I gotta say, perhaps the most predictable thing ever in the annals of RADIO WARS – more so than even the inevitable personality clash between Josh Innes and sports talk radio pioneer Tony Bruno – was Innes and WIP Program Director Spike Eskin – a sidekick on the show but technically Innes’ boss – blending about as gently as a giant drum of motor oil and a fire… at a gas station. It’s not a question of if there will be an explosion, it’s a matter of when? and how big? And in the words of Jimmy Fallon doing Donald Trump, it’s going to be huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Innes and Eskin had yet another on-air snip-fest yesterday. I swear I’m not going to keep playing into their publicity game, but this one was too good, too sad, to pass up [thanks to Jim on the transcribe]:

Spike Eskin: I don’t wanna have any more conversations about the show on the show.

Josh Innes: Okay, but this is what I do. What I do is I have conversations on the show about the show.

SE: Okay, but if I am honest with you about it are you just going to pout about it during the next segment and just take the calls and mow through them?

Hollis Thomas: [very loud sigh]

JI: I’m not pouting.

HT: * mumbling *

SE: Well, hold on Hollis.

HT: Oh, he’s angry now. I was just gonna make a small point.

SE: The last time I was honest about it, then it turned into a whole thing.

JI: I’m good. So just tell me, why am I wrong about [people only remembering the negatives on the show and not the positives]?

SE: Because we haven’t talked about anything substantial for the first 80 minutes of the show. So if you want to get on the air and troll people into calling and prove that you can troll people into calling, then sure … You know how the phones work here. The phones work, as you get them going, they work even more. So your first 8 minutes on the air you got a bunch of people to call, and then when you switched, more people called. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove. That people respond to negativity? Yes. But they also respond to positivity. They respond to things they want to agree or disagree with. I don’t know how many times I have to say it. Just be honest and have strong opinions about things, because that’s what we do, and it will work.

JI: You don’t like talking about the show on the show?

SE: I don’t like talking about the same thing over and over.

JI: Let me ask you this …

SE: You turn me into like, some hall-pass having bully or whatever.

JI: The bullies don’t have a hall pass. That’s the hall monitor.

SE: You turned me into the hall monitor.

JI: But let me ask you this, as I do, because we put the show together: This is what I’ve always done on the show. This is what I do on the show. These are things I talk about.

SE: Yeah, and by the way, the reason that we were doing no call screening Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever is because three people on the internet told you your afternoon show isn’t like your night show. Right? Am I right or am I wrong?

JI: Okay, so? But this is what I’ve always done.

SE: So if you’d like to program for three people … Dude, do you need to start with me because Andy’s not here? Like do you need to find some sort of authority figure to start with because Andy isn’t here, is that what it is?

JI: I like debating with you because you and I disagree on things. We have a natural disagreement. You disagree with the way I do things.

SE: No, that’s not true.

JI: But you do.

 

This was merely the appetizer. Innes and Eskin having a “natural disagreement” is about as shocking as learning that Kate Winslet wore a merkin The Reader. Like we thought mayyyyyyybe there’s a chance… nah. What followed, however – Eskin, deliciously, questioning Innes’ work ethic – shows just how far the show has devolved in just over a month or so. This one requires audio:

SE: Yes, I disagree with the fact that you came in here with nothing to talk about today. Yes. That’s what I disagree with.

JI: Really? What did you have to talk about today?

SE: It’s not the Spike Eskin Show, is it Josh? Like, I wasn’t the one talking about all my ratings bonuses yesterday, was I? Because it’s not the Spike Eskin show, is it? So when your name is on the billboards, when it’s the Josh Innes show … if you’d like for it to be the Spike Eskin Show and for me to come in prepared, than I’d be glad to. But when you’re the one who tells me that when football season starts it’s going to be mostly Josh Innes, not time for Spike and Tank, and Spike says ‘Absolutely, no problem with it.’ Then it’s the Josh Innes Show. So until it becomes the Spike Eskin Show, then you’re the one responsible. OR, until before the show you come in and say ‘Hey, what do you think we should talk about today?’

JI: Don’t I ask you that every day?

SE: No.

JI: I didn’t see you today, sir, where were you?

SE: I was in meetings doing my other job. While you were playing songs in your office.

JI: Well, if you’re gonna call me out, I mean, you took the job.

SE: Yes, I was here at 12:30. How many questions did you ask me about the show?

JI: I did not see you.

SE: Yes, you did. I walked in …

JI: You walked in, we were listening to music. I was thinking about things to talk about.

SE: How many questions did you ask me about what we should talk about on the show?

JI: I did not, in this case I did not.

SE: And yesterday, how many questions did you ask me about things you should talk about on the show?

JI: I did not see you at times …

SE: Because you came in, and you shut your door in your office, and you sulked until the ratings came out.

JI: I did not sulk.

SE: Yes, you did.

JI: I was prepping for the show.

SE: Okay.

JI: Okay, great.

 

Great.

UPDATE: The immediate reaction on Twitter is that this is a ploy and a publicity stunt. From my limited interaction with both of them, I don’t doubt that there’s a drop of showmanship here, but I also don’t doubt that both are genuinely strong-willed and opinionated and perhaps a little bit crazy. There is literally no shot this works over the long-term. Once again, if WIP is really sold on Innes being the future – that’s debatable – then they should just let him do the show by himself. All co-hosts serve to do is suppress him and make things awkward.

audio via 94.1 WIP, CBS Sports Radio