Andrea Knox was so excited she could hardly stand it. If you understood the special mother-son bond she shared with her son Jonas, you’d better understand the magnitude of the situation.
Listening to the radio with his mom was a huge part of Jonas Knox’s childhood. The two routinely spent long hours in the car together, meaning the radio was always playing. Most of the time it was on sports radio, which is where Knox’s passion for the business was ignited at a young age. He even called sports radio stations as a kid. The thought of being on the radio was cool, but the added element of sports talk blew his mind. He was hooked.
So when Andrea came to Jonas and claimed she had just heard his name on the radio, it was a huge deal to both of them. Shortly after, they were both back in their nearly-daily routine of listening to radio in the car together when she heard the familiar sound.
“We were in the car that day and the commercial came on and she said, it’s this commercial!” Knox said. “When I’m listening to it, what they said was, join us, it was like a teaser for a show and she thought they said Jonas. What always stuck out to me about that moment was I wasn’t upset they didn’t say my name, it was the fact that she was so excited about the possibility of them saying my name on the radio. It just meant so much to her.”
It brings Knox to tears when he thinks about how he recently got to call his mother and tell her he was hired as a permanent co-host of the new morning show on Fox Sports Radio. It was one of the best moments of his life. While on the phone with his mother, Knox kept using the word ‘we’ because his mother was his inspiration in radio.
“My mom is my hero,” said Knox. “I get emotional talking about her, because she’s my best friend and she’s had a really, really tough go of it. She’s had the type of life where she didn’t really get to do what she wanted to do. She got dealt really bad luck and really bad cards. Getting to spend every single day with her and the opportunity to tell her that, hey, we did it, it was really special and it just meant a lot to me.”
Being the co-host of 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn and LaVar Arrington is a far cry from being the rat mascot at Chuck E Cheese, a telemarketer, working security, or any of the other odd jobs he’s had in his life. This is exactly the opportunity he’s been waiting for. It’s why he initially joined Fox Sports Radio as a weekend overnight editor, even though he had on-air experience and Annie Zidarevich told him the job meant he was at the end of the bench. It’s why he did overnight shows on the network for six years. It’s why he’s never called in sick or turned down any shift. He wanted to make himself available to any potential opportunity that opened.
It’s also why he took the fill-in shifts for the morning show while Fox Sports Radio looked for Clay Travis’ replacement. For him it was a no-brainer to enter himself into the same chair he wanted as a full-time role. He had been doing a fantastic job for weeks, but there was never a time when he got his hopes up. In fact, he had the perspective that even if it didn’t work out, he still had the opportunity to do a dream job.
“I never had any expectations,” Knox said. “I never got my hopes up. With radio, right when you think you have everything figured out, something happens and you go, wow, I didn’t see that coming. I just learned a long time ago, don’t worry whether or not you’re going to get kicked in the nuts, just try to cover up as well as you can, and then when it happens, just hope it doesn’t hurt as much as the last time. That’s the way I look at it.”
When Don Martin and Scott Shapiro called him to tell him the news, he had a similar outlook. In fact, he expected the worst news possible.
“I was waiting for the worst possible news,” Knox said. “I’ve been laid off in radio before, where you think, hey, they want to talk to me after the show must be about a raise, or it must be about our ratings and then they tell you something completely different.
“But when they told me the news I was just floored. I was very emotional. I broke down and cried. I just sobbed. It’s just been such an effed up journey and just kept thinking about all the crap I had to go through, both personally and professionally. You kind of get to a point where you think, maybe you’re just never going to get your shot. I was OK with it because I’ve always been very grateful for anything, whether it’s getting to fill-in, doing a show on the weekends, whatever it was I was really thankful. But you always wonder if you’re going to get your chance at that level and to finally hear you got it was really, really emotional.”
2 Pros and a Cup of Joe is on the air every weekday morning from 6am to 9am EST on Fox Sports Radio and the reviews are already incredible. A big reason why is the chemistry Knox, Quinn and Arrington had already developed before the new show made its debut. Martin and Shapiro didn’t just throw a show together and hoped it would work, they took their time and made sure there was going to be the chemistry to make it work.
“Brady and I have been doing a show on Sunday nights for years,” Knox said. “I don’t even know whose idea it was to put us together, because we had never met or even talked before. Once we started I think Brady realized I don’t like to do the X’s and O’s, I know everything, type of radio. I just think there’s too many people that try to do that. Once he saw that, wow, you can really let loose on the radio and sound like a couple of guys playing grab ass at a bar, that’s when we really started to take off and it’s been a blast to work with him.
“We have a unique chemistry and when LaVar started doing shows with us I didn’t know how it was going to go and I was worried for LaVar, because Brady and I are psychos and some of the things we want to talk about are crazy. We always needle each other and it’s one inside joke after another on the air, but it didn’t take very long for us to find out that LaVar was one of us too. We had gotten these practice shows together and by the time Scott and Don called me and I knew the show was going to be with those guys I knew it would be fine. Just based on the shows we had done, I just thought the opportunity to work with those guys was incredible. I love both of those guys.”
In an industry full of egos, Knox doesn’t have one. All he cares about is being genuine and relatable, while having fun. That’s why he’s so excited about his new show. Even with two former NFL players it won’t be an X’s and O’s show where everyone cares about who’s right. It’s going to be loose and fun.
“Just having fun, honestly,” Knox said regarding what he’s most excited about. “And I know that sounds like a pretty bland answer but I think sometimes people in our business take themselves a little too seriously. I always use the analogy of working weekend overnights. I have heard all the jokes for years, oh, that’s why you’re working weekends, or, that’s why you work with the drunks. I hear all that stuff all the time and I tell people I have no ego. In the backyard of life, I’m the pile of dog crap in the corner of the yard. That’s the way I look at it. We’re doing sports radio. Let’s have fun. The fact Brady and LaVar have accomplished as much as they have and can still laugh at themselves, and want to do that type of radio and have fun, that excites me.”
There’s so many things Knox is grateful and excited for with the new opportunity. But the chance to do morning radio is another that he’s excited about. It’s always been his favorite time slot, because of the opportunity it gives to help start someone’s day. Knox has had plenty of jobs he dreaded going to, just like many people on their morning commute, so the opportunity to give them just a little bit of laughter, entertainment and joy is fulfilling.
If you can’t root for Knox in this role, you probably can’t root for anyone in sports radio. He’s done everything he’s been asked, he’s done the shifts nobody else wanted and he’s worked his butt off at every opportunity. And through it all, he’s been an incredible person that wants to help other people. He’s a radio success story.
“We have the best behind the scenes crew anywhere,” Knox said.”The people behind the scenes that don’t get any of the attention, any of the love or any of the shine, I know for me personally, if not for them, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to the position I am right now. That goes from up top to Don and Scott to the technical producers, the editors, the anchors, I just think it’s important to mention that those people are the best in the business. I hope they get the respect they deserve.”
