Jenkins & Jonez, one of the longest-running podcasts in the sports space, is leaving The Volume after four years.
The show, hosted by sports Twitter stars John “LaJethro Jenkins” Nichols and Tyler “Dragonfly Jonez” Puryear, made the jump to Colin Cowherd’s YouTube-first company in 2021 after five years of publishing independently to Soundcloud and RSS audio feeds. The hosts announced on Thursday’s episode that The Volume chose not to renew its contract.
“This is our last episode on our deal, and we don’t have another deal,” producer Mike Guardabascio said. “We’re Wile E. Coyote running off the cliff, and this is the one episode we record before we look down and realize we’re not standing on anything.”
The move comes after The Volume recently made two major acquisitions, snagging What’s Wright with Nick Wright and the New Rory & Mal podcast from former Joe Budden Podcast costars Rory Farrell and Jamil Clay.
There is only so much room on the roster, and Jenkins & Jonez may not have been a fit for The Volume’s strategy. Cowherd’s company wants live instant reaction on YouTube to drive the business, and while Jenkins & Jonez tried live reaction shows for NBA game nights and Sundays after HBO’s House of the Dragon series, they had just 14,000 YouTube subscribers as of Thursday.
Still, with incredible chemistry, more than 250,000 combined followers on X and a sizable podcast audience that has followed them for nearly a decade, Nichols and Puryear are bound to land on their feet.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.