On July 23, 2014, this venture, the first of its kind in North America and now the precursor to so many others, was born.
On July 23, 2019, we'll celebrate.
For real, everyone's invited to our Highmark Stadium offices on that date. It'll be a Tuesday night, and as many of our staff as possible will be there -- the Pirates do play across the river -- in hopes of thanking as many of you as possible. We'll have giveaways, games, prizes and, of course, we'll have the game on the TV sets. Mostly, though, it'll just be us and you.
We talked about maybe doing this on a weekend, but this is No. 5. It's a big deal. It's no stretch to say a ton of people thought this thing wouldn't last five months, much less five years, and we're damned proud of it. So we'll do it right on the precise date.
No need to RSVP or anything like that. Before long, we'll set up an event page and more. This is just an early heads-up.
It'd be awesome if you can make it down!
Dave Molinari - ROB ULLMAN / DKPSMOLINARI TOMORROW
As promised, Dave Molinari's Penguins coverage begins appearing here tomorrow. I know of the first piece he'll produce. No one will be disappointed.
Shortly after that, Dave and I will be boarding a flight to the West Coast to cover the NHL Draft in Vancouver. Our more specific plans for the event -- which is as heavily layered as anything we do as a staff -- will be shared a little later in the week once they're crystallized. Here, too, no one will be disappointed.
On that note, here's our updated TV ad, courtesy of Thad Christian and our friends at Mount Washington-based Phenomenon Post:
VETERANS COUNT: 155
Josh DeNinno at Moon Golf Club wants to remind readers of his Veterans Challenge to our subscribers. Josh is buying 10 a month himself for a total of 100 in 2019, and he's challenging subscribers to achieve a goal of 1,000 by year's end.
Current count: 155
Here’s where to contribute. -- DK
LIFETIMES LEFT: 49
We've sold 51 Lifetime Lunatic subscriptions, including two more this week, so 49 remain toward our new cap of 100, combined with the original 500. There's no plan to sell more in the foreseeable future. It costs $299. If you'd like one, buy it here. If you're an existing subscriber and want to go Lifetime, do the same thing, then email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com to let us know. We'll refund the remainder of your existing account. -- DK
FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
Just because hockey season is officially over -- yes, it's been over in Pittsburgh for a while -- and the Steelers are off for five weeks, doesn't mean we're all taking vacations. The NHL Draft is upcoming. The mess that is the Pirates is still continuing and we've got an NFL season coming on quick. So, there's still plenty to talk and write about.
That's why we're excited to be bringing Molinari in at this time. His depth of knowledge on the Penguins will make our already very good coverage of the draft that much better.
Dare I say great?
In the meantime, we'll also continue to bring you Steelers coverage in the five dead weeks leading up to training camp. We've got some in-depth coverage coming on that front, as well. All the while, John Perrotto will keep bringing you all the comings and goings with the Pirates -- if he can keep up with the revolving door this season has become. -- Dale Lolley
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
We're always looking to grow our base of business partners, and there currently are several very good opportunities available to take advantage of our unprecedented reach. Our 2019 media kit has all the info you’d want. Email me directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com to set up a meeting. -- Dali Kovacevic
***premium***
WE'RE LISTENING
• The face/touch login will take longer than we'd expected, unfortunately. We're weighing other options. I'll keep you informed. -- DK
• In the interim, if you're logging in too often, delete the app from your device, power the device down completely, then reinstall the app. This has worked wonders for almost everyone who's tried it. -- DK
• If you enjoy the Hot Button feature and would like to receive app alerts when there's a new entry, open your app, then the menu on the top right corner, then ALERTS. Toggle the new Hot Button icon to ON. We had that added in the past week. -- DK
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New subscribers for 2019 are at 456. You can now track this figure daily at the bottom of the desktop and tablet versions of the site.
• Our daily active app users, averaged out over the past week, are at 11,957, broken down as 9,422 on Apple, 2,525 on Android. That total's plus-22 from the previous week. This figure will always fluctuate with the seasons and the news, so the goal is a steady, gradual increase, initially to 15,000, a number we've never achieved.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past month, are at 69,197. The goal with this figure is also about a steady, gradual increase, first to 100,000, a number we've achieved only during the two Stanley Cup runs.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week -- exempting live files -- was Taylor's analysis on the events following the Oskar Sundqvist trade, at 12,818. The Pirates accounted for 101,738 page views, the Steelers 76,977 and the Penguins 60,439.
• We're at 32,337 (+82) followers on Twitter, we're at 32,131 (+57) page likes on Facebook, we're at 10,875 (+28) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
• If you've got a blog or forum or social media account with some significant background and credibility, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com to see how we can partner up.
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