Site Stuff: Nothing beats ice-cold consistency

I was making out our weekly planners for February, and I'll admit right here that I found myself following an awful lot of familiar copy-and-paste patterns.

Not without cause.

Here, for example, is our list of weekly features:

• Monday: North Shore Tavern Mound Visit
• Tuesday: In the System
• Wednesday: Mike's Beer Bar War Room
• Thursday: Drive to the Net
• Friday: Point Park University Insider
• Saturday: Site Stuff
• Sunday: Cartoon Canon

That's basically the same lineup we've had for the life of the company. The latest arrival on the list was Mound Visit, and that's more than four years old. And the Insider and Site Stuff have both been here since the beginning. Same days of the week, even.

We've also done a Live Qs since the very beginning, with most of my sessions taking place on Fridays.

We've also done a What's Brewing daily schedule, complete with the constantly updated staff locator map, every single day for six years.

Some sponsors have changed -- though never with Insider -- and there's been some tinkering with the features’ names and, of course, there've been different bylines for five of the seven, but I'd like to think we've put together a record over eight-plus years of delivering a strikingly consistent product.

That's the key word here, too: Product.

It's the product that gets sold and bought. And it's the product, more than any other facet of the business, that'll always be fully under our control. 

It goes beyond the features, too. There's an editorial approach, an engaging manner, an expectation of ethical reporting and clean/professional copy, and so much more, all of which hasn't really changed much at all since 2014. I apply everything I'd learned in 20-plus years at two major metropolitan newspapers, and I aim to see that it's followed through on everything we create here. All the way down to an ice-cold requirement that all reporters we hire are the types who naturally stay in touch with their readers.

One of the most common questions I hear from longtime readers is about how I reacted to this person leaving or that person leaving.

My response every time: What do you think of the product?

The human element matters, to say the very least. The individual reporters matter. Their personalities, their styles matter. And they're encouraged -- no, urged -- to show those personalities, those styles in their work. But even that's part of the consistency. Because when change comes, as it does at all companies and all walks of life, the goal for the next person is to bring their own brand into our framework and sustain that same consistency.

Good example just the other night: Corey Crisan's in Chapel Hill, N.C., covering Pitt's uplifting victory over North Carolina. Bunch of nutty stuff happens. He does it entirely his way through the live file and the main article, but I jumped in and made a couple additional suggestions -- for instance, doing a sidebar on Jeff Capel's brother losing his mind -- and it wound up coming together the way you've hopefully come to expect from our game packages.

I don't do that a lot. (I don't have the time.) But it's often enough that it keeps that standard going.

Not sure why I shared this. I think it all the time. Just never typed it. But we've got a hell of a product here, one that I'd like to think is more durable than any of us individually, myself included.

(No, I'm not leaving! The Boss would kill me!)

STATS STAYING

OK, so I'm a big softy when it comes to complaints. 

Listen, we'll keep the boxscores, standings, statistics and schedules, which were going to be gone at the beginning of this month, but I've changed my mind. Thing is, you've really got to use them this time. They're high-quality, current and, in the case of the boxscores, live and self-updating. You won't be disappointed.

Easiest way to find them is to choose a team page, thumb down just a bit, and they're right there on the first big, horizontal blue bar. 

PODCAST AD OPENINGS

Two weeks ago in this space, I let readers know about available ad inventory on our strikingly successful podcasts, and we were grateful to hear back from a few and to near a deal with at least two, possibly another two.

We've got space available on the Steelers one and all the rest, we're open to businesses large and small, we're far less pricier than radio, and we've obviously got similar reach. And best of all, Dali wants to sell these openings at HALF-OFF through the end of February, if only so we don't have to worry about it later in the year when we get a lot busier.

Take a peek at our 2023 media kit, then reach out directly to me: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com

INSIDE THE WORKS

• After a brief hiatus, Cory Giger's popular -- and outstanding -- Memory Lane podcast is back, as of this edition today, featuring a 25-minute talk with Neil Walker:

It'll now be available early every Saturday morning, and I'll be among the first pressing the play button.

• Cory's got another pleasant surprise coming very soon.

• Our aim for 2023, as I've mentioned before, will be 1,000 completely new subscribers. That won't be easy, and it won't come without heavy discounting for brand new arrivals. If you'd expect to take issue with that, I'm all ears. But bear in mind that, after the first year, everyone will pay the same price. Remember, too, that anyone who can't afford the full price -- at any point -- only needs to shoot me an email. We work with anyone to get through tough times.

• Anytime you see a tweet like this from me ...

... by all means, retweet and share. We want those in the military to know about our free subscriptions. This is maybe the most vital part of this program, the outreach itself.

• Travel on tap: Danny Shirey and I will double-team the Penguins' post-break trip across California, taking off Wednesday. ... The Pirates' first workout in Bradenton, Fla., is Feb. 15. Alex Stumpf will fly down for that, and he'll be down there for most of spring training. I'll make a trip or two myself, and Chris Halicke will help, as well, in addition to some NFL-based travel he'll make. ... Corey Crisan's got a bunch of Pitt basketball travel ahead, too. Looks like the Panthers will hang around a little longer than usual this spring, huh?

BACK TO BUSINESS

• Our page views for the past week were a dismal 314,555, with our weekly goal being 500,000. Our most-read original piece was my column from PPG Paints Arena criticizing Ron Hextall's work, at 12,902. Broken down by team traffic, articles on the Penguins brought 19.8% of our readership, the Steelers 17.6%, the Pirates 12.4%, Pitt 5.8%, and Penn State 3.5%. 

• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 122,652, with our weekly goal being 150,000, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 85,196, with our weekly goal being 150,000.

• Our company social media accounts are at 48,908 followers on Twitter, 38,930 on Facebook, 20,380 on YouTube, 14,822 on Instagram, 369 on TikTok.

• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com

• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com