The Josh Innes Show - Random Sunday Musings Part 4

Episode Date: March 1, 2026

The Barrett Media list of top Classic Rock shows is out.. We made the cut. That's somewhat surprising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Like, I didn't even know. I was talking with Jilly about that. And she's like, you know, you're going to end up pissed when you're not on this list. And I know that these lists don't mean anything. Like, I'm well aware that they don't. But I still get pissed off if I'm not in them. That's kind of the way I operate. Like, I know they don't matter, but not being on the list would piss me off.

And she's like, they probably won't even put you in there anyway because she's only had this job for a certain number of months and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I know. But then I got an email from my boss and it's like, hey, congrats for being on this fucking list. That's great. But then you look at these lists and you're like, okay, are these really shows, right? Like, it says classic rock shows. Like, okay, Jim Kerr on the morning show in New York is a show.

It's a morning show. Sherman and Tingle in Chicago That's a show It's a morning show David Mahoney and Phoenix That's a show Bob and Tom That's a show

Tim Virgin The guy that they hired Basically to replace me In St. Louis Who's also in Chicago That ain't a fucking radio show Like that's where I start To get annoyed

If you want to say Top 20 radio personalities In a format Then I'll listen A dude talking up records Ain't doing a show Like when I'm on in Seattle And I'm on in

Utah currently. When I do those, I don't call those shows because they're not fucking shows. They are air shifts. I get on the air. I talk up some records. I try to say something funny in between the music, you know, whatever. It ain't a show. When people call an air shift a show is where I get really fucking annoyed.

And no offense to this Tim Virgin, this guy doing a fucking radio show. If you listen to Casey 95 in the afternoon, that guy probably talks for a grand total of a minute 20 seconds over the course of four hours. Get fucked if you want to call that a radio show. He's good at it. He doesn't sound bad. But like the idea that that's a show, quote unquote, is the biggest crock of fucking

shit. And it's disrespectful to people who are up at fucking 4.30 in the morning trying to build a radio show and basically putting their balls in a fucking vice, trying to go out and beat all these other guys. Like, it is an insult to call what those people do a show. Real talk. hashtag real talk. It doesn't mean that there's not a skill or a talent that goes into it.

It is not a fucking show. So the fact that this guy is number six and like, get fucked. That is a completely preposterous viewpoint to have that some guy that is a disc jockey has a show. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health. From the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led Full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today

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That's a very music-intensive morning show in St. Louis. And I tried to listen the other day just to see how it sounds on the podcast. I don't even fucking podcast the thing. Like to me, if you're not podcasting your morning show, it means it ain't much as happening on it. Now, this guy, Big Jim, by the way. So Big Jim's House, who is on the classic rock station, which, by the way, they just had their worst book in 100 years. He's number 11 on this list. Also a crock of shit.

Terrible, terrible radio show. But at least it's a show because people are talking and there's hijinks and there's bits and shit. I say there's hijinks. There really aren't that many hijinks on it. It's really just a piece of shit show. But that said, this guy's number 11 on this list. I'm like, come on. Like, what are we doing here?

But this guy's number 11 on this list. That's Big Jim's House in Detroit. Let's see. We were number 19. Like, bless her heart, like Martha Quinn on here. Martha Quinn's not doing a show. Whatever. It is what it is.

But I'm on this list at number 19, which means somebody voted for me on this list. My favorite thing, though, is the picture of me. I'm like, where did they get this picture from? I've never seen this picture. I have no idea what this picture is. It's not like I have taken any press pictures or anything recently. So here's what I've learned. So I was going through my Instagram trying to find possible pictures that they had taken to post of me here.

And they basically take my picture. They put it in front of like the skyline of Detroit. The best part is this picture was one that they took. It was actually of me and Jane. and they took James out of it, and it was also a dude who had come to the radio station because he had won a sex toy from us for Valentine's Day. So in the middle of this picture would also be a gentleman holding a dildo. It was actually, I think a jack rabbit, like the old rabbit toys, sex toys.

I think that's what my man was holding in the picture. It would have been great had they not noticed that he was holding the dildo or a sexual pleasure device and just left that picture in there as well. But we did make the top 20 in the classic rock radio shows of 2025. So that was a surprise. Also, Jilly should be on these fucking lists because Jilly's fucking awesome and she puts forth much more effort than I do and cares about the way it sounds. And she should be on these kind of list too because she's fucking great. But anyway, so and who knows what any of this means in the grand schemes.

I look in the picture, I look thin, got a black t-shirt. Typical, you know, rock dude look here. black t-shirt, Tiger's hat, let's go. Like this show in Buffalo, Shred and Reagan on 97 Rock.

My man's wearing a sport coat in this picture. Look, no offense to these guys, they may have a lovely show. I have no idea if they have a good show or not. But there are certain rules that I think that you must follow if you're going to be

sports guy or rock guy. And my number one rule is when you take, it's one of my top. Isn't my number one rule? I don't fucking know. But one of the top rules I have, if you are going to be somebody on a rock show or a sports show, you're automatically ruled invalid to me if you're wearing a sport coat or a suit in the publicity photo. Or like my man here, Big Jim, my man, Big Jim here is wearing like a Columbia vest over a golf shirt automatically out of consideration. Hell, me and this Tim Virgin are wearing the exact same outfit.

T-shirt, hat. But that's kind of the look you need to go for. Once you start wearing sport coats in your fucking pictures, I'm out. But actually, here's how they, let's see how they, here's the voting process. Okay. A record 192 program directors, corporate executives and format consultants were involved in this year's voting.

That beat last year's mark of 173. Be advised that our voters. represent the following companies. I Heart, Odyssey, Cumulus Media, Beasley Media, Cox Media Group, Town Square Media, Hubbard Radio, Bonneville, Radio One, Connoisseor Media, Summit Media, Media, Saga Communications, Media Co, Buck Owens production company, wherever the fuck that is, Pemall Broadcasting, and Time Shamrock Media, Stevens Media Group, Guarantee Media, Lotus Communications, Cromwell Media Group, Midwest Communications, One Putt Broadcasting, Griffin Media, plus numerous consultancies. The number of people voting on each format is generally lower than the 192 voters involved.

This is by design. We want experts from each field. 200 classic rock radio shows are eligible for voting. How the fuck are there 200 classic rock radio shows? Hell, most of the people are the same people that are on in 10 different cities. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that's a bit much. But all that said, we were one of them. We were one of the top 20.

I want to see. And then at the end of these, they usually show you like, what the closest races were. Let's see who number 21 through number 25 was. I don't know who any of these people are. The John Delane show, Gunner, the Lamont show. The tightest race saw Chuck Nowland, Nolan, slipped by Big Jim's House for 10th place by one point.

Boy, the fucking, what I tell, and I think people, like, think I'm just an asshole, but I try to look at things objectively and tell you who I think is good and who I think sucks, right? objectively, this big Jim's house in Detroit is a terrible radio show. Objectively, it's not good. It's just shit. Jim Kerr and the Rock and Roll Morning Show earned the top spot with a 50 point victory.

And had five first place votes. 16 of the, out of the 200 classic rock shows eligible for votes, 16 earned at least one first place vote. I'd like to know if I had one of them. Break it down. Show the numbers. But next week it's country radio shows and hot AC and CHR top 40 radio shows. But anyhow, I've been all over the place in this.

I'm aware I'm all over the place. I don't even know where I started and how I got to where I got to. But here I am 45 minutes later. So I'll find something else to get into, I promise.