We need help.
OK, being completely candid, I need help.
For a good while now, mostly in my weekly Live Qs sessions, I've been semi-joking that the company's greatest need is a Hunter II. Meaning someone who can do a little of everything, from writing/reporting to editing to web-publishing to social media to alerting. Because I don't want to do it anymore after five years, and I don't want Hunter Homistek and/or Taylor Haase doing it, either, as I feel both have higher ceilings than some of the stuff they're still doing.
Resumes are always being sent here, primarily from college kids who say they're eager to prove themselves and work their way up. But then, the moment they hear they won't instantly be covering some major beat, they turn off and tune out.
Well, that's not how life works, and it's definitely not how business works, right?
As I hope we've shown, our people here have -- either here or elsewhere before arriving here -- proven themselves to be worthy of the positions they hold. We've got two gold-standard veteran reporters in Dale Lolley and Dave Molinari to represent that every single day. The rest of our reporters, too, have earned everything every step of the way.
So that's what I'm offering here: If anyone's interested in working for this company -- entry-level work, entry-level pay -- with a very, very real chance of climbing, reach out to me directly: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
Two stipulations:
1. Only people who know our site
2. Real resumes attached
The hardest thing in this industry is getting a foot in the door. It's actually never been harder than now. But we're offering that.
WISHING WELCH BEST
Our great friend Matt Welch, a contributor here for years whose full-time job has been in West Virginia newspapers, is making a wonderful upward move on that front to become regional reporter for the Winchester Star in Shenandoah Valley. He reached out to me this week, he sounds excited, and anything that has this superb human happy makes me happy.
That said, his new job won't afford him the extra time to do the weekly Indianapolis Watch feature he'd written for us, nor other projects I'd hoped to run past him this summer. So he's bowing out here, of course, to concentrate on what matters most.
Please join me in wishing Welch the best. There's only one of him.
OUR GETGO SESSION
Hunter, Taylor and my wife Dali all made quite the entertaining visit to GetGo's test kitchen up in Ross Township, and Hunter's written about that.
MINOR-LEAGUE QUESTION
Here's one for the readership: How would you feel about seeing daily roundups of how the various Penguins/Pirates professional affiliates fare?
MILITARY DRIVE TO 1,500: 73
Josh DeNinno, our great friend at Moon Golf Club, is challenging our subscribers to step up with 1,500 veteran subscription purchases in 2020, commemorating his club's 15th anniversary. And in the two weeks since he's done so, our count is at 73, including eight bulk purchases.
We've obviously got a very long way to go, but we've reduced the cost of these to half-price, now $19.99 for an annual, as we've done with other gift subscriptions. On top of that, Moon Golf Club will match 30 of these each month.
Let's do this. Here's where. Or, if you’re interested in making a bulk donation -- buying more than one -- please email me directly: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
NEW APP UPDATE
All of the design work, all of the framework, all of the funding are complete ... and now our new developers are doing the actual building. I met with them earlier in the week, and it was beyond exciting to see the first living, breathing sample on a real device, even if it was at the embryonic stage.
Another thing to share: The emphasis on commenting has been eye-opening.
We aren't 100 percent sure where this will go, but suffice it to say for now that you'll have more options, more ease, more everything. The goal here is to have the platform, like our commenting community itself, be second to none.
I can't wait for this. All of it.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New paid subscribers for 2020 -- not including gifts, military, returning/renewing subscribers -- are at 60.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past 30 days, are at 92,686. I've been citing here for months now that the goal with this figure is to average 100,000, a number we've achieved regularly only during the two Stanley Cup runs.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week was Dale Lolley's coverage of Mike Tomlin defending Mason Rudolph at 35,603. The Penguins accounted for 174,262 page views, the Steelers 130,412, the Pirates 77,243, and Pitt basketball 9,561.
• We're at 35,781 (+78) followers on Twitter, we're at 32,052 (-9) page likes on Facebook, we're at 13,414 (+62) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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