ST. LOUIS -- We turned six years old earlier this week, and yet I spent not a single second looking back on anything. Ask anyone who's part of a small business, and they'll probably tell that tale the same way. There's no time for it and, really, no energy left over once the day's work is done.
Which is fine. Because our work's far from done, as I'll illustrate with these six editorial objectives we've got moving forward, all of them within the coming year, and none of them in any particular order:
• More depth: This will be the main domain of Tom Reed once he joins us Aug. 17, and that'll be awesome. We've long lagged in this regard institutionally, and it's well past time that changes. Tom's one of the best in the country at what he does, and he'll have the freedom to take the news of the day and expand upon it in ways we currently can't do with a hard focus on news and analysis. Some stories very much deserve special treatment.
• More thoughts: Dale Lolley's '10 Thoughts' analyses have been among our most popular pieces, especially in the wake of Steelers games. You'll see more of them from all of us, beginning with mine this very morning from here at Busch Stadium. Readers want to know what happened, but they also want to know what our experienced reporters think about those events. You'll see these as a staple of our game coverage moving forward.
• More Carter: As in more Chris Carter. Stay tuned.
• More quality: This goes across the board. And while it sounds super-obvious, we'd kind of dipped away from doing meaningful work versus ensuring we were on top of every morsel of news. Not all morsels are created equal. We'll go for better morsels, and we'll encapsulate the rest in Bob Maddamma's Hot Button.
• More of my own material: Help's on the way, which will free me up for more coverage, more writing, more everything. Been trying to achieve this for a very long time, and it's now imminent, just in time for actual sports.
• More podcasts: These are working. They really are. Another significant week of growth for us just came, including three record days, and we haven't even had games yet. So, in addition to the daily Pirates podcast we're offering, we'll be doing likewise for Penguins and Steelers before long. That'll mean four daily podcasts, including my morning show.
Onward, upward.
ACCESS MATTERS
As I documented a few days ago, we won't be covering the Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto. The NHL credentialed both Dave Molinari and me, but the league never lifted a pinky to ensure we'd gain entry into Canada beyond a letter that was filled with factual inaccuracies. So, we aren't going. Most American outlets aren't going. And that, in plain hindsight, is precisely what the league wanted -- and I'm underscoring league rather than any member teams, including the Penguins -- as you'll doubtless be reading from other places in the days to come.
Whatever. That's done.
I can tell you that we'll absolutely be part of all processes involving the NFL and Major League Baseball, as evidenced already by my being here at Busch Stadium as I type this. Both leagues have been tremendous is setting up parameters for coverage of all kinds while also considering the safety of all concerned. It's been a great, open dialogue on all levels.
As such, we'll embrace every chance we have to augment actual coverage opportunities and give you our very best.
WHERE'S THE APP?
The app's made more progress in the past few days, and I know because I've been directly involved in a lot of the back-and-forth. I'm no longer attaching a date for when it'll be done, but I'll say we're still shooting for this month.
Hoping for the best.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past week, were 48,005, a third consecutive week of slight improvement over an all-time low. The general goal with this figure is to average 100,000, but that's obviously not going to be realistic for a while.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week was Dave Molinari's exclusive reporting on the Penguins' injury status from camp, at 12,388 views. Overall, the Penguins accounted for 119,053 page views, the Pirates, 51,219, the Steelers 34,522, and Pitt 8,315.
• Our podcast channel had 36,998 downloads for the past week, up from 35,505 the previous week. Also had two record days. Just keeps on growing.
• We're at 36,673 (+19) followers on Twitter, we're at 33,720 (+11) page likes on Facebook, we're at 14,634 (+20) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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