Phil Inzinga didn’t think it would work, but he really needed it to. The idea of hosting a sports radio show seemed crazy, maybe even borderline insane, but there was no way he could turn down the opportunity. Inzinga wasn’t a sports radio listener, nor did he have an extensive knowledge about sports. To be frank, he was limited in both of those areas when Larry Bastida, former GM of WWLS The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City, approached him about being a co-host in morning drive.
Inzinga’s radio credentials weren’t a question, he had been on the air in multiple markets across the country. But all of those stops were doing either country, contemporary hits or rock radio. Not a single minute of his career had been spent doing sports.
“To me, at the time, sports radio wasn’t good or bad, I was kind of indifferent to it,” said Inzinga. “But did I ever think in a million years I would be working in sports radio? The answer is no.”
Aside from his talent behind the mic, one thing that was very attractive to the Sports Animal was the special chemistry Inzinga had with his co-host Ron Benton, who goes by Spinozi on the radio. The duo had the type of chemistry each show strives for. Within minutes of listening to their show on Bob FM, a classic rock station, you knew their connection was different. Not only did they click, but they actually got along. Now that The Sports Animal had an opening in its morning drive slot, the station wanted a piece of it.
The initial plan was simple. Spinozi was brought over first to co-host with Carey Murdock and Curtis Fitzpatrick, to make sure the trio clicked.
“All the while, every morning, Curtis would come over and say, you know you’re next,” Inzinga said. “You’re coming with Spinozi. I said, Curtis, that’s a horrible idea.”
Unlike Inzinga, Spinozi had a background in sports radio, during his time in Baltimore. Talking sports was second nature to him.
“Once they brought Spinozi over I think the plan had always been to bring me with him but they wanted to make sure the chemistry was right between those three guys first,” Inzinga said. “I think they knew I was going to be fine, as far as chemistry and radio stuff.”
Though he was unsure on how he was going to adapt to talking sports every morning, Inzinga knew the path to success was to continue to be who he is and not try to be the sports guy he wasn’t. It was a new format, but his goal was to be the same funny, entertaining host he had always been.
“We kind of had a deal where we said, ok, we’ll give this a try, because I really didn’t think it would work,” Inzinga said. “We’re going to give it a try but we’re not going to change who we are or try to fill the roles of the previous two members of the show. We were going to do what we do on a sports radio show.”
Now, the challenging part was about to begin. Sure, Inzinga and Spinozi had an undeniably great chemistry, but they had to figure out how to mesh and connect with Murdock and Fitzpatrick on a similar level. Finding chemistry with two hosts can be tough enough, but a four-man show, where half of the hosts have limited sports radio experience? This was a huge gamble.
“The funny thing is, I’d say within 25 minutes of the first show, we just knew it was going to work,” Inzinga said. “We just knew it. Everybody got along and that’s really rare.”
There were two major factors that contributed to the seamless transition of Inzinga and Spinozi joining The Morning Animals. One, was the fact that everyone involved with the show was all-in on making it work. Nobody disagreed with bringing on two guys that were doing classic rock radio, nor did anyone disagree with retaining Murdock and Fitzpatrick. It was truly a team effort to make this bold decision work.
“But sometimes that’s not enough,” Inzinga said. “We got very lucky with the chemistry and it was one of those things where we all hit it off right away. The cool thing about our show is we’ll fight and argue on the air but it’s never personal. It’s always about the show and we’ve always been able to work things out. But chemistry is the biggest part of that show.”
The second biggest factor, and the most important one, is the fact that each host knows his role and never has a big enough ego to disrupt the flow of the show. As rare as that is, it’s what makes The Morning Animals as successful as it is. Inzinga plays that role perfectly. He may not have the extensive sports knowledge Murdock or Fitzpatrick has, but he also doesn’t pretend that he does. His role is to be funny and bring the entertainment aspect to the show, which he does perfectly. He never thought in a million years he’d do sports radio, but now, you can’t have The Morning Animals without Inzinga.
“Everybody knows their role on our show and that’s incredibly important,” Inzinga said. “ It’s very established characters, I use the term character, they’re not really characters, it’s us being ourselves, but the personalities are very defined. You know which guys are talking. There’s no ego involved, literally, our thought is we just want the show to sound great, because if that happens, then we all will be good.”
Inzinga has been a part of The Morning Animals since 2013 and has seen his show near the top of the BSM Top 20 for best morning show multiple times. He doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon, but he also doesn’t ever envision himself turning into a hot-take sports guy. There’s really no need to when he’s surrounded by the co-hosts he currently has.
“I’ve got three guys, three alpha males, who are incredibly knowledgeable about sports,” Inzinga said. “That’s why it’s so great for me because I don’t have to be as knowledgeable as they are. I clearly have to know who’s playing who on what day, but as far as the meat and potatoes and intricacies of sports, that’s what the fellas do. What I do is kind of the showbiz aspect to it to make sure we transition in and out of breaks cleanly. There’s comedic elements to most of what we do. We want to make a show where you may not be the most sports savvy person, but you can certainly tune in and understand what we’re talking about.”
What listeners may not know is Inzinga is way more involved with the show than just being the funny co-host who talks about whether it’s ok to eat rotisserie chicken in the car. Essentially, he’s the maestro of the show, doubling as the executive producer. It seems to be a trend in radio that one of the co-hosts is also the producer and running the board. It works, yes, but it’s a cost-cutting measure that many hosts aren’t necessarily a fan of. Inzinga enjoys being the executive producer and co-host of his show, but doesn’t necessarily want every show to move in that direction.
“We have a really lucky situation with four co-hosts and a producer on top of me producing,” Inzinga said. “When I’m driving the show I have a guy to cut up audio while I’m on the air. That’s our guy Q-tip. We love him and we’ve gotten lucky two times in a row with producers, before him we had Michael Doughty, who’s just amazing. Do I think it’s in the future, yeah, it probably is. The more they can cut costs the happier corporate radio is. Once you lose something you barely get it back. Yeah I think it unfortunately might be the future, and it’s something you can definitely do, but I don’t like it. I like shows that sound big and fun and funny.”
I couldn’t agree more with Inzinga. Make me laugh, be relatable and don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s like these guys have that painted on a wall in the studio, because they seem to achieve those three things every show. That’s what makes them such an easily likeable show. Also, it’s easy to like a show when you can tell all of the hosts like each other.
“Spinozi, I love that he’s been living a beer commercial since I’ve known him,” laughed Inzinga. “He’s literally living the life and that’s not an exaggeration. He’s living the life of a 90’s beer commercial and it hasn’t stopped.
“I love Carey’s vinyl collecting,” continued Inzinga. “I love all the stuff he does that’s not sports related. He’s such a quirky guy and I love the quirks. He’s a single guy with a disposable income like you would not believe. He’s living a very fun life.”
“Curtis keeps the show honest and professional,” added Spinozi. “He’s like an encyclopedia or a walking, talking sports almanac. And Curtis can be surprisingly funny when he wants to be.”
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
