The Josh Innes Show - Waking Up Early

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

I was going to talk about something else. But, I end up going off on waking up early. I enjoy doing a morning radio show...but, it controls my life. I'm sure others who have early rising jobs feel the same... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, let's see here. I'm actually just looking at a radio show prep site right now. My boss says I need to do more preparations. And he's probably not wrong being that I can't count on people to call and just riff with me anymore because nobody calls the radio station. Which that's the one thing that made St. Louis fun is the phones would always ring and the people who called would always be fucking lunatics. And it would be great because they'd mostly be angry at my existence and want me dead. And it was funny and awesome. Whereas here, it's like the phones never ring unless you're giving something away. And like, it has to be a good thing. These people don't want shit. Like, these prize pigs in Detroit, they're not here for like, hey, here's $20 and free beer and shit. No, these people are like, I want concert tickets. I want sports tickets. And if I'm not getting that, I'm not calling.

Like, the other day, we had a giveaway to this big beer festival that was like $50 a ticket. Three days in a row I tried to give this shit away and nobody wanted it. You give away tickets to any shitty concert. And these people are like, yep. You mean to tell me I can go see yes? You bet I will. Like we had Ace Freely come into town before he canceled his tour. These people are like, yep, give me the Ace Freely tickets.

Like Ace Freely playing in a bar. Like, give me Ace Freely. But other than that, like that's where it kind of, that's the low end. Anyway, let's play a couple commercials and continue. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Apple. Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and varied by race.

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Let's see what we're working with here. Some of the stories on the show prep website. Let's see. Van Halen, Wolfgang, pays tribute to Eddie. He posted a photo to mark five years since his father's passing. Why is that a story? Like, hey, did you guys hear that a guy whose dad died five years ago? The guy honored him by posting a picture of his dad.

Like, that's news. Let's see. Ozzy Osbourne. He thinks he was there for his first. friend. Matthew Perry used to attend AA meetings at Ozzie's house. Well, actually, I want to watch this Aussie documentary, and I was supposed to watch it last night. It looks interesting. But the damn baseball game started at 7 o'clock instead of 408. Thus, I couldn't watch it because I have to go to Betty by because my life basically revolves around

going to sleep. That's the one part that sucks about being on in the morning. And really, if we're being fair, I could have woken up right now. Like when I lived in Nashville, and I lived like 25 minutes away from the station. But I would wake up at like five something every day. And by the end of it, I was actually voice tracking or like, you know, putting the audio in the previous day for like the first segment of my show because the first segment was just a segment called Southern Comfort, where we played, you know, some Southern rock song. So I would get up at like 5.30 every day and get there at like six. I don't need to get up early. I'm not someone that preps a lot in the morning. I prep a lot the night before and just think of

the shit I want to talk about. But now since I'm doing the podcast, podcast, and that's one of the ways I make money because your boy don't make a ton of cash from radio anymore, so I make money from podcasting. That's why I try to tell you, tell all your friends to at least download this thing. If they download it, that counts for me. That helps me out. I don't give a shit if you ever listen to it. I'd like you to listen to it, but download the damn thing.

So, like, I used to roll out of bed at 5.30, drive into work, get there at, like, six. Now I'm getting up at 3.45 and getting to work at 415 so I can knock out the podcast. And I enjoy doing it. But, like, basically, when you work in the morning, your whole world revolves around when you're going to sleep. Like, you don't sit around and think, like, hey, like, your thought process is not what am I going to do with my time. Your thought process is, well, I don't have a lot of time to do anything. Now, you have all day to do whatever you want to do. Like, I could leave here in theory at 10 o'clock every day and have hours to do whatever I want.

But, like, it used to be, like, when I did afternoons in St. Louis, it would be, I'd stay up until three. in the morning get up at like 10 or 11 o'clock like that's that would be nothing because there was no clock the clock did not exist there was no alarm there was nothing you don't need an alarm when your job is at 2 in the afternoon you have to have an alarm when your job get you up at 3 45 4 o'clock in the morning and that's the part of it that sucks that's the different thing no matter what you do and if you're anybody that has a job that requires you to get up balls early if you do like shift work or whatever you just get up early because you want to get a workout in before you go to work, whatever. It is like that. It is a pain in the ass because like once it hits about five or

six o'clock, your thoughts are not, hey, what am I going to go do to have a good time? Am I going to go out to dinner? What shows am I going to watch? It's, I've got about an hour or two here to do anything. And all I can think about is how I should be going to bed right now because I have to get up at 3.45. That's the part about doing mornings. That's the worst. Generally speaking, the job security, the money and all that comes along with being in the morning. I don't make all that much money and I can get fired tomorrow. Like I am in like, it is a weird situation, right? And look, I'm glad to have it. I'm not bitching about it. I'm glad that I have a job. I'm glad that I've got all this stuff going for me and I think we can build something. It'll be great. And I'm very

glad to do it. But like, it is true. When you're doing mornings, like your thought process is not thinking about enjoying things. That's why I don't think I enjoy anything now. Like, all I can think about is when I'm going to sleep and how tired I'm going to be when the alarm goes off at 345. That's all I can think about. And my boss asked me why I just don't do the podcast after the show and doing them at 10. I'm like, well, I want to get them out to people bright and early so maybe people might listen on their way to work or whatever. Like, I just want to give people an option. So I do it this way. And I don't mind it because I want to get out of here as early as possible so I can go walk my dog and see what I can do in the afternoons. But like, it is, anybody, and I know that a lot

of you are like this if you have to get up early. A lot of people have to get up early. But there's a big difference between getting up at 6.37 o'clock for a job that's at 9 o'clock. versus getting up at 3.45, 4 o'clock for a job that starts at 6. It has nothing to do with whether or not I'm on the radio or anything like that. It has everything to do with the fact that it is a, it is like, your mind can go nowhere except what I have to do to get my ass out of bed in the morning. And I think that's why I'm in a constant state of like a trance right now. Because I can't just, like, I'm used to living freely where it's like, oh, who gives

a shit? I went to sleep at 3 in the morning. There's no alarm. I'll get up when I get up. Now, the second you have to send an alarm to wake up, it changes your mindset completely. You become a different person when you have to change. Like, you change who you are when there's an alarm involved because you're not free anymore. That is not freedom.

Freedom is never having to have an alarm. That's real freedom. I don't have freedom now. I am enslaved to an alarm clock. So, like, after the baseball game was over, if I were still, still doing afternoons. I'd be like, well, fuck it. Now it's 10 o'clock. I'm going to go watch the two-hour Aussie documentary. But if I watch the two-hour Aussie documentary then, then I'm going to sleep at midnight, 1230, and I'm sleeping three hours. And then I'm a zombie the next day.

And then I'm trying to, you know, overload myself with energy drinks and caffeine to have any energy. And that's how Elvis died. I've taken uppers. I'm taking downers. Before you know what, my colon's fucking impacted. And I got miles worth of shit built up in me and I die on the toilet. Is that what you people want? So it is a weird life. Like it is not a, like my buddy sludge who used to work with me in Philadelphia and now does mornings in Chicago. He gets up at three something every day. And I'm like, and I used to make fun of him. Like, why the fuck would you do that? Who needs to get up at three in the morning? Now I do it because I knock out the podcast. Again, I make, like basically I make the equivalent of one paycheck from radio doing the

podcast. That's why I keep telling you, tell people to listen to it. I would greatly appreciated if you would tell people to keep listening to the podcast. I would love it. The more people who listen, the better. The more people who download the better. So tell them. Tell a fucking friend, would you? They never have to listen. They can think I'm a scumbag. But if they want to help me make, you know, 15 cents a day by downloading the podcast, I've had it. I think that might be what it averages out to. Basically, like the amount of money you would send to Sally Struthers to help all the kids in Ethiopia. I'm basically that. but anywho

yes so I went totally off the rails from where I was going to go I was going to read you all these different wacky show prep stories and we could look at them like this story Trump's never heard of bad bunny well I can't talk about that because

I'm not allowed to talk about Trump because even mentioning Trump makes it political and then I get in trouble and like oh you're going to alienate all the left wing people for talking about Trump there used to be a time that radio hosts and talk show hosts could talk about these people and make fun of them and have a good time.

That time is now gone. The time has passed. Anywho, I know you got your own problems. I got to go drink an energy drink now. I got to go drink my liquid IV with caffeine. So it's not just a liquid IV, so I'm not just getting hydrated. I'm also getting caffeine. I'm getting caffeinated.

Caffeinated and hydrated. Rock on. My dad does mornings, but my dad's now almost sick. So, like, he gets up, and he says he gets up at, like, you know, hits the alarm goes off at four something. He snoozes once or twice, then gets out of bed. I'm up well before the fucking rooster. Well before the rooster. Boy.

But I do appreciate you guys. Tell your friends, would you? Tell any of it. Like, literally. And then send me a DM with a screenshot of you telling your friend to listen. Do that for me, would you? I know a lot of you listen, and I appreciate that. I truly love you guys for doing that.

Tell somebody. Just tell anybody. Say, hey, if you want to listen to a guy. rambling on about random shit, sports, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey's cock, Jonathan Cain's song about Charlie Kirk. This is a show for you. Anywho, more to come.