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Josh Innes Details Houston Exit In New Podcast

“When he was initially let go in March, Innes pointed to budgeting reasons as to why he parted ways with the station, but during his recent podcast, the radio host claimed one of their top salespeople refused to sell his show.”

Brandon Contes

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Six months after being let go by SportsTalk 790 KBME in Houston, Josh Innes launched two daily podcasts on Monday, one centered on Philadelphia sports and the other Houston-based.  

The free agent radio host’s most recent tenure on terrestrial airwaves ended in March, after nearly two years in morning drive on iHeartMedia’s SportsTalk 790 in Houston.  It was the second tenure in Houston for Innes, who also had a stint on WIP in Philadelphia.  

Joined by his fiance Jilly, Innes aired both podcasts back to back, with plans to release daily episodes lasting between 45 minutes and one hour for each city.  During his Houston podcast, Innes detailed some of the drama that led to his departure from SportsTalk 790 in March, including his antics causing the station getting kicked off radio row at the Super Bowl in 2018.     

According to Innes, his relationship with the station started to fracture even before the Super Bowl incident.  Innes specifically pointed to 2017, when his 790 colleague, Adam Clanton allegedly shared a picture of Josh wearing a Russell Westbrook t-shirt.  Josh didn’t get along with the radio station’s broadcast partner, the Houston Rockets, and being shown supporting a rival player didn’t help to improve the relationship.  Clanton, who Josh referred to as a “horrid human being,” was later fired and then rehired by SportsTalk 790 and currently serves as the station’s afternoon host.  

Ultimately Josh’s departure from KBME was fueled by finances.  When he was initially let go in March, Innes pointed to budgeting reasons as to why he parted ways with the station, but during his recent podcast, the radio host claimed one of their top salespeople refused to sell his show.  “790 doesn’t care about ratings, they care about revenue and sales,” Josh said, noting that he couldn’t help the station make money if there were salespeople who didn’t like him.  

“I did everything they asked me to do, that is a fact,” Innes said, adding that he went on plenty of sales calls.  “People probably think I was some insubordinate asshole there, I did what they asked me to do.”

Innes agreed it might not have been the best idea to go after co-workers at the station, but that’s how he does his show.  According to Innes, he doesn’t think 790 paid attention to the type of host they hired when they brought him back to Houston a few years ago.  The station saw his ratings success at previous stops and weren’t concerned about the approach he took to the airwaves every day.  In the end, it was that same unfiltered, cutthroat approach that led to a broken relationship and his feeling of being “unwanted” by the station.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

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Mike Mulligan: Sports Radio is More Difficult Than Other Formats Think

He shared that he has worked with people on morning shows that he has seen come to a station fully hungover who play music and proceed to sit on the couch.

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Mike Mulligan
Courtesy: Illinois Entertainer

On Friday morning’s edition of Mully & Haugh on 670 The Score in Chicago, co-host Mike Mulligan outlined the difference with music radio that hosts are not continuously talking to the audience, instead taking mic breaks and then interspersing commentary with different songs.

Filling in for David Haugh on Friday’s edition of the program was Gabe Ramirez, who used to work in the format with B96 as the host of its morning show. Mulligan’s assertion about the differences between the two formats resulted in a conversation about the differences between the grenres, with Ramirez explaining the difficulties that music radio hosts face on the air.

“The music station’s still creating content,” Ramirez said. “You get to have a guest – since I am going to defend my music stations – you get to have a guest and toss them a softball question and listen to them rant for five minutes.”

Mulligan disagreed with this perspective, conveying that he does not feel their program provides guests with easy questions. Additionally, he shared that he has worked with people on morning shows that he has seen come to a station fully hungover who play music and proceed to sit on the couch.

“As a former sportswriter, we sit around and we talk about sports,” Mulligan said. “We talk about the sports we cover and we talk about other sports.”

“You have to talk about Justin Fields seven days in a row,” Ramirez replied. “As a morning show for music, you have to come up with new content every day.”

Rather than taking umbrage towards the response, Mike Mulligan explained that the key to effectively performing his job is being able to discuss important stories of the day even when they are not the headlines. Furthermore, he expounded on the commitment that it takes to watch the amount of sporting events and to be properly informed on the action so he is able to take the air.

“That I will agree with,” Ramirez said. “I’ve told people this – they ask me, ‘What’s the biggest difference?’ The prep, without question, is way more difficult in sports radio because everyone that’s listening to you already knows the answers and you have to be equally if not more informed in all of those things.”

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Minnesota Twins Set to Tab Cory Provus as New TV Voice, Kris Atteberry as Lead Radio Announcer

Provus has been the radio voice of the Minnesota Twins since 2012.

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Minnesota Twins

After Dick Bremer exited the Minnesota Twins TV booth in October, the search began for his replacement. The MLB franchise didn’t have to look far, though.

Twins radio voice Cory Provus is reportedly set to become the new TV play-by-play broadcaster for the club, according to a report from Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

Provus has been the radio voice of the Minnesota Twins since 2012. Many immediately tabbed him as the club’s replacement for Bremer, who retired after 40 seasons as the lead television voice of the American League club. Before joining the team in 2012, Provus worked for the Milwaukee Brewers as the number two broadcaster after spending two seasons as the radio pregame host for the Chicago Cubs.

Meanwhile, Kris Atteberry has been signaled as the person set to replace Provus inside the franchise’s radio booth. He has served as the pregame and postgame host for the Minnesota Twins Radio Network since 2007. Atteberry joined the club after spending five years calling games for the then-Independent St. Paul Saints from 2002-2006.

While the television and radio broadcast crews appear set, questions remain about where the team will televise its games in 2024. The club’s contract with Bally Sports North has reportedly expired, and it has yet to sign an agreement with the bankruptcy-laden RSN, or with a local over-the-air television station.

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Joe Giglio: Bonta Hill, Joe Shasky Need to Stop Trashing 94WIP Listeners

“We gotta stop the ‘lowlife’, ‘scumbag’, thing about Philadelphia fans. We haven’t crushed your fans once.”

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A photo of Joe Giglio
(Photo: Audacy)

In one of the biggest games of the NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles are set to host the San Francisco 49ers. A war of words has ensued between 95.7 The Game and 94WIP hosts, but Joe Giglio believes there is one area and trope that needs to end.

On Friday, 95.7 The Game’s morning show — hosted by Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky — joined 94WIP’s midday show hosted by Joe Giglio and Hugh Douglas.

The two shows traded barbs with one another before Giglio called out Hill and Shasky for their comments about Philadelphia locals and 94WIP listeners. Last season, the pair ventured to Philadelphia for the NFC Championship Game, and have repeatedly spoken poorly about the city and the Eagles’ fanbase.

After Shasky mentioned the show’s parody song “Cry Eagles Cry” — a play on the franchise’s famous song and chant “Fly Eagles Fly” — Joe Giglio shared his displeasure with the pair.

“That song was one of the dopiest things I’ve ever heard on the radio,” Giglio said. “It was so dopey, the Cry Eagles Cry thing.”

“It was one of our highest-rated shows ever, I’m not gonna lie,” Hill responded. “So, thank you, Philadelphia.”

“That’s good. You take that and run with it. But guys? We gotta stop the ‘lowlife’, ‘scumbag’, thing about Philadelphia fans. We haven’t crushed your fans once. You guys were crushed. And maybe one of your dummy callers that called into us, but you gotta stop. The way you’ve painted everyone for the past year, it’s just wrong. Whatever your experience was, that’s not everyone here, guys.”

Earlier this week, Hill and Shasky described Eagles fans with the words Giglio described. 94WIP host Jon Marks didn’t take kindly to the remarks, either, which led 95.7 The Game to publish videos of the treatment the morning duo received when they visited Philadelphia as proof that the pair received harsh treatment.

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