Hey, we can’t let Josh Yohe and all those people in Raleigh have all the fun, right?
Josh’s subscriber meetup last week during the Penguins’ game in North Carolina drew roughly 60 people, according to expert testimony, which made it our biggest on record. You can get a glimpse of at least some of the group in the main photo above, snapped by reader Josh Koon. It’s amazing how these silly little events have grown, and we’re grateful for every person at every meetup, large or small, near or far.
That said, this record won’t stand for long.
Not if you make it down to our offices Wednesday — as in today! — 5:30-8 p.m., at Highmark Stadium. No charge. No catch. Just park in the lot that’s on the western main entrance of the stadium — well, there is a charge for that, but we have no control there — and you’ll find us waiting to usher you upstairs to our corner.
It’s no big deal. There won’t be music, song or dance. It’s just a chance for our staff to hook up with our readers, shake hands, get to know each other a bit, shoot a Morning Java, and watch whatever random hockey games happen to be spread over our three TV sets.
It isn’t required that you RSVP, but we’ve created an event page on Facebook if that would be helpful for you.
Don’t be shy. Come on down. Let’s run it up on those Raleigh readers.
MERCHANDISE? FOR REAL?
Oh, and another perk for those attending: my wife, Dali, has had a bunch of these snazzy new sweatshirts shipped to us, for all of you who’ve asked after seeing our Taylor Haase boasting hers on social media, as well as Matt Welch, Matt Gajtka and the other over-caffeinated guy at the bottom:
Only one of these four people is web-savvy enough to stitch pictures. – TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS
When this site was launched, I was often asked about selling merchandise, and all I’d do is laugh it off. When you spent as much time in newspapers as I did, you learn that the majority of the public pretty much hates you and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something that promoted your brand. So I mostly dismissed it, though we did create kind of a half-hearted online merchandise store where — to be honest with you — we have a profit margin of zero because we don’t do any markup.
But now we’re seriously considering getting at least a little more ambitious, given the many readers who’ve reached out asking about those sweatshirts, not to mention the coffee mugs and other random stuff.
If you let us know in comments below that there’s even a chance you’d be interested, we’ll pursue it further.
DRAIN THE SERVER
We’ve had four crashes in the past four weeks. They were brief, but those still stink.
So when we demanded an explanation from our server host, we found out, much to our surprise and dismay, that our site was sharing space on a single server with roughly 300 other smaller sites. We had absolutely no idea, or we’d have left them long, long ago. But it sure explained a lot, particularly why we were constantly being asked to scale down rather than them scaling up. They were looking to collect the same fees from a ton of sites jammed onto one server rather than, you know, meeting our needs.
Anyway, the same fine people at Aspinwall-based Build in Motion who created our new app are now taking over this process, as well. Once it’s up and running, as soon as this weekend, we’ll have not one, not two but three servers entirely dedicated to us. And it’ll come at a lower cost, to boot.
Know this, too: We believe the server issue was to blame for the handful or readers still experiencing repeated logins on the app. And we believe that, once we transfer over, we’ll have neared a permanent solution.
Sorry if some of this talk it too techie for some. This actually consumes most of my waking hours, way more than reporting or writing. I almost feel like I’m starting to understand it.
Also, I can’t repeat this enough: Be sure to download our latest versions of both the Apple and Android apps. You’re a tap or click away right here:
SPONSORSHIP, ANYONE?
We had a good week on the sponsorship front, and I’ll share more soon enough.
But know this: There’s plenty of room at that inn. And the time to check in is now, given that we’re fresh off an all-time single-day high for page views of 202,722. That happened Monday, right after the Steelers’ win in Kansas City and on the night the Penguins and Capitals combined for 15 goals. Lots of perfect storm in there.
So what else would your business want besides growing numbers, a loyal readership, a younger demographic using mobile and an attachment to our region’s beloved sports teams?
Email me directly, and let’s find the right fit: DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Subscriptions are at 34,785, with a week’s output of 135.
• We stayed at 102 in the Lifetime Lunatic category, marking our first zero for any week since those began in late September. If you’re interested in upgrading to any level at any time, click or tap My Account in the menu, then click or tap Upgrade Subscription. You don’t need to wait until your current subscription expires.
• We crossed 20,000 total active app users in the past week, and we’re now at 20,400. That figure is based on the number of devices we’re able to reach right now with our app alerts, even if the alerts themselves are turned off. Of that total, 15,200 are Apple, 5,196 are Android. Also from that total, 8,089 have elected to receive our alerts, a number that’s fallen quite a bit the past couple weeks. We think that’s because not everyone is yet aware that individual team alerts can be chosen or rejected. We’ll have to work harder there.
• All our podcasts, including everything on DK Sports Radio, are available for easy download by subscribing to our pages on iTunes, Google Play or SoundCloud. Audio versions of Morning Java are there, too.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com.
• Anything you need is on the Support page. Any questions, email us: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
