Josh Martinez took a lot of risks and a lot of public transportation to reach his radio goal. He worked for over a decade just to earn an interview at New York City’s Z100. Now, he’s the number one nighttime host at Z100 and at Chicago’s 103.5 KISS FM, both IHeartMedia Top 40 stations. The 36-year-old continues to dominate in the nation’s number one and three markets. A championship wrestling fanatic, he also hosts a nationally syndicated wrestling interview podcast, “Superstar Crossover.”
Native New Yorker
While having his voice on Z100 is a goal fulfilled, Josh had a rough start in life. His tenth birthday was especially traumatic. That was when his mother, Nauri, took Josh and his three siblings away from their abusive father in Brooklyn to start over in Staten Island.
“We grew up poor,” he recalls. “At the end of the day, I slept on a bunk bed in the living room.” Radio, sports, and championship wrestling were his escape.
Josh, who’s “100 percent Puerto Rican,” says when he was a kid, New York radio “was not very Puerto Rican.”
“There was some flavor missing, you know what I’m saying? There were three male jocks on Z100, and I couldn’t tell who was who. The puking voice. They were all pukers.”
Then he heard Top 40 radio host Angie Martinez on New York’s Hot 97. “I said, ‘Martinez, that sounds like me.’ She was on English-speaking radio and not doing something over-the-top on Spanish radio because Spanish radio, to this day, pukes. I thought that’s really cool.”
College Try
“There’s a reason they call it the ‘college try,’” says Josh, who realized after three semesters as an Acting Major at the City University of New York College of Staten Island that college was not for him. With financial support from his brother, he enrolled in the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in the hopes of being a sportscaster.
While he wanted sports, he ended up with an internship at a music radio station, 103.5 KTU, on Long Island. “I thought this may be my only opportunity. Let’s see where it goes.” He was surprised to fall in love with the music side of radio and decided to pursue it.
The Extra Mile
Josh went the extra mile in a big way to work an overnight air shift on WBLI on Long Island. He rode three hours each way “on every form of New York public transportation” from Staten Island for the gig. “Six hours, round trip. $41.50 to make $11 dollars an hour on a five-hour shift, so after taxes, I actually lost money. It was a hell of a gamble,” he says, “but I had no backup.”
A layoff left Josh with few options, so he took a huge risk and moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in 2012, where he was host at a small station.
“Moving with only my clothes and a WWF belt was the risk I was willing to take. I knew nothing about Iowa. Have you ever felt -40 degrees? I was at the bottom of the totem pole. The sales team doesn’t know you exist, but everyone back home is bolstering you, so it’s a mind game.
“Adversity came from being alone at the age of 22. You’re used to having your buddies around and watching games.”.
What’s more, Josh didn’t look or sound like an Iowan. While his Program Director told him to “peel back on the accent,” he says the locals loved his New York swagger.
“I went to a bar because I’m kind of sociable. I told a girl I was from New York City, and she looked at me like I was the coolest motherf***er on the planet. She called her friend over just to hear me speak, and that’s how I realized this shit was going to work for me.”
Locals love to let you know where to go in their area for the best restaurants and attractions, he says, and asking about that is a great way to engage the listeners.
“I’m a big when in Rome guy,” he says, “and want to put money back in the local community.”
The New York native was surprised to learn that in some parts of the country, “bless your heart” is code for “f**k you.”
In 2015, he moved to Hot 95.7 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was Program Director and Afternoon Host for a year. Then, it was off to Kiss 107.1 in Cincinnati. He stayed at the Top 40 station from 2016 to 2021 as Program Director, where he ran multiple radio stations across Ohio and hosted a radio show five days a week.
Josh always had his sights set on Z100, and in 2021, he got the call to return home to New York.
“Everything I did in my career from 2008 until 2021 was a chess move to increase the chances of ending up at Z100,” he says, “since I found out Z100 was the number one station and the pinnacle of radio sixteen years ago.
“May 2021, I got the call, and my first day was the 25-year anniversary of ‘The Elvis Duran Show,’ so I’ll always remember it.”
As he did for his overnight New York radio gig years ago, Josh once again takes public transportation to work, traveling over an hour each way from Staten Island to NYC. His commute saves him $2000 a month, he says, which is money he’s banking for a very important reason: to support his eleven-month-old daughter, Genevieve Rose. Gigi and her mother, Lauryn Bayliff, live in Ohio, where Josh jets (no public transport) every couple of weekends.
Wild About Wrestling
The 36-year-old has long been obsessed with wrestling.
“WWF title wrestling is something that has grown up with me. It was always there for me to put up with the kind of b.s. my dad put us through.” He says his adult goal was to work at Z100. His childhood dream was to work for the WWF.
He shares his passion for the sport through his wrestling-focused interview podcast “Superstar Crossover,” available globally, where all podcasts are found.
He’s had a twelve-year relationship with the WWE and has added All Elite Wrestling to “Superstar Crossover” more recently.
“My approach is let’s have a conversation and get a human side of the performer. I switch wrestling companies from week to week, and my big hook is that the current guest asks the next week’s guest a question.
“These are people who you never see interacting, interacting. Everybody and their mother has a podcast now, and my knowledge of wrestling and approach makes me stand out.”
Major Moments
His work on “Superstar Crossover” has paid off as he recently was a guest of WWE on the floor at WrestleMania, fulfilling another childhood fantasy.
He’s had many major moments in his three years at Z100, including warming up the crowd in Madison Square Garden for IHeartMedia’s Jingle Ball.
“That was the stuff. Being on stage at Madison Square Garden with a microphone in my hand is easily in my life’s top three moments. Growing up with my obsession with MSG based on my obsession with sports to know that I was on stage and a sold-out crowd is listening to me and then asking them to do something and then they do it. Surreal.
“I look up, and I see the retired Rangers numbers; on the other side, I see the retired Knicks numbers. I just started to cry. Who am I to be on the stage at MSG with a mic, you know what I’m saying?
He also emceed in Central Park before the Global Citizen Concert, which was attended by 60,000 people and featured the reunited Fugees.
“There’s a makeshift locker room with a curtain, and it’s Charlize Theron, Katie Holmes, Chris Rock, and Josh Martinez.
“There’s a lot of times I feel I don’t belong. I’m most comfortable with a microphone in my hand and people listening to me, as weird as that sounds. Emceeing and hosting, I love that shit.”
Another mind-blowing personal best for Josh was hosting New York’s 116th Street Festival. The huge party in Spanish Harlem is the day before New York’s Puerto Rican Parade, which is the largest celebration of cultural pride in the United States.
“This festival has been going on since my childhood, and to be asked to host was insane. In my heart, I’m still that kid whose bed is in the living room. The imposter syndrome is real. I go to therapy for a reason,” he says.
Pays It Forward
Josh has a reputation for helping those who are starting out in the business. He shares his personal story on podcasts, panels, and college radio shows. A former Z100 intern calls him “the epitome of a great teammate.”
He’s helped aspiring musicians, radio wannabees, and others who ask for a hand on the way up by giving them a chance behind the scenes, on the mic, or on stage. “I love helping people who want to work for it. When you see how things are done, that’s when the passion comes into high drive,” he explains.
He was ignored when he asked radio pros for guidance at the start of his career and says he doesn’t want to be that guy. Also, he says, folks you help may help you if you’re struggling in the future.
“Don’t let anyone tell you shit about your dreams; whatever your dream is, go for it,” says the number one DJ. He also says poor ratings don’t mean everything. “It takes one video, one article, one snippet to change your life.”
The former acting student sees radio as entertainment, like acting or pro wrestling.
Turn it Up
“Wrestling great Stone-Cold Steve Austin says the best performers in wrestling are just themselves turned up to ten. Be yourself so it’s authentic but be a little extra angry, a little extra sensitive. As long as it’s authentic, it’s all just a form of entertainment. I took that and ran with it and have been doing it ever since.”
You can hear his unique approach on New York’s #1 Hit Music Station Z100, from 6 -10 pm weeknights, on Chicago’s 103.5 KISSFM weeknights from 7 pm to midnight, on the IHeartRadio network and on his wrestling interview podcast, “Superstar Crossover,” (1) YoJoshMartinez – YouTube.
Amy Snider is a music features reporter for Barrett Media specializing on stories involving radio professionals working in Adult Contemporary/CHR/Top 40 formats. She brings over twenty-five years of media experience to the outlet. Based in St. Petersburg, FL, Amy works for iHeartMedia and the Total Traffic and Weather Network as an on-air reporter, appearing on dozens of radio stations including 98 Rock, Mix 100.7, 95.3 WDAE, and Newsradio WFLA. She has also reported and anchored in the Tampa market at Fox 13, News Channel 8, WMNF Community Radio and WUSF-FM, the NPR affiliate.
Amy is a music fanatic. She hosted a drive-time rock and roll radio show for 20 years on WMNF-FM and is known as a tastemaker in the music and arts community. She booked, hosted, emceed and promoted a wildly popular weekly live music event in Tampa’s Ybor City featuring original music with performers from all over the world. Her free time is often spent at concerts and music festivals. To get in touch, find her on X @AmySnider4.
