NEW YORK -- We're not changing a thing on the Steelers beat, other than adding.
Adding me.
Been thinking about this quite a bit of late, for a bunch of reasons, but I'll blurt it out loud: I'm going to be a lot more immersed in football in 2023, beginning with the upcoming NFL Draft. As in, I'll be right there. On the beat. Front and center. Top priority.
Chris Halicke's still here. Corey Crisan and Alex Stumpf will still contribute, too, as they did this past season. There'll be components that include Cory Giger. And beyond our full-timers, we'll also get the best of Ramon Foster and Matt Williamson. Like I said, nothing's technically changing other than my own increased role. Oh, and of course, nothing would/could ever change about my coverage of the Penguins and Pirates. I don't even have the DNA to diminish either of those.
But, maybe because the Steelers are the one beat in which I've never been all-the-way embedded, maybe because of the still-stunning-to-me success of the Daily Shot of Steelers podcasts and the Ramon show, maybe because I simply feel it'd be a plus for our company to apply even more resources toward Pittsburgh's most popular team ... I'm down for this.
How'll this work?
Well, the first thing to bring up is that the adjustment won't exactly be massive. I was already at all 17 games, home and road, and already was writing the main column off those. Been that for a long, long time, actually. I also was already at more practices, press conferences and training camp sessions than most columnists. So all I'm really talking about is a little more of the latter events. The off-day stuff.
The second thing to bring up is that, when my great friend Dale Lolley left us last summer to work for the Steelers, it left behind a sudden and sizable void. There aren't any clones of someone like that just roaming the lot over on the South Side. He had three-plus decades on the beat, all the background, all the connections, all the following ... and that wasn't about to be replaced in some snap, no matter how hard any of us worked.
The third thing to bring up is that I've been around the Steelers a fair amount myself, going way back to 1999 when the Post-Gazette made me a regular on the traveling beat staff. I've covered the entire career of Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu and other greats, the full tenure of Mike Tomlin, two Super Bowls. And since I'm born and raised, I'm personally affected by the franchise's fortunes going back to ... my goodness, the earliest childhood memories I've got.
Dale and I talked about this last night, and this is where I took it. I'm excited about being right in the middle of the beat to help manage it, to maybe help lessen some of the burden/pressure on Chris, to work with the rest to coordinate specific types of offshoot coverage, from special events to long-form features to whatever. And from the content standpoint, I'll do ... you know, what I do.
Yeah, I know I've been complaining somewhat about being tired. I've done a ton of travel so far this calendar year, including this current four-day visit to Manhattan for two Penguins-Rangers games. But you'll have to trust me that there's currently a long list of tasks I'm doing that I don't need -- or want -- to be doing. And once those get delegated, I don't think there'll be any significant time-management crisis on my end.
The goal's what it's always been: Offer the most comprehensive, most compelling Steelers content anywhere. And in turn, grow our audience.
Any questions at all about this, I'll be in comments.
THE PROGRAMMATIC THING
We found out our February take on programmatic revenue from podcasting and ... let's just say it was a carbon copy of January. Which isn't ideal.
We've been blessed to have heard from several potential sponsors, even more blessed to have closed deals with a couple. We're expecting to have one or two more to announce for you by next Saturday's Site Stuff. But there's still plenty of space available in all of our shows, and we'll happily communicate with anyone on this and send you our newly updated media kit that Dali's been working on all week.
Email me: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
GOLF = FOOD
Our awesome partners at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank are introducing a celebrity golf event they're calling the Million Meal Outing, set for Aug. 28 at the Olde Stonewall Golf Club in Ellwood City, Pa., and they'd love to have you on hand.
More than 30 local sports figures and media personalities will be there, so it's right in our subscribers' wheelhouse. It'll be limited to 27 foursomes, all including a celebrity golfer. Other attractions include pre- and post-round celebrity lounges, a four-team championship shootout, scorecard poker, a par-3 celebrity DJ, a helicopter golf ball drop, live broadcasts and more!
To support the Food Bank’s mission, register or donate here.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• We're aware of the slow commenting platform during games, a problem that really felt like it peaked Thursday night with the Penguins, Pirates and Pitt basketball all playing at once. It wasn't a great user experience. We're on it.
• In the interest of finding more completely new subscribers, we're offering an introductory deal of $1 for each of the first four months. That's nuts, I know, but this is part of our ambition to achieve 1,000 new signups in 2023. After that brief period, everyone pays the same price.
• Travel on tap: Taylor Haase will take the Penguins' trip to Denver and Dallas in the coming week. ... Alex Stumpf will finish out spring training in Florida, after which both Alex and I will be in Cincinnati for the Pirates' season opener March 30 ... Chris will fly to Phoenix for the NFL owners' meetings March 26-29. ... Corey's still got Pitt basketball, wherever that team ventures next. We'll learn that this weekend, of course.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 481,244, with our weekly goal being 500,000. Our most-read original piece was Chris Halicke's coverage of Patrick Peterson's signing, at 9,200. Broken down by team traffic, articles on the Penguins brought 24.2% of our readership, the Steelers 19.5%, the Pirates 9.1%, Pitt 4.9% and Penn State 3.5%.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 128,147, with our weekly goal being 150,000, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 117,346, with our weekly goal being 150,000.
• Our company social media accounts are at 49,345 (+51) followers on Twitter, 39,111 (+31) on Facebook, 20,870 (+148) on YouTube, 14,872 (+2) on Instagram.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
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