out, but his numbers were not very good. That's why they whacked. Do you think they wanted to whack a guy that was a lot? legendary figure. No, but he made a lot of money and he wasn't generating the money. Angelo made a shit ton of money, but he also generated a lot of money. It's like that. Companies all over America are like that and, you know, the way things are going.

So, but I guess I don't know what the height was, but somewhere when it started to grow from 1986 into like the 2010s. There was some really good, there was some really good radio there. There was some really good radio. For me, my first thing with Odyssey was, I left a company. I left the Mighty 1090.

That's where Wolfman Jack all started back in the day. And I was doing that L.A. Wolfman Jack, boy, there's a guy that goes back. He'd been the mornings and I actually did more. I never met him, but I knew. Oh, Jesus. This guy's going to talk about how his numbers were better. Bro, like, and that's why I hate listening to dipshits. Like, is he going to be like, hey, my ratings are better than Wolfman Jack?

Well, Wolfman Jack was a fucking disc jockey playing 50s records, bro. Like, what are we doing here? Like, some of these guys are so delusional. But I obviously knew of it. Well, that stick was in like over in Mexico. It went all up the coast. So I knew then I had just left. and I got a $400,000 contract from Odyssey to go over across the street.

My man wants to swing his dick a little bit like they paid me $400,000. Any number that guys like this throw out about how much money they were making basically like cut the shit in half too. I find that hard to believe that someone was like, here's 400,000. Now, this was back in the day when sports radio still had some pop and there was some money, but I'll, I'll question that, that they were going to pay a guy $400,000 to do sports radio. and sandy here you go i said wow okay so it's the highest i had ever made any kind of money in radio and so i go over there and sure enough within a matter of six weeks they go like this listen we're going to send you to boston and ee i was like okay that's kind of around my neck

of the woods i'm from connecticut and so i had a three-year contract on the table there was going to nobody i i don't believe dan silly ever did anything of significance at w ee i do that and And all of a sudden, all the people started saying, no, we can't pay 400. We can't do this. We can't do it. Oh, that's the thing. Once you start making actual money, they can't pay you anymore. That's the key in life, especially in this era.

You've got to find ways to supplement your income with other stuff in radio. But once you start getting those big contracts and now, for me, I told you, I would, I've never lied to you guys about anything on here. And you know that. They paid my ass $150,000 to go to St. Louis. And that's a pretty high end. I'd say 150 grand for, you know, radio now is probably pretty high end. And, you know, when you're not generating, like, you're going to get bumped. But if you're only making 75, it's a lot easier to keep you around, you know.

Do that. And it started like in 2019 when they started just chopping heads where they just started by Yeah, you know, that part of it said. I'm not happy about that. I'm not happy about anything. I'm not happy that I said what I said. And all of a sudden, who knew who knew it was going to reverb. for it's still reverberating for a couple of weeks and you're bringing this shit up too but i can love

him uh it it's just i'm not happy that it's it's the way it is now but i just i'm looking at it it as fact anything i'm allowed to have an opinion anything you regret saying this is the world's smartest hold on got a commercial playing here but uh i love howard i just enjoy him thoroughly Let me see, let me turn this back on.