The Josh Innes Show - Radio Jobs

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

A guy who had been on the air for 32 years in Kansas City was given the opportunity to do a final show. You don't get that very often in this business. I actually aspire to be in a place that long. There is another job opening in Houston...but I don't think it's one I can get. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, I got a text. Well, actually, let me rewind a little bit. Every day I look at different radio station company websites to see if there are any jobs available, just jobs open, you know. Because it's always fun to apply for them and never hear from anyone like I, you know, like I tend to do. But, you know, I go through all of them. Cumulus, Odyssey. Speaking of Odyssey, they just blew out a bunch of people uh last week like 200 something people got whacked and and one of them was a guy in kansas city that admittedly i've never listened to but he's been on one of these rock stations there for 100 years his name is johnny dare he's been on there for 32 years so that means that dude's been on there since the early 90s he's

been doing a morning show in kansas city and one of the rare things, you very rarely get this in the radio world, they very rarely let you have a last show, right? That just doesn't happen. of it and and like i've never i've only gone out on my own terms in a place once like i left houston the first time it was more than that was actually twice i apologize three times if you count baton rouge but um you know you go out and like my last day on the air in houston like when we sat down and i'm sure i've told you guys this before but when we sat down to do the show it was December 20th something like that December 21st December 20th might have been December 23rd of 2013 maybe maybe a little bit earlier than that I don't know it doesn't matter but it was you know mid to late December 2013 we sit down it's the last show I'm gonna do there and I forgot if we had mentioned that I was going to be done or if like we just announced it that day, or I, I,

I honest to God don't know. It's kind of a whirlwind. Like two months before that I was in Philadelphia interviewing for the job with Andy and going to an Eagles Redskins game. And you know, and then like things kind of, you know, like flew by and and I kind of knew we were going to get the job. I remember sitting at a bar in Houston watching the Eagles-Lions snow game. And I'm sitting there, and I couldn't tell people that I was going to leave, but I knew we were going to be leaving. I knew that we were going to leave Houston, and we were going to go to Philadelphia. So I don't remember if we told people, like, oh, this is the last show or whatever. I truly don't so i don't remember if we told people like oh this is the last show or whatever i truly don't remember but i do remember that we sat down that day and rich said like if you think this is just going to be some glorious send-off for you then you got another fucking thing coming

or something along those lines and i was like or it might have just been this isn't going to be some you know glorious send-off or whatever. I was like, okay, fine. And it was so fascinating because we were sitting in the studio with a person who had won a contest. So I think during one of our Christmas charity things, I think the last two years Rich and I were there, we did a Christmas charity thing called the Yuletide Drive. And one year it was to raise money for a women's center in Houston. I think it raised about $75,000. And then we did one to help build like a miracle league ballpark for kids and wheelchairs and stuff so they could play baseball.

And that one raised about $100,000. And I think one of the things we auctioned off was the opportunity to sit in with the Josh and Rich show. So this poor person, they got, they won and they, or it could be kind of a cool thing, I guess, if you think about it, but this person won and got to sit in with us for a show. And, um, and they, they're just sitting there in the most awkward show ever, just watching two dudes who fucking hate each other. One of them was about to fucking leave

and for good, you know, and it was a weird day, but they, you know, took my key card and like walked me out to the elevators if I was going to do anything fucking wacky or something. But, and that was that, but like, I've left on my own like three times. I've been fired, I guess, three times, but it's a, I've never had like, like, like when I think about people retiring, generally speaking, you make the decision to retire. Now your body might tell you it's time to retire. If you're an athlete or, you know, you're not getting jobs anymore, you're benched. Maybe that tells you it's time to retire. But I think it's interesting. Like when there's a finality to it. So I've never been in a situation where like I was never going to get to do this again

and I knew it and I was okay with it at the end of it, right? Like when I got fired in Philadelphia, I walk into work one day, they call me into the office, they fire me before I go on the air. When I got fired in Houston, I had just gotten off the air at 790,

they call us in and they fire us, which I think the anniversary of that should be coming up when was it was that march it was march something march 16th i forgot when we got fired it might have already passed i'm not sure but um like but they brought you in and fired us it was never a hey you've been here for 20 years we're gonna give you one last show because we know you're not a mental case and you know you won't go in and just blow up the station and i'm like no people think i'll do that so i'll never get that. But you're hearing this guy and it's got to be such a weird feeling

knowing that this is the last time you're going to be here. You've been here for 32 years and now it's over. There's got to be this weird emotion that goes over you because you're being forced out of a job that you love. Generally speaking, when I've gotten fired, I didn't love these jobs anyway. I wasn't happy. When I got fired in St. Louis. Truth is it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. And you know, when I got fired in St. Louis, I was actually kind of excited because I'm like, Hey, I'll go find something else. Now, of course I haven't found anything else yet and we'll see. Uh, but you know, when I got fired in Philly, it was, Oh, well, you know, like the times I've gotten fired, and I think part of the reason why I probably got fired at

these jobs is because I was always thinking about what the next gig would be because I was bored at these jobs so take it for what it is but I've never been in that situation where it's like this is it this is the end of the road this is the final go around and this is what we're doing and so like I guess you give Odyssey some

credit for letting the guy do the show and they probably did that with some other people too but 32 years in a place is freaking wild man but let me play a couple commercials all right if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs you got to check out pick six from draft kings when it comes to basketball payouts draft kings 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 6,

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Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos. So 32 years, and that's been kind of crossing my mind lately because I'm I'm a journeyman if you will. I'm not a journeyman in the sense of my ability because I get these jobs and they're big jobs so I'm not like a you know overnight board op or something bouncing from town to town but I am a journeyman in the sense that I've been in a bunch of different

places and you know I bounce up and down every two or three years and that's just kind of how it goes. Couldn't tell you the last time I got a second contract I guess the last time I got a second contract somewhere was the first time in Houston now that mean I wasn't offered second contracts I was uh you know everywhere I've been they've had they had the contract and they've been working on it and they've been feeding me numbers so but um and I was gonna have one I mean like I'm not gonna count the one in Nashville because I was gonna have that contract and I went to another job, but like, it's just funny. Like you think 32 years and there is a big part of me at this moment in my life that

is really just wanting so badly to be somewhere for like 15 years and become part of the culture and become part of the life. Houston's really the closest thing I've had to that. Cause I lived in Houston for about 10 years off and on, about four years the first time. And then from, I mean, five years, over five years the second time. So, I mean, I think I lived there about nine total years in Houston and that's the closest, but it's not like I was in Houston and worked at one place and had one show. You know, I'm envious of people like Rich who had like 25 years or whatever Rich had on one show. I think that's pretty fucking cool. You know, I'm envious of people like Rich who had like 25 years or whatever Rich had

on one show. I think that's pretty fucking cool. And like, I'm at that point now where I'm 38 years old and I'm like, I'd like to have that. I'd like to have the opportunity to be somewhere where they don't look at me as such a mental case that they fire me and say, I can never go on again. At least they fire me and say, Hey, you can have one last show. I'd like that. And I'm hoping that if I find something or when I find something soon, that that's the place I go where I'm going to be for an extended period of time. So when I heard that and I was listening to some of that audio, I'm like, what is this like? What is it like to leave somewhere? They're not kicking you out. They're not taking your station vehicle

from you they're not boxing your shit up and saying go fuck yourself like what is that like it must be kind of a neat thing and i bring that up because um i was scrolling through all to go back to the initial point of this i was scrolling through some of the job sites you know go to cumulus broadcasting and you go to odyssey which is probably not a good time to go look at odysseys you know i don't think they're gonna hire anybody of significance anytime soon, but they will have to replace. That's the interesting thing. So these radio companies fire all these people like you'll hear about iHeart or in my case,

like when I was at Hubbard, they fired a bunch of people. It just didn't make any noise because they're not iHeart or Odyssey and people don't shit on them in that way, but they do fire a lot of people. Eventually, you're going to have to replace all these people and it will probably be with people considerably cheaper. But after a handful of months of having nothing, you're going to have to put something on the air on these stations. You can't survive as a radio station without morning shows, at least morning shows. So like they're going to hire people again, maybe for a lot cheaper than they were paying. Like I guarantee this Johnny Dare was probably making a shitload. You're there for 32

years. You're a big morning show. You're probably making decent cash. The next person ain't going to make that much cash and the cast of people won't be five, six people deep, but you know, and then you kind of restart the cycle. They're going to have to hire all these people again at some point or fill these positions at some point. But as of right now, there's nothing really for Odyssey. I was looking at iHeart, and I see two full-time openings or at least one full-time opening for a board op slash producer at iHeart in Houston. And I'm like, I don't know what this job is. I wonder. I mean, if it's a board op type of thing, it has to be on either KTRH or on 790. But I'm

like, I don't really give a shit. Like I'm not going to go somewhere to be a board op. And by the way, they ain't going to hire me. There's no way in hell out of every place I've ever worked. I truly believe that there's one place that I could never actually get a job. And that would be at 790. And honest to God, I wouldn't want, I wouldn, it was the most toxic environment I had been in. Now, I ate it in that. Don't get me wrong. But it was even more toxic than working in Philly. And Philly, like that, I mean, maybe Philly was more toxic.

But, like, I think I expected that more than I expected it in Houston. And Houston was just a fucking disaster and a very forgettable time. It was a memorable time, but, but you know the time you like to forget but um so i'm i'm like i wonder what show this is and jelly's like you should go be the producer for the a team and i'm like yep that would be a dynamite show um but i think actually what it is because someone messaged me this today is that sean's uh co-host and i don't know if he's also the board op or not or if they have a board op i don't know what their, and I don't know if he's also the board op or not, or if they have a board op. I don't know what their setup is.

I don't know if they have three people or not. But I think that the second dude is leaving, and it says he's going to work in oil and gas, which tells me that this job wasn't paying this dude shit. I've honestly not listened, so I don't know what it sounds like, but that job wasn't paying shit. I've, I've honestly not listened. So I don't know what it sounds like, but, uh, that job wasn't paying shit. And then I looked at the website and it's like, it's an hour, it's a full time job, but it's hourly. You see that. And it's like, okay, this is probably not a high paying gig. You know, not that any of these jobs are going to be high paying, whatever job I eventually take is not going to be high paying. It ain't going to be the, you know, huge salary I was getting paid here. And I'm aware of that. But, um, I, I will say this, that like, I think Sean and I could have done a wonderful show.

Um, I feel like we probably could have done a great show actually. Cause we did really cool shit together and we were really good friends when we were there. I don't talk to Sean all that often anymore. Uh, he's got other shit on, and I think he's on Rumble now, whatever the fuck Rumble is. He does a show on there. I think Rumble is for right-wing people. So we get on there, and I looked at one of his tweets, and it's like, we're going to talk about the right-wing media, whatever,

or the left-wing media. I'm like, okay, it doesn't overly interest me all that much. But I do think when he and I did some segments together usually on Fridays and shit we talked football and we'd hang out we drank beers a lot together it was a great fucking time like I think we could have done a wonderful show there but I don't know that my path currently is that of a gentleman that will be on an AM sports radio show in Houston and you know ever. Honestly, if I had to rank places I've been fired that I think I'd have a realistic shot of working still, I almost think WIP is more realistic only

because this is a fun fact. The dude that ran Odyssey who just left a couple of months ago, maybe a month or two ago, David Field is his name. From what I understand, this guy who ran the whole fucking company. Now, mind you, when I worked there, it wasn't Odyssey yet, but it was about to become Odyssey. It was CBS and Odyssey. They were about to merge, whatever. I was told that the biggest dude in the company thought I was the biggest piece of shit on the planet, is what I was told. And one of the moments they said that stood out on the radio, one day we're at WIP, and it's probably near the end of this thing. Like, I'm going to guess that, like, it's probably pretty close to the end of the road.

And one day I'm fighting with Adam, the producer on the air. And I'm like, I could do your fucking job and whatever. So I go in and I kick him off the board and I start just board hopping the fucking show. And I'm like, this thing's off the fucking rails. And apparently they heard that. And we're like, what the fuck are we doing here? So from what I've been told, the highest of high people at Odyssey fucking hated my guts never met me hated me but from what I was also told is that the people at the local Odyssey there didn't necessarily hate me so like my former agent would tell me like you know it's not impossible for you to work there you

probably won't but it's not impossible there like think that one, if I had to rank them, and I had to rank them as far as, like, jobs, like, I feel like if they would have had money, I could have been back in Nashville and worked for my old program director there. That's an easy one. He likes me. We're friends. And I think he tried. They just weren't going to give him any money. So that could work. I would rank that as the most likely followed by

honestly I think 610 in Houston because I've become kind of buddies with the program director there granted the market manager lady I think still hates me because I called her a clown on the radio but I also did that because when I got to 790 610

started doctoring me and Jim's segments and making them sound far more offensive than they were and then sending them to clients. And then we lost sponsorships because of that. And of course, I'm going to fucking go off on you guys. But look, I've grown up as an individual and I apologized. I said, you know what? I'm sorry that I talk shit about you, you know, whatever. So I would say that they'd probably be second, although it's highly unlikely. Then I would say WIP. And then I would say 790. Although, as we've discussed, I got the job in Nashville because the market manager, the big wig at iHeart in Houston, talked to his buddy in

Nashville and was like, I think he'd be good for you at I heart Nashville. And that's how I got that gig. So who knows? Uh, but all that to tell you that there is an opening in Houston. It's to be a board op slash producer, I guess, or a second mic. I don't know exactly how the setup would be with Sean. I should text him and just be like, so what do you think that pays? I mean, I'm going to guess not a lot because not a lot of radio jobs even the big radio jobs don't pay that much so I seriously doubt that the guy that second fiddle to Sean is getting paid that much I know when I was getting paid to do that job when I was doing it I'm going to guess

that Sean's not getting paid that he may I'm not trying to talk about a guy's money but I just don't know that those kind of gigs are paying that anymore but I was getting paid a fuck ton to do that but it doesn't really matter but all that to say that um I don't have a job yet working on it but uh there is an opening in Houston so there is that anyway more to come