The Josh Innes Show - You're Not That Important

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

After seeing Angel Reese intimate that the WNBA players will strike if they don't get what they want, I find myself baffled by people not realizing they aren't that important. We are in this era where everyone believes they are worth more than they are. Why? What has caused this overinflated sense of self? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Toyota, for what matters most. So I was watching this show, Running Point is what it's called. And it's a fine little show on Netflix. It's kind of based on Jeannie Buss' life. And it stars Kate Hudson as the now kind of like owner slash president of an LA-based basketball team and it's fine. It's passable. It's not the funniest shit I've ever seen. It's a Mindy Kaling produced show and honestly, as annoying as she seems, she produces some pretty funny television programs, particularly a show called Never Have I Ever, which is a fantastic show on Netflix.

And it's over now, but I forgot how many seasons there are, three, four, something like that. It is a great, great, great teen girl show. It sounds ridiculous, but it is a great, funny, outstanding show that if you've never watched Never Have I Ever, you should watch it. This show is fine. It's not nearly as good as never have I ever like like when I watch this show it's one of those shows that I watch and I and after I'm done watching an episode I'm just kind of like it's fine like I give it a Larry David okay like that's kind of how I feel about it passable fine but there's a scene in one of the episodes of this show where this guy, and I forgot the exact setup for it,

but some low-level dude in the organization says something, and I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the context of the scene, but he's like, oh, I just cost the team the championship or whatever. And Kate Hudson, I think it was, no, I don't know that Kate Hudson said it, but I don't know that kate hudson said it if it was brenda song who i love brenda song by the way don't we just love brenda song we love her

uh love brenda song but uh she says you're not that important and i find that to be arguably the most important thing you can tell anyone ever is that you're not that important. Now, of course, I don't mean like in your life, everybody's life matters to some degree and you're important to somebody and all that shit. I'm talking from just a outside of your life, from like a business standpoint. I believe that telling people you're not that important, but more importantly, people understanding that they're not that important is very important. I think you should believe in yourself. I think you should know what you're worth, but you have to have a realistic understanding and expectation of what you are worth.

And your business matters for that. Your surroundings. There's a lot of factors. Look at a guy like Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. Smith just signs a $100 million deal to stay at ESPN. And people are all over the internet saying that Stephen A. Smith ruined ESPN and he doesn't get this money and blah blah blah. Or like when Pat McAfee got his big deal in that licensing deal with ESPN. And everybody bitched about all the

legitimate credible reporters that are being fired so Pat McAfee could have a blah blah blah right you hear this all the time from people yet Stephen A Smith is arguably not arguably he is the biggest star on ESPN SportsCenter isn't the biggest star nobody on SportsCenter is the biggest star. Nobody on SportsCenter is the biggest star. It's not Dan Orlovsky. It's not Ryan Clark. The biggest star on ESPN is Stephen A. Smith. That's how they wanted it to be, and that's how it is. You don't have to like him. You don't have to watch it. A lot of people don't. But what's funny is I hear so many people, this was a big thing last week whenever the news about Stephen A. Smith getting this new deal broke, and people are talking about how bad the coverage is. And then of course, LeBron is like confronts him about his son and people are like, this guy ruined ESPN and blah, blah, blah. I want to go back to the glory

days of real reporters like Stuart Scott. I'm like, bro, Stuart Scott literally got famous saying booyah and cool as the other side of the pillow the most overrated era of anything is 1990s espn people wax so poetic about it then you look back on it and you're like holy shit this is all hacky and terrible and lame like it was nice i watched it and you know whatever but like you look back on it you're like let me tell you who was amazing was was dan patrick oh because he said the whiff. Like that's the kind of shit, like that's the hacky bullshit that we look back on so favorably now. People talk about now like we're in the worst era of anything ever media wise.

Yet we sat there and jerked each other off over listening to a guy goes, you know, they're not gonna get him. Like that's what we did but anyway so Stephen A. Smith he is clearly important to ESPN and he has been paid like he is important right he knows he's important so he could do the shit that he did they've propped him up uh to be as important as he is therefore he can hold them hostage for shit that he wants he He can say, I also want opportunities to go do politics. They value him as their most important asset. They view Stephen A. Smith as more important to ESPN than they view baseball. He's obviously pretty fucking important, right? So he can do what? And you can mock him and say, oh, all the shit that he sucks. Guy's making a hundred million dollars because somebody sees him as valuable. Now on the discussion of you're not that important,

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it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos so you're not that important, which is also in the Bible from what I understand. I think Jesus or one of his buds said that. You're not that important. Some people fail to understand that they're not important because we are in an era where kids from like the moment they're born are told that they matter more than they do. They're told they're more important than they actually are. When I was a kid, I knew my dad loved me. I knew my mom loved me and my dad would dote on me or whatever. But my dad would also say shit to me like, Josh, what color is the fucking sky in your world? Or build a bridge and get over it, right? My dad loved me, still does

from what I gather. But I never thought that I was important or special, right? I never believed that about myself. At least I don't believe that I was ordained special. Like I wasn't shat out of the womb and just because I'm here, I'm special and I matter. We're in an era where people think they matter way too much and they don't understand that they're not that important. And I think social media has been the biggest issue with that. I think social media,

you get a couple of followers, people respond to your shit. You think your commentary on shit matters. And then boom, you think you matter a lot more than you do. It is important to remember that you are not that important. And I've dealt with that throughout my life. And I, now I do think that a healthy ego and a little bit of delusional helps. I don't possess delusional. I wish I did. Like, I wish that I believe that I was more important because I think it might actually help me. My dad will talk to me every day. He's like, Josh, why do you say so many negative things about yourself? I said, dad, I'm just realistic. You know what I'm saying? Like I view myself as a realist in a lot of situations because as we've talked about on this podcast before,

I know how the sausage is made. I work in radio. I'm friends with a lot of management people. Here in St. Louis, the management people for whatever reason would tell me everything. They would tell me who they were gonna fire. They would tell me what people were making. I don't know why they told me all this shit, but they did.

I know too much about how the sausage is made in a lot of instances. So I know essentially what I'm worth. The problem we run into like in my profession is, is you got a bunch of people in their mid twenties who've been told from the time they were shot out of the womb that they're super important and they believe they are owed something. They don't pay attention to, oh, by the way, you work for a company whose stock is crashing or, oh, you know, you're, you're in an industry where people are getting fired every 10 minutes in massive layoffs, right? They don't think about that. They're just in their own little world. And in their own little world, they feel like they are owed something and they should be making more. I saw a dude that was like

the fifth person on a Chicago radio show decide that he had to get out of the job because it wasn't paying that much. And he did a whole post about how he asked for a raise and then was like, well, they didn't give me the raise that I felt that I deserve, so I'm quitting. Like, friend, you're the fifth person on a show. They'll find another you and they'll probably find it for cheaper than what they were paying you. Like, I don't like that that's the way of the world, but it is the way of the world. And we have too many people who believe they are far more important than they actually are. Like me right now, if somebody offered me a radio job making $50,000, something like that, I take it because I understand that where I am is not in a position of great import or in a position of power, right? I can tell you about every situation I've ever been in

and what kind of power versus not power that I had in those situations. When I took the job in Nashville, they paid me $60,000. Well, what was I going to do? Say, no, I didn't have a job. But Josh, you were making like four times that, five times that when you were in Houston at 790. Yeah. And I got that because I was in a position of power because they wanted me at 790 when I was at WIP so they paid me that money but I couldn't go to Nashville and be like 60,000 I don't know man I was just making you know two bills two stacks over it's Houston I'm gonna hold out and wait for that and it's like no i called my dad when that happened and i said dad they want me to go to nashville it's a two-year deal they want to pay me 60 and then 65 and he

goes what the fuck's the question i'm like well i mean should i take it that means the fuck josh are you fucking stupid like my again my dad always has this like no nonsense about certain shit like this josh are you a fucking moron like yes you take that you get back in the game and that's how you do it and then you prove that you're valuable and then when that two years is up they'll pay you more and if they don't then whatever make yourself valuable so i go there and i'm there for almost two years we had a couple of really huge ratings books. And lo and behold, I'm there and they offer me a raise of like 20. I think for the next two years, it would have been a raise of 20. And then the next year, 10 more on top of that. So it went from 65,000 to 85 one year and

95 the next. That's what they offered me in that. And I'm like, fuck, that's pretty good. And then of course, Casey called and they paid me a whole fuck ton more than that. But that was a disaster. And it is what it is. I'm not telling you all these numbers to brag or anything like that, because they're really not braggable numbers. I mean, I guess you could argue that being a dipshit that talks on the radio, I'm already making way too much as it is. So I get that. But I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying it to give you an example of why you're not that important, right? And I learned this early as a young guy in this industry because let's say when I got the first job in Houston at 610, I was making $35,000. When they moved me to afternoons, I want to say they bumped me up to 52, 51, 53, somewhere like that. Also, the guy I was doing the show with, Rich Lord, was no doubt a six figures bass guy and had a bunch of money with endorsements. He was making really good money.

I never knew how much he actually made bass, but he made a lot. He was doing well for himself. He had been there forever. He helped launch the station, basically. He was making cash. And I would tell myself like, Josh, you're the guy that sounds great and everything. Why are you making half of what this guy's making? And it's like, because he's bringing in the revenue because he's got the name and he's

on that. And that's why he's making more than you make yourself more important. Don't sit there and beg people for shit and complain that you're not getting what you think you're owed. Go get what you you'll create a brand for yourself, make yourself more important. What does that have to do with anything, right? We're talking about Stephen A. Smith, we're talking about $100 million, people say he's not worth that, ESPN says he is.

Well, all that matters in the you're not that important conversation because Angel Reese says that WNBA players are going to strike if their demands are not met. I don't know that there is a group of people who fit into the category of you're not that important in the context that we're discussing it more than WNBA players. You are not that important. There is one player that people give a shit about. And because they gave a shit about that and your old girl here talks shit to that chick.

It's made a story and, you know, there's some level of appeal that more than it used to be. But it's not like people are beating down the doors to watch the WNBA or talk about the WNBA. Largely, nobody cares. But these are people who lack the ability to read the room. Your business loses $50 million a year. And according to a Washington Post story, it's losing $50 million a year because now they have to charter flights for these chicks. So it costs them $25 million a year to charter flights. Like if I were these players in the WNBA, here's what I would do. I'd go, you know what? We're kind of lucky that this thing kind of fell into our lap the way it has because Angel Reese talked some shit to Caitlin Clark and it became a thing for five minutes. Instead of going like, we demand charter flights,

perhaps say, you know, if they're not spending $25 million on charter flights, maybe that $25 million could go to us. Now, maybe it wouldn't, but like people lack the ability to like look at these things and think like, like they have no sense. People in this era lack just common business sense and common sense in general because

they've been told they're great forever because they got 150,000 followers on TikTok and Facebook and people blow them so they think they are more important than they actually are. Can you imagine being in a business that loses $50 million a year and you're like, well, fuck you. I'm not going to work unless I get more money. Where's it coming from? Where's that raise that you think you're worth? Where's that coming from? Oh, is it going to come more from the NBA who floats you? You exist because of LeBron and Dwayne Wade and Michael Jordan and everybody else. That's why you exist. But again, people lack a common understanding of you're not that important.

Like me, looking at a radio situation. Like, yes, I've made a shitload of money relative to radio people, and I've made a lot less than a lot of people, right? But as I sit here today, I understand that a lot less than a lot of people. Right. But as I sit here today, I understand that I am not in a position of power with anybody. There's no one that's going to come to me and I'm going to, they're going to say, Josh, we'll pay you a 40 grand, 50 grand to do this job. And I say, I can't take any less than a hundred. I'm not in that position because I work in an industry that currently is not that important. And I am a pimple on a bull, a frog's ass, a tick's ass. I'm a pimple on a tick's ass in the grand scheme of things.

But I can understand that. Now you put me on a radio station. I'm cooking for two years. We're getting big numbers and generating revenue. Then I'm in a position of power. So maybe the WNBA players are the most powerful they've ever been, but you're still not that powerful and you're not that important. But nobody will tell them that because people are afraid to tell people they're not important. They're afraid to tell people you don't matter. They're afraid to tell people to just shut the fuck up. People don't tell people these things anymore. They don't have a dad that says, build a bridge and get over it. Or what color is the sky in your world? I told you this before.

My dad, for all of his faults, he actually gives pretty solid advice when he's paying attention. And when I had the job in Nashville, my dad said, you got a good gig. Nashville's a hopping city. This is a good spot. Take the $60,000. You ain't getting anything better than that. I'm like, well, dad, I'd never done music radio. He goes, you'll figure it out. Go. So I did. When I was offered the situation at KC 95, here's how it came about. Give you a little insight here. So I got, you know, the way these contracts are structured in radio, at least with places I've been, many of them have the only exclusive negotiating window, right? So they have this long period where only you can negotiate with them and you can't talk to anybody else. And it's usually up until about two months are left in your contract, then you can start talking to people. What they hope is that they'll get you locked up before you can have a

chance to talk to anyone. It actually fucking sucks. I'd like to have the opportunity to just see what else is out there. And if nothing else, why do you get the exclusivity? But it's a contract, you sign it, it is what it is. So my window where I'm allowed to talk to other people literally opened up on a Friday. And I shit you not on that very Friday. I already had the deal in front of me. They changed a couple of things. I was going to sign the deal, and I shit you not. Friday morning, I get a Facebook message from somebody who's a radio industry type person, not a programmer or anything, but a person who has been. It says, I have a job opportunity for you. If you're happy where you are you are don't worry but if you're even

remotely curious give me a call all right fine so I have my agent call and she says here's the situation KC 95 well it's St. Louis the city of St. Louis I'm like oh shit great and they said it's probably KC 95 I'm like well shit I want it let's go and and she's like I'll see what I can do I mean this has to come together quick I had an iHeart deal it was a whole deal so and again I wasn't trying to do it to be sneaky but I wasn't

allowed to talk with anybody for months this one thing falls in my lap the day I'm about to sign this other contract for a big raise and okay fine so I call my dad and I'm like, Dad, you're not going to fucking believe this, but they want to hire me at KC95. And he goes, that's great, Josh,

but remember, if you leave iHeart and take that job, that job is no longer there. And he's told me that for, I know, I'm sure I've told you guys this before but that is some of the greatest advice you could ever get when you get this great offer that job offers no longer there anymore and the job you had isn't there anymore so that's why my dad never left the job he had in Baton Rouge to take it at the other place that was in town because once he leaves this place then that job is taken and then there are no more

jobs. Maybe you might view that as bad advice. I think it's pretty good advice, but I wasn't hearing it at that point. So I'm like, dad, it's fucking Casey. It's St. Louis. It's the Cardinals. It's everything. It's my favorite baseball team. It's the station you used to want to work for. I'm taking the fucking job and it's going to be more money. So I ended up getting on the phone with the people in St. Louis. They call me on Sunday. I get a call on Sunday. I'm at a Night Ranger concert because that's what I do. They call and they say, listen, man, I just don't think we're going to be able to make this thing work out. It doesn't really make sense. We'd love to have you here. They basically tried to get their morning guy to go

to another city and hire me to do mornings. Shh, don't tell. But that was kind of how they pitched it to me initially was we'd love to have you come do mornings. Our morning show's not very good. We're going to see if we can get this guy out, whatever. Didn't happen that way. And I said, can I come to town and meet you? They're like, well, there's no real need to because, you know, it's like, listen, I'll do afternoons. Can I do afternoons? That's where I made the mistake. I shouldn't have done that. I should have just said, you know what?

This is a sign because they were even like in two years, we'll call you again. It's fine. We want you. We'll figure something out if the time it works out. But in my mind, I'm like, that's never going to happen. I got to do this now. So I said, what if I did afternoons? And then I flew myself to St. Louis. I drank with these guys for 10 hours in an Italian restaurant. I fly back that night. I go to work on Tuesday because I flew out Monday, come back to work Tuesday, get a text at about 839 in the morning, says offers there. We want you in St. Louis afternoons, Casey. And I'm like, fuck, yeah go. And, uh, and that's how it all played out.

But again, back to the advice that people give you, you know, once you take that job, that job is no longer there. But all that said to the point of being important and you not being that important, somebody has to like, there's gotta be someone that was, I told that whole story because you think about your dad and the advice. There's got to be people that advise these people. People view sports as a way to gamble. They view sports as a way to play fantasy sports, especially basketball, baseball, nowhere near as popular as they used to be. So you can think you're having a moment, and you are, and maybe you might be worth more than $75,000 a year, but you have to know where you are and who you are.

I see these graphics all the time. Caitlin Clark only made $57,000 playing basketball this year. And when B made 12 million, because the W NBA is not as important as like literally when B pays their salary. Right. So like, you got to know your place and like, like, and that sounds like, Oh, that's sexist. No, that's for anybody, man, woman, black, white, you have to know your place in the pecking order. But people don't want to do that. I always say this about sports.

I think that athletes, just as the same with actors and radio people, they think and operate in this world where sports will exist forever, like they must exist, like the NFL must exist. The NBA must exist. It doesn't. They're just businesses, right? It's not like here in America, it is a law that there must be an NBA. The NBA could fold. I mean, it won't, but it could, it's a business. The WNBA could fold. Look at the number of teams that folded. The Houston Comets won what four NBA or WNBA titles and folded. Like's a business it is not a given right you are fortunate that you are good at something and that people want to pay you to do

it you're only worth as much as an audience wants to see you there are people that used to make 20 million dollars a picture like Will Ferrell from like night I'd say 2002 to about 2000, maybe 10, untouchable. Guy's making millions of dollars movie, but all of his movies are making millions of dollars and he's a fucking stud, right? Will Ferrell, no one even watches Will Ferrell movies anymore. Like you're only worth as much as, and especially in a business like entertainment or basketball sports, as much as people will pay to see you do it. And they only exist because of that.

If people stop going to the movie theaters, which a lot of people have, you're going to start seeing more closed-down movie theaters. You don't just have to have movie theaters. They don't just exist because they should. If people don't go, then the movies don't exist. And that's my point with the WNBA or any league for that matter. But the WNBA in particular, because the people in the WNBA seem to have no actual sense of what they're truly worth and what their value is. I guarantee Angel Reese is making a fuck ton of money doing endorsements and shit because that's where her value is. Like the idea of Angel Reese, the McDonald's spots, the makeup spots, the magazine covers. That's where her value is. Like the idea of Angel Reese, the McDonald's spots,

the makeup spots, the magazine covers. That's where her value is. Your value is not as a fucking basketball player because your league has no value. If you're losing $50 million and you're being funded by another league to stay afloat, you don't have value as a player because the league doesn't matter. Caitlin Clark, I'm sure, is doing very well.

Oh, no, Wimby makes $12 million to play for the Spurs. Great. Guess what? She's not poor. She's making money because her value is as a spokesperson, a pitch model, whatever. A spokesmodel. Like, That's who these people are. Dude, LeBron makes hundreds of million dollars in endorsements, right? That's where value is. But there's also value in playing in the NBA. The WNBA doesn't have that value. So to say,

we're going to strike, then fucking strike. But know this, if you think that you're in trouble now, remember baseball, when baseball struck and didn't have the World Series in 94, right? Baseball, you could argue, never actually recovered from that. Now, maybe time was part of the issue and like maybe, you know, in 2025, baseball just wasn't going to matter as much as it did in 1993 anyway. But when baseball went on strike, there was a work stoppage in 1994. Baseball was kind of out of sight, out of mind. It wasn't nearly as important to people as it was.

Then McGuire and Sosa happened, and it was fun for a while, and it had a moment. Now here we are in 2025, and ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, does not give a shit about baseball. That's where we are. If baseball doesn't strike, who knows what happens in 1994. So if you're the WNBA and you're thinking, oh, I got to make, you know, because you want to make what? $15,000 more. You want like, what do you think you're going to get? Do you think they're going to go from paying you $57,000 a year to paying you $250,000 a year? You think they're going to pay you five times what they're paying you now? It doesn't make sense. Business-wise, it doesn't make sense.

Common sense would tell you that. If I'm Angel Reese, I'm like, fuck it. I'm just going to ride this wave of playing basketball. I'm going to keep flashing my McDonald's spots on TV, getting paid, doing my podcasts and shit. You have to be able to notice and recognize this but they don't and by they i mean this era of people they have no sense of knowing that you're not that important and if you knew that you'd appreciate what you got i'm like by the way angel reese go get whatever you can as a as a person doing commercials that's your value there's worth there but sitting there saying we're not

gonna play anymore because you know we're not getting paid what we think we should be getting paid ma'am you're in the w fucking npa you're not that important anyway more to come