The Josh Innes Show - Who Listens To National Sports Radio?

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

There is a list of the Top Sports Radio Shows in the country. Today, I was looking at the list of the top National Sports Radio Shows. Dan Patrick was #1. Who the hell listens to or even knows where to find Dan Patrick? I do love the local guys who flex over making these lists. National Sports Radio hasn't been relevant in at least 20 years. The true GOAT of national sports radio will always be Jim Rome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know, I've been posting videos. I've been trying to find as many videos as I can that have been posted from various radio stations that I've worked at. Just continuing to try to post videos to show people what I do. Because, like, is my life's ambition to be, you know, a radio guy? I mean, it's what I do. It's what I'm good at. You know, I'd like to turn this podcast into something bigger, but I need to have some income, you know, but while I'm working on that, so like you get, we've had this discussion

before, so you know what I'm talking about, but I keep posting these videos and I'm trying to dig up as many as I can find that have been posted from old radio stations that I've worked at. I just keep pumping them out there and say, Hey, maybe somebody will see them. Maybe not, you know, but I'm just going to keep doing it and keep trying and keep doing it. You know, I just I have this desire to just go one big run at this fucking thing again, because I feel like I got fucked here. Like, that's just the reality of this. Like, like, this was supposed to be the gig that I was going to stay at.

And then I got fucked right in the ass. So, like, and they didn't even spit on it. They were just like, see you later. So I'm here trying to make one big run at this fucking thing. Like I see these lists, these lists that have been coming out from this throwaway, this Barrett sports media website, basically it exists. So media people, sports radio people can go see themselves written about. No one else in the world cares about it. There's no rhyme or reason behind who is on these lists. There's nothing. It's just, hey, this person's number 17 in small markets in sports radio, and it just exists. So these dinguses could post a screenshot of it and promote this website. What I love about these people that make these lists is they don't ask how they got on this list. They don't want to know any details about it.

All they want you to know is that somehow they are the number 16 afternoon sports radio show in media markets across the country. They don't ask any questions. My favorite is the people that post and they say, thanks to our listeners, we're blank. It ain't because of your fucking listeners. Some of these shows on this list don't even have fucking ratings. Like, I just love it. They like, they like, I guess because, and maybe ignorance is bliss and I give them credit for this, that ignorance is bliss. Cause I wish I could be ignorant. I just know too much about how the sausage is made. I care too much about how the sausage is made. I know all the details about how ratings work and everything. So like, it takes

my joy out of it because I know the way the bullshit gimmicky system works but some of these people are willfully ignorant and they're fine with it and they just ignore it and they just see something written about them in in in print and they think it's real but i see some of these people that make this barrett sports media list and bless their fucking hearts they're like like, yep, we're number 20 major market afternoon show. Thanks to our listeners. I'm like, your listeners have nothing to fucking do with this. If you want to know the reality, your show doesn't even have any fucking listeners. You're like in 25th fucking place. It's not about the listeners. It's just, they're throwing, they're cobbling a bunch of shit together and they're asking a bunch of PDs. They probably

have no idea what your show fucking sounds like. It's just like, I guess I'll put Houston's afternoon show. That sounds like something I've heard of this guy one time. And that's the kind of shit this is. So like, bless your hearts. Like I, again, I'm just a cynical person that knows how the fucking sausage is made. And I wish I didn't, I wish I didn't care so much about it. Uh, you know, I wish I could go back to when, you know, my first major market boss was Gavin, and he wouldn't really let us dig into ratings too much. He would tell us when we were doing well, but he wouldn't, you know, let me. He didn't tell me all the details about how it works and what needs to be done here, here, and here.

When I got to Philly, that's all we fucking cared about was the science of the ratings. And, you know, Josh, here's what's tough for you. And the reason Mike's ratings are higher right now is because Mike has a black listener and black listeners with these little pagers count for like seven times the number of listeners a white person does. And that's like all this shit. And like, I'd be like, holy shit, this sucks. Like, and I got obsessed with it. Like there would come points that I know I'm going kind of deep into the weeds here, but these people carry these, these meters is what they carry. And that's how they tabulate ratings. It's all a farce basically. But, um, so every Sunday morning there would be a, the week, the previous week's meter counts. So you could see in a given minute, if a meter tuned

in, tuned out, like what you were averaging every minute. Right. And I was so obsessed with this shit. When I was in Philly, we'd be on vacation. Like I remember one time we were in Atlanta and it was like a Saturday. We had a good time on a Saturday, Sunday rolls around. I wake up at like five 30 in the morning, still half drunk. So I can look at these meters and see how we're looking compared to Mike. And Jilly's like, you know, you're a fucking lunatic and this is absurd that you're doing this. And I'm like, of course I know it's fucking absurd that I'm doing this. No one else is doing this. There's not another radio person in the country that's waking up on

a Sunday morning and cares about this because they don't care about this as much as I do because they're level-headed, sane fucking people and I am not. I am a crazy fucking person and I am obsessed with that. So I studied how all of this works to look for any kind of edge one could have in this, right? So because of that, I have become numb to ratings. I have become numb to lists like, oh boy, thanks to our listeners. Brother, your listeners aren't the reason you're on these lists. But every one of these guys are like, oh boy, thanks to our listeners, brother, your listeners aren't the reason you're on these lists. But every one of these guys are like, guys, let me tell you, thanks to all of our great listeners.

We're the number 20. And then they'll word it in a way that is so absurd. Like we're the 20th most listened to show. No, you're not. You are not. I guarantee you there are other stations that have exponentially more listeners that may not even be on this list because the list is bullshit. But I see this and I'm like, but then there's this part of me that's like, I want to fucking be on these lists. I'm better than these Radio Inc. that's been around for 100 years. Radio Inc. would release their top 20 talkers or whatever sports talkers across the country. And one year when we were in Philly, I was on this list. I forgot like i'd like to know i'm kicking this guy's ass my ratings are septuple his like i'm destroying him he's on the verge of killing himself how exactly can you explain to me how this guy is ranked higher in your list and it was a funny bit

like i you know whatever but i did that because it was a funny bit not because it was truly like eating at me to be below him in some sort of stupid list. But still, like I see these people and all these shows and I'm like, I'm better than these people. And I don't say that to be arrogant. I say it because I know it to be true, because I know what I'm good at and I know what I'm capable of doing. So when I see these people in these lists, I'm just like, fuck, I'm just driven. They did a list of like classic rock morning shows on this and i'm like god damn this is a bunch of old fuddy-duddy bullshit and i could

run laps around these fucking people i was number one if ratings matter we went from like number seven to number one in nashville and i spent three quarters as the number one show i was only there for five fucking months and three of the months i was there I was number one like like I don't know why I don't care about this shit but then I do care about this shit and it drives me fucking batty anyway I know you have your own problems in life uh but let me play a couple commercials here all right if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs you got to check out pick six from DraftKings when it comes out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very

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vary by jurisdiction. Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Void where prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos and then you see their list of the national sports radio people how many of these national sports radio people do you give two fucks about like their number one sports radio person nationally is dan patrick tell me the last time no offense to dan patrick seems like a nice guy was very relevant you know 25 years ago on espn but please tell me the last time, no offense to Dan Patrick, seems like a nice guy, was very relevant 25 years ago on ESPN. But please, tell me the last time something relevant happened on Dan Patrick and you were like, holy shit, I must tune in.

Tell me this. If there was a gun to your head right now and someone was like, tell me where you can listen to Dan Patrick right now. And it can't be the internet. You can't say, well, I'm going to go to the iHeartRadio app or whatever. Can't be that. It can't be like, all right, I'm going to go to danpatrick.com. You have to find a place that you can either watch or listen to Dan Patrick. And there's a gun to your head.

Could you do it? You probably couldn't. You know why? Because no one fucking listens because no one fucking cares. These national people, no one cares about them. There's some guys who I think are legends. I'm never going to say a bad thing about Jim Rome because I filled in on the guy's show. Jim Rome's like the OG legendary stud clones. Let me tell you this is what i admire about jim rome and i've told you this before so back before you know there were like espn radio and fox sports radio that would just throw

people on they'd be on 400 radio stations that no one listens to but like back in the day you would self-syndicate in a lot of instances like howard stern was self-syndicated eventually it was through you know whatever it was through but like it started out in New York and then Stern ends up on I believe his second well second station was WYSP in Philadelphia because Andy wanted to put him on there and then I believe his third station was WJFK in Washington DC and then I believe LA eventually came I think there were some stations in between there, but point being in all of this is that the Stern network was one of these things where it wasn't like your radio station carries ESPN radio, therefore you have to carry Mike and Mike.

This was radio stations chose to put on Howard Stern because Howard Stern was a popular big time show and they wanted Howard Stern on. Same thing happened with Jim Rome. When Jim Rome was through Premier Radio Networks, they would just go out like originally how it started. And I will tell you this, if you want to hear a great interview, go listen to Jim Rome being interviewed by Dan Lebitard, who I think is really not great anymore, but Dan Lebitard. Go listen to the interview with Jim Rome because it's very interesting. I think Rome is legitimately an interesting guy. I get that his on-air shtick is what it is, but I think he is an interesting person. And so he's being syndicated. The first station,

I believe, the first radio station that picked up Jim Rome in syndication was Sports Radio 610 in Houston. That is why it was such a big deal. Like we tried as long as we could to keep Jim Rome because this was such an important affiliate to Jim. Cause I think it was like his first fucking one or certainly one of them. So it was a huge deal that we tried to maintain that eventually just, there were no numbers for it and there was no benefit. And we went local there, which was the right move. And that's why it's hard to be a syndicated radio personality now, because in the major day parts, nobody wants to air your shit because they need to make money and national shows aren't going to make money for you. They don't cost you anything, but they don't make you anything.

So you have to put on your own local shit to make revenue. That's how this works. But Rome was like the stern of sports talk radio. He'd have these big tours and like you'd go and they put in thousands of people in Minute Maid park to go see Jim Rome or they put in thousands of people at this bar or whatever. And he would go on these tours and have tour stops. And it was like the fucking sports radio Beatles. And that's why he's a hero of mine. I don't idolize these people that are on Fox sports radio because you get hired by Fox sports radio. You know what they do? They dump you on 200 stations across the country. And that sounds cool. You're like, holy shit, shit i'm on 200 stations the reality is you might be on one big one which

might be your home base which might be los angeles and then you're on a bunch of fucking des moines and poughkeepsie's and poplar bluffs and like no one even hears them the cows don't fucking hear them so like good for you i'd take the job if it was offered but it ain't the same as it used to be shit ain't what it used to be when it was offered, but it ain't the same as it used to be. Shit ain't what it used to be when it comes to syndication. And it's the same thing with Dan Patrick. Like, Dan Patrick makes no impact. The only time Dan Patrick makes news is when Dan Patrick talks about the good old days at ESPN or takes a shot at something happening on ESPN right now. Or if, like, a guest like Charles Barkley says something offensive and he might make news. That's it.

None of these people make an impact. Their days of making an impact are over in the national sports radio landscape. It just exists at this point. These people are not changing the game because most people don't even hear them because they don't even get clearances. And by clearances, I mean their show doesn't even run in most major cities. That's why like the overnight person has the edge. If you're the overnight person on one of these networks, you're going to be on every fucking station in the country might suck to work overnights, but you're going to get a fucking clearance at all these stations, you know? But yeah, I, um, I just, nobody makes that impact for me anymore, man. There's no one I listened to and I'm like, I got to hear their take on this. Part of it is because of oversaturation, podcast, everybody's got a voice. So it's not like

there's that one person you're turning to. There's not like that one person that you go, holy shit, like there's a big Luca trade. I got to see what fucking happened here. You don't get those anymore because who cares? And most of these people are full of shit anyway. So, you know, I guess the most impactful sports media person might be Stephen Smith or McAfee. Um, McAfee, I think is great. Just his whole, the vibe is great. Sometimes I think the show is annoying, but I think the overall gist of it and the overall building of it and what it's become is fucking awesome. And I admire the shit out of the guy for that. And I think that's killer. But when I look at these lists and it's like, let's take a look at the,

like Paul Feinbaum is the number six national sports radio show. Paul Feinbaum hasn't done a fucking interesting thing since his radio show left Alabama. Like, but there he is. Like basically you force people onto television. People have no other options on television, thus these people. Paul Feinbaum is not a good radio host. He's a dude that was a writer that became a radio host in Alabama,

built the show around a bunch of wacko callers, which was funny, and you're basically just making fun of these people. I like this. The number seven sports radio show in the country according to this is uh greenie mike greenberg's show greenie that show is canceled by the way it doesn't exist anymore congrats the shine on sports show with adam shine how many of you listen to the

shine on sports show with adam fucking shine on Mad Dog Radio. I really feel like Mad Dog Sports Radio has 11 listeners. And they're all in New York. It has to be. There's no way anybody's actually listening to this shit. Let's see here. On Sportsmanlike on ESPN Radio. Ain't nobody listening to that fucking shit. You know who has the best show out of all these people on this list?

Is Ben Maller. Ben Maller is the overnight guy on Fox Sports Radio. And it's just this weird, wacky, acerbic, like the kind of shit you should do overnight. Like instead of trying to do a legitimate sports show overnight, you go out and you do some wacky shit, talk to offbeat people, just make it wacky. And that's why I admire Ben Maler. I'm a big fan of his because like, that would be cool to do. If you were in a situation where it's like, Hey, uh, you want to do, you know, uh, national radio, do you want to do a national morning show? Not really. Cause no one's going to fucking listen to it. Cause it's not going to get

cleared in the top 40 markets in the country. So why would I do that? Do I, do you think I really care what the people in Cape Girardeau, Missouri are going to hear? I mean, national is overblown. It's overrated. It's pointless. The average person hears that and they go, wow, national.

And you can tell all your friends you're national. Cool. But are you in the big markets and are the big markets listening? And the reality is they're not. If you do overnights or nights, nights would work too because most stations are getting rid of night programming.

So even nights would be kind of cool. But you're also going to be covered up by sports on a lot of major stations too, like play-by-play. So that wouldn't be that great. But that overnight shift. Like to me, if you did like 10p to 2 in the morning, just with some real kooks listening, that would be fun. Like there were a couple of jobs that were open that I inquired about. Well, one in particular was a night talk job in Dallas. And it was 8 p.m. to midnight.

And it turns out they just didn't end up filling the job. And I talked to the guy about the job. And he likes me. He knows me, you know. And he's like, you'd be great, but we're not actually going to fill it. We're just going to put on some syndicated programming and save some money. Okay, cool. That works.

Appreciate you. But I thought it would have been fun to just get on the radio in a major American city on a frequency that blasts out across the country. You can pick it up almost anywhere at night. And, of course, you can listen to it online and all that shit, too. I thought it would have been fun to just sit around and just talk to offbeat wackos all fucking night and just do weird wacky shit. And that's why it was appealing to me. But because like that is true. Like when people talk about the night shit I did in Philadelphia, they're like, that was kind of your best shit. And like it was certainly more of what I enjoy doing because I don't take sports overly serious.

But of course, you know, to make money, you got to be the guy that's on, you know, in the afternoon or the morning. You can't be as kind of offbeat and acerbic and wacky. But that's kind of what I enjoy doing. Anyway, we'll get to some other stuff.