It'd be really cool, I was musing on a recent train ride through Denver, if we at DK Pittsburgh Sports could collect some of the most popular independent podcasts covering the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates right here on our network. We'd have all these distinct, dynamic voices in one place. We'd offer, hopefully, a healthy alternative to the hot-takery that's infected so much of talk radio everywhere.
And no, I wasn't a mile high, other than it the literal sense. Because today, on behalf of Dali Kovacevic and our partners David Rosenblatt and Ramin Baghai, please join me in welcoming ... well, pretty much everyone to our explosive expansion of the DKPS Podcast Network:
• 'YINZHERS'
At the mic: Morgan Urtso, Samantha James, Jordan DeFigio
From them: What we're trying to accomplish through this platform is inspire the girls who dress up like NFL quarterbacks or wear bedazzled jerseys and team-branded leggings, who cozy up inches away from the TV with eyes glued to footballs and first downs, who love the game so much they feel it in their bones, that their voice has every right to speak into the life of the game as those of the men who stand beside them. -- Jordan
From me: 'Yinzhers' instantly became the buzz podcast in Pittsburgh in 2021 with a series of big gets for interviews in the past year, but more important, with talk that clearly resonated with a ton of people. -- DK
• 'AROUND THE 412'
At the mic: Zachary Smith, Tyler Weeks
From them: Around The 412 is your one-stop shop for all things Pittsburgh sports. The fans of the black & gold need a voice! Smitty & Tyler got you covered! -- Smitty
From me: These dudes are funny. Every time I've been around them, or listened to them, or read them online, I've laughed out loud to an almost uncomfortable extent. Next-gen, entertaining voices who know their stuff. -- DK
• 'PODCAST ON FIFTH AVE.'
At the mic: Taylor Haase, Jordan DeFigio, Jenna Harner
From them: We'll give our thoughts on all things Penguins and discuss the news around the rest of the NHL. We’ll also bring on interview guests from around the hockey world each week for some fun discussions. -- Taylor
From me: I mean, it's Taylor and two other terrific talents, Jordan from the aforementioned 'Yinzhers' and Jenna, of course, from our partners at WPXI-TV. Also, it's hockey. What could I add? -- DK
• 'PIRATES FAN FORUM'
At the mic: Gary Morgan, Jim Stamm
From them: We talk Pirates baseball. Year-round. And we aren't afraid of any topic. There are so many smart and engaged Bucco fans out there, and this show is all about giving you a voice. It's not a love fest, it's not a bash session, it's just a couple of guys who love to get together with friends to talk baseball. Join us. -- Gary
From me: The only thing rarer in our city than a pedestrian using a crosswalk is smart, fact-based baseball talk. -- DK
• 'STEELER NATION'
At the mic: G. Stryker
From them: My passion, hopefully, speaks for the beating heart of Steeler Nation. I offer interviews, analysis and a heavy dose of fan interaction. If you like your Steelers talk with a side of fun, this is the show for you! -- Stryker
From me: I've been a guest on this show and can attest first-hand that the talk's informed, pointed and not what might be expected. -- DK
Now, all of these weekly shows add onto other weekly shows we've already been doing: The Ramon Foster Show, the Mad Chad & Eddie Show, the Lolley-Carter Steelers podcast with Dale Lolley and Chris Carter, 66 to 87 with Tom Reed and Dave Molinari, the Pirates Pod To Be Named Later with Alex Stumpf and Jarrod Prugar, H2P with Carter, We Are with Cory Giger and Prugar. And my own Daily Shots will continue with three new shows, one each on Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, every weekday morning.
All of this starts Sept. 6, in about a week, under the direction of our new multimedia manager Eddie Provident. And when it does, it'll be accompanied by a full, detailed schedule, in addition to independent channels offered in case anyone prefers to pick and choose their favorite shows.
To say I'm excited about this won't suffice. In a way, between the success of the podcasts to date and the energy of all these people I've begun to know, it's felt a lot like a 2.0 for this company. So much of the same fire as when this launched.
We hope you give our podcasts a try. There's no extra charge, and they're available on all platforms. Take your pick.
WHAT ABOUT NUMBERS?
Our podcasting network hasn't expanded so much as it's exploded, as the numbers attest.
Singular sample: In August of 2020, we had 184,169 downloads and 22,895 unique listeners. This August, which still has four more full days remaining, we're at 413,241 downloads and 45,083 unique listeners.
We've basically doubled in size and reach. And we'd already been pretty excited about the numbers we had last August.
None of us know where this is headed, but we'd be nuts not to try to find out more, right?
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:
• We have NFL data! Just in time for kickoff, we've activated NFL standings, the Steelers' statistics and the Steelers' schedule, all easily accessed on our team page. We're pretty proud of these packages. Working with Adam Bertram at BoomPress, I handpicked all of the categories you see, custom-creating the packages I felt would be best-suited for our readers. From there, Adam made these things hum. They're updated around the clock, they're clean, easy to toggle and sortable.
• Want to find all our videos and podcasts easily? Just use the blue bar! This is the bar that spans the horizontal middle of the app's home page, and it features three other easy-to-access options, our TODAY schedule which includes the latest What's Brewing and staff locator map, plus separate tabs for all our VIDEOS and PODCASTS. And because of the sliding function to the content, it's simple to move through all four options.
• If you've left a comment here and want to be notified when there's a reply, that's now easy to do! Atop every commenting thread, you'll see three options: TRENDING, SORT and NOTIFY. Tap NOTIFY and choose if you want to be notified of all new comments to that thread or just replies to comments you made. They'll now make their way to your device via alerts and, if you tap that alert, you'll be taken to the whole thread.
THE MILITARY DRIVE
We're striving to connect an unprecedented 2,000 military veterans to their favorite teams with free one-year subscriptions in 2021. And so far, we're at 594, including 14 in the past week.
Thank you!
Every contribution counts, large and small, and they're all appreciated equally. Plain and simple, we don't reach our goal with just the big ones or just the small ones. All are appreciated. All are needed.
The cost of a single one-year military subscription is always $20. You can contribute one, or as many as you'd like. And the process couldn't be simpler: Email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com and let me know how many you'd like, and I, in turn, can thank you personally.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 431,040, up 4.9% from last week. Our most-read original piece was Dale Lolley's roster prediction piece on the Steelers, at 12,563. Broken down by team, articles on the Steelers brought 30.5% of our traffic, the Pirates 19.3%, and the Penguins 9.6%.
• Our new subscribers for the past week were at 48, same as a week ago.
• Our new app downloads for the past week were 59 for Apple, down 3 from a week ago, and 79 for Android, up 1 from a week ago.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 123,430, up 15% from a week ago.
• Our YouTube video views for the past week were 155,724, up 21% from a week ago.
• We're at 42,222 (+65) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,125 (+21) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,575 (-2) followers on Instagram, and we're at 6,972 (+387) followers on YouTube. These figures are just for our official company accounts on each of those platforms, not including any of our individual accounts.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Random geographic fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: Since the start of 2020, these are only three countries in the world where our app didn't register a single user. (First hint: All are on the same continent. Second hint: One of them's a bit disappointing because when we launched, we had a Lunatic Level subscriber there who wrote to me!)
